2.. 0.1.  'Ll 

LIBRARY  OF  THE  THEOLOGICAL  SEMINARY 


PRINCETON,  N.  J 


S'ne  rne-V\noc\\sV§ 


Division 


THE  CALL  TO  WORLD  SERVICE 

01*  '|p5  he  World  Service  program  herewith 
I  presented,  is  worthy  of  the  most 
— ®yJ  careful,  sympathetic,  and  generous 
support  of  all  our  people.  It  has  been  my 
privilege  to  observe  closely  the  preparation 
of  this  great  document.  In  my  judgment, 
no  similar  presentation  of  the  world-wide 
needs  and  opportunities  of  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church  has  heretofore  been 
made.  For  a  statesmanlike  view  of  our 
total  task,  for  careful  analysis  of  our  prob¬ 
lems,  for  inspiring  suggestions  as  to  the 
unparalleled  openings  for  world  service,  no 
equally  comprehensive  and  accurate  doc¬ 
ument  has  gone  out  to  the  church. 

Every  survey  has  been  studied,  revised 
where  necessary,  and  treated  with  bus¬ 
iness  sagacity  as  well  as  with  prophetic 
vision.  The  best  I  can  wish  for  the  church 
is  that  this  commanding  volume  may  be 
studied  as  carefully  as  it  has  been  prepared. 


The  Word  of  the  Lord  to  the  people 
called  Methodists  is  that  they  go  forward. 

We  are  more  nearly  approximating  the 
whole  program  of  Jesus  Christ  for  this 
world  than  ever  before.  The  world  is 
giving  gratifying  response  to  that  appeal. 
Membership  is  growing,  children  and 
young  people  are  crowding  our  modern 
buildings  in  ever  increasing  hundreds, 
property  values  are  enormously  increasing, 
more  serviceable  plants  are  constantly  ap¬ 
pearing,  and  the  spirituality  of  our  church¬ 
es  is  deepening. 

We  look  forward  with  confident  hope. 
We  trust  the  church  to  recognize  the 
privileges  and  the  obligations  of  steward¬ 
ship  and  to  respond  with  willing  sacrifice 
and  devotion  which  will  gladden  the  Lord 
and  Master  of  us  all. 

Thomas  tyc/o/son 

CHAIRMAN:  COMMITTEE  ON 

CONSERVATION  AND  ADVANCE 

RESIDENT  BISHOP  .  CHICAGO  AREA 


— 


— 


— 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 
in  2019  with  funding  from 
Princeton  Theological  Seminary  Library 


https://archive.org/details/worldserviceofrne00meth_0 


Painting  by  L.  Lhernutte 

7  am  among  you  as  he  that  serveth  ” 


4. 


THE  WORLD  SERVICE 
OF  THE  METHODIST 
EPISCOPAL  CHURCH 


Ralph  E.Diffbndorfbr.  :  :  Editor 

Isa/sted  by 

PaulHutchinson  :  :  Foreign  Section 
William  P. McDermott:  : American  Section 


METHODIST  EPISCOPAL  C  H  U  RC  H 
COUNCIL  OF  BOARDS  OF  BENEVOLENCE 
COMMITTEE  ON  CONSERVATION  AND  ADVANCE 
740  Rush  Str-e-et  I  I  Chicago,  Illinois 


O 


FROM  THE  PRESS  OF 

the  m  ethodist  book  concern 

740  RUSH  STREET 
CHICAGO,  ILLINOIS 


First  Printing,  May,  1923 
Second  Printing,  June,  1923 
Third  Printing,  August,  1923 
Fourth  Printing,  October,  1923 
Fifth  Printing,  November,  1923 


FOREWORD 


Methodism  is  on  the  march!  This  is 
normal.  A  militant  church  does  not  stand 
still.  Wesley  marshaled  forces  for  a  fresh 
crusade.  Asbury  outdistanced  his  reli¬ 
gious  compeers.  Simpson  and  McCabe 
challenged  to  larger  advance.  Thoburn, 
Bashford,  Lewis  thought  in  terms  of 
Christ’s  continental  conquests. 

God  gave  to  S.  Earl  Taylor,  one  of  the 
secretaries  of  the  Board  of  Foreign  Mis¬ 
sions,  a  vision  of  the  greater  work  He  had 
for  the  people  called  Methodists.  After 
a  tour  of  inspection  to  many  parts  of  the 
world  in  company  with  John  F.  Goucher 
and  other  leaders,  Taylor  challenged  the 
church  to  undertake  more  seriously  the 
Christian  possibilities  of  the  generation. 

This  movement  has  been  known  as  the 
Methodist  Centenary.  Three  Methodisms 
united :  the  Methodist  Church  of  Canada, 
the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South, 
and  our  own.  This  was  the  pioneer  of 


other  similar  movements  which  were  in¬ 
itiated  almost  simultaneously  by  several 
Protestant  denominations. 

Authorized  by  the  General  Conference 
at  Saratoga  Springs,  in  1916,  a  purposeful 
celebration  of  one  hundred  years  of  our 
missionary  effort  was  proposed.  Pursuant 
to  this  action,  a  World  Program  Commit¬ 
tee  of  one  hundred  was  constituted  and 
met  in  significant  session  at  Niagara  Falls, 
September  17-19,  1917. 

The  Centenary  Program  was  based  on 
world  surveys  in  both  home  and  foreign 
fields  revealing  needs  of  a  five-year  period 
making  it  necessary  to  secure  $80,000,000. 
The  reconstruction  work  following  the 
World  War  added  $25,000,000.  The  inclu¬ 
sion  of  the  other  general  benevolent  boards 
increased  the  total  to  $115,000,000.  This 
huge  sum  was  intensively  solicited  on  a 
five-year  basis,  and  was  for  the  most  part 
generously  subscribed  in  a  campaign 


v 


which,  culminating  May  31,  1919,  was  a 
marvel  to  the  religious  and  financial  world. 

In  1920,  the  General  Conference  changed 
the  organization  to  the  Council  of  Boards 
of  Benevolence  with  the  Committee  on 
Conservation  and  Advance  as  its  active 
promotional  agent.  Headquarters  were 
established  in  Chicago.  Up  to  April  1, 
1923,  a  total  of  $55,878,201.78  has  been 
collected  and  paid  to  the  various  causes. 

Midway  of  the  Centenary  period,  No¬ 
vember  15-17,  1921,  a  unique,  unforget- 
able  National  Conference  was  held  in  De¬ 
troit.  The  call  read  “On  the  Highway  of 
God  we  are:  we  pause  not  for  repairs  or 
adjustments,  but  to  decide  the  direction  of 
our  going.”  “The  World’s  Need  and  Our 
Reply”  was  the  general  theme. 

In  the  Council  immediately  following 
was  born  the  idea  of  the  Committee  of 
Twenty-Five  on  Advance  or  Post-Cente¬ 
nary  Program.  Early  and  vigorously  did 
this  carefully  constituted  committee  under¬ 
take  the  tremendous  task.  New  studies 
of  the  world’s  need  were  instituted  and  the 
sub-committees  worked  on  the  problems  of 
evangelism,  lay  activities,  stewardship,  ed¬ 
ucation,  and  our  charted  benevolent  re¬ 
sponsibility. 


After  days  of  preparation  on  January 
11,  1923,  the  sub-committee  on  New  Stud¬ 
ies  and  other  sub-committees  reported  in 
detail  to  the  Committee  of  Twenty-Five. 
A  most  significant  composite  report  was 
prepared  for  the  Council  and,  after  full 
discussion,  was  adopted  without  change  by 
a  practically  unanimous  vote.  This  his¬ 
toric  occasion  was  characterized  by  a  sense 
of  deep  devotion,  high  obligation,  and 
Kingdom  responsibility. 

The  church  through  properly  constituted 
human  authority  and,  we  believe,  by  divine 
direction,  has  determined  to  meet  the 
world’s  agonizing  cry  for  the  gospel  by  a 
new  advance,  a  fresh  and  continuous  at¬ 
tack  on  evil,  a  truer  exposition  of  the 
Christ  ideal. 

The  world  can  be  set  in  order.  Christ 
is  the  solution.  The  World  Service  Pro¬ 
gram  exalts  him. 

“O  may  it  all  my  powers  engage 
To  do  my  Master’s  will” 

R.  J.  Wade, 

Corresponding  Secretary, 
Committee  on  Conservation  and  Advance . 


vi 


CONTENTS 

itmmmtiiiiiiiiimimmi 


Frontispiece,  “I  am  among  you  as  he  that  serveth” 

Foreword . 

Contents . ' 


Pages 


v-vi 

vii-viii 


Part  One— THE  FIELDS 


Eastern  Asia  .  .  . 
China  .... 
Japan  .  .  .  . 

Korea  .... 

Southeastern  Asia  . 
Philippines  .  . 

Malaysia  .  .  . 

Dutch  East  Indies 

Southern  Asia  .  . 
India  .... 
Burma  .... 


3 

6 

35 

47 

57 

60 

66 

70 

75 

78 

103 


Africa . 

Liberia  .... 

Angola . 

Belgian  Congo  .  . 

Rhodesia  .  .  .  . 

Mozambique  .  . 
Union  of  South  Africa 


107 

110 

113 

118 

122 

124 

128 


Latin  America 
Mexico 
Panama 
Costa  Rica 
Peru  .  . 

Bolivia 
Chile 

Argentina 

Uruguay 


131 

135 

141 

144 

148 

153 

158 

165 

172 


Europe  and  North  Africa 
France  . 

Spain  . 

Italy  .  . 

Yugo-Slavia 
Bulgaria 
Albania 
Norway 
Sweden 
Denmark 
Finland 
Germany 
Switzerland 
Austria 
Hungary  . 

Russia  . 

Baltic  Republics  (Esthonia,  Latvia,  Lithuania) 

North  Africa  (Algeria,  Tunisia,  Tripoli,  Cyrenaica,  Morocco) 
Madeira  Islands  ... 


175 

178 

182 

183 

188 

191 

194 

195 
197 
200 
204 
207 
211 
213 
216 
218 
222 
226 
231 


Vll 


Pages 

New  England  States  (Maine,  New  Hampshire,  Vermont,  Massa¬ 


chusetts,  Rhode  Island,  Connecticut) . 233 

Middle  Atlantic  States  (New  York,  New  Jersey,  Pennsylvania)  253 

East  North  Central  States  (Ohio,  Indiana,  Illinois,  Michigan, 

Wisconsin) . 277 

West  North  Central  States  (Minnesota,  Iowa,  Missouri,  North 

Dakota,  South  Dakota,  Nebraska,  Kansas)  . 301 

South  Atlantic  States  (Delaware,  Maryland,  District  of  Columbia, 
Virginia,  West  Virginia,  North  Carolina,  South  Carolina,  Geor¬ 
gia,  Florida) . 321 

East  South  Central  States  (Kentucky,  Tennessee,  Alabama,  Mis¬ 
sissippi)  . 341 

West  South  Central  States  (Arkansas,  Louisiana,  Oklahoma, 

Texas)  . 357 

Mountain  States  (Montana,  Idaho,  Wyoming,  Colorado,  New 

Mexico,  Arizona,  Utah,  Nevada)  . 373 

Pacific  States  (Washington,  Oregon,  California) . 389 

Territories  (Alaska,  Hawaii,  Porto  Rico) . 405 

General  Maps — Methodism  in  the  United  States . 413 

Part  Two— THE  AGENCIES 

Board  of  Foreign  Missions . 419 

Board  of  Home  Missions  and  Church  Extension . 441 

Board  of  Education  for  Negroes . 487 

Board  of  Education . 499 

Board  of  Sunday  Schools . 521 

Board  of  Conference  Claimants . 543 

Board  of  the  Epworth  League . 553 

American  Bible  Society . 577 

Board  of  Temperance,  Prohibition,  and  Public  Morals . 585 

General  Deaconess  Board . 593 

Board  of  Hospitals  and  Homes . 601 

Commission  on  Courses  of  Study . 615 

Commission  on  Life  Service . 619 

Committee  on  Conservation  and  Advance . 625 

Woman’s  Foreign  Missionary  Society . 629 

Woman’s  Home  Missionary  Society . 637 

Part  Three— THE  FINANCIAL  NEEDS 

Introducing  the  Financial  Needs . 645 

The  No-Growth  or  Present-Work  Basis . 647 

The  Approved  Needs . 678 

The  Apportionment  to  the  Churches . 689 

Designated  Gifts . 693 

Report  of  the  Committee  of  Twenty-Five . 695 

Acknowledgments . 703 

viii 


Part  One— THE  FIELDS 


immiimmiinimmiimiimiiii 


Eastern  Asia 
Southeastern  Asia 
Southern  Asia 
Africa 

Latin-America 
Europe  and  North  Africa 
New  England  States 
Middle  Atlantic  States 


East  North  Central  States 
West  North  Central  States 
South  Atlantic  States 
East  South  Central  States 
West  South  Central  States 
Mountain  States 
Pacific  States 
The  Territories 


— 


— 


EASTERN  ASIA 


iiiiiimmiiiiMiimniiimiiiiimi 


CHINA 

JAPAN 

KOREA 


Distribution  of  Methodist  Episcopal  churches  in  Eastern  Asia.  The  Japan  Methodist  Church  is  included. 


GRADUATES  OP  PEKING  UNIVERSITY 

The  real  problem  of  the  Pacific  is  the  problem  of  the 
transformation  of  the  mind  of  China,  of  the  capacity 
of  the  oldest  and  most  complicated  civilization  of  the 
globe  to  remake  itself  into  the  new  forms  required  by 
the  impact  of  immense  alien  forces. 

John  Dewey 


EASTERN  ASIA 


After  Three-quarters  of  a  Century 
The  first  missionaries  of  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church  to  reach  Eastern  Asia 
landed  in  China  in  1847.  Twenty-six 
years  later  work  began  in  Japan.  Twelve 
years  after  that  the  first  station  was 
opened  in  Korea. 

There  are  eight  annual  conferences  and 
one  mission  conference  of  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church  in  Eastern  Asia  today. 
In  addition,  there  is  the  Japan  Mission 
Council,  supervising  work  in  Japan  and 
among  Japanese  in  Korea,  and  the  Japan 
Methodist  Church,  a  union  of  the  three 
bodies  of  Methodists  that  formerly  car¬ 
ried  on  work  in  that  empire. 


and  651  exhorters  hold  appointments, 
with  several  thousand  additional  Chinese, 
Japanese,  and  Korean  workers. 

Episcopal  residences  are  located  in 
Peking,  Shanghai,  Foochow,  and  Seoul. 

A  Period  of  Opportunity 
Political,  geographical,  social,  and  ra¬ 
cial  differences  make  the  problems  affect¬ 
ing  work  in  Japan,  Korea,  and  China 
dissimilar.  In  the  main,  however,  it  can 
be  said  that  all  three  are  passing  through 
a  period  of  transition,  and  that  with  this 
there  is  given  such  an  opportunity  for 
Christian  service  as  has  never  been  offered 
before. 


A  total  Christian  community  of 
132,984  represents  the  ingathering 
of  these  first  seventy-five  years. 
Of  the  preachers,  475  are  full 
members  of  conferences,  and  141 
more  are  on  trial.  Four  hundred 
and  thirty-eight  local  preachers 


In  no  part  of  these  fields,  once 
so  tightly  closed,  is  there  any  lack 
of  interest  in  the  gospel.  In  fact, 
the  amazing  eagerness  everywhere 
encountered  constitutes  one  of  the 
most  embarrassing  features  of  the 
situation. 


5 


I 


4 


6 


WORLD  SERVICE 


Entering  Manchuria 

The  time  is  ripe  for  advance  into  Man¬ 
churia  by  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church. 
This  vast  province  of  China  has  felt  the 
full  impact  of  foreign  forces,  both  Japan¬ 
ese  and  Western. 

The  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  must 
have  its  attention  directed  thither  because 
large  numbers  of  its  members  have  emi¬ 
grated  there  from  Korea  and  North 
China.  In  Harbin,  the  managing  director 
of  the  Chinese  Eastern  Railway,  a  mem¬ 
ber  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church, 
and  a  graduate  of  Methodist  schools  in 
Peking,  has  joined  with  many  others  in 
petition  that  Methodist  work  be  extended 
to  this  region. 

After  careful  investigation  by  parties 
from  Korea  and  China,  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church  has  decided  to  enter 


Manchuria.  The  program  adopted  is  con¬ 
servative.  It  is  expected  that  a  large  part 
of  the  field  will  be  opened  by  workers  sup¬ 
ported  by  the  native  churches  in  China 
and  Korea.  The  program  as  approved  for 
1925  reads: 

Missionary  Staff: 

No  missionaries  required  in  Manchuria. 


Work  Operations: 

Church  Work  from  1  Center . . — $  3,500 

10  Day  Schools  . . $  3,000 

2  Boarding  Schools  . .  3,000  6,000 


1  Dispensary  .  1,000 


$10,500 

Property  Projects: 

2  New  Missionary  Bungalows  and 

Land  . . $20,000 

1  City  Church  . - .  15,000 


$35,000 

Total  Program  (Manchuria) .  $45,500 


CHINA 


In  the  Eyes  of  the  World 
A  nation  that  cannot  be  hid. — Why  are 
you  interested  in  China? 

Why  do  American  newspapers  give  so 
much  space  to  China? 

Why  were  the  governments  of  the 
world  willing  to  submit  their  plans  to 
a  Washington  Conference  dealing  with 
the  problems  of  China? 


Because — 

The  problems  of  China  are  the  heart  of 
the  problems  of  the  Far  East. 

And — 

The  problems  of  the  Far  East  are  the 
heart  of  the  problems  of  future  world 
peace. 

It  is  instinct  that  rivets  world  attention 
on  China.  From  that  land  will  come  good 
or  ill  for  us  all.  That  is 
why  we  are  interested  in 
China. 

China  and  world  peace. 
— There  was  a  time  when 
China  seemed  a  helpless 
victim  in  the  hands  of 
any  exploiter.  That  time 
has  passed.  It  passed  on 
the  day  when  the  first 
graduates  went  from 
modern  high  schools  to 
begin  the  formation  of  a 
Chinese  public  opinion. 
The  public  opinion  of  a 
quarter  of  the  human 
race,  knowing  that  it  has 
been  victimized  and  de- 


A  bit  of  old  China 


EASTERN  ASIA 


7 


Methodist  Episcopal  centers  in  China 


termined  not  to  be  victimized  again,  is  not 
something  with  which  to  trifle. 

China  has  small  power  wherewith  to  re¬ 
sist  exploitation  from  without.  Small 
active  power,  that  is.  But  she  has  enor¬ 
mous  passive  resistance.  This  she  is  ready 
to  apply  over  centuries,  if  need  be,  making 
herself  such  an  uncomfortable  member  of 
the  family  of  nations  that,  in  the  long  run, 
in  desperation  they  will  grant  her  justice. 

But  from  within  she  faces  grave  dan¬ 
gers.  Many  believe  internal  disintegra¬ 
tion  has  started.  And  a  disintegration 
that  plagues  what  is  one  of  the  world’s 
oldest  civilizations,  as  well  as  the  world’s 
largest  nation,  is  bound  to  plague  all.  The 


world  is  too  small  to  contain  international 
disease  anywhere  and  not  be  menaced 
everywhere. 

What  will  help  China? — Faced  by  this 
world  danger,  the  nations  ask  how  China 
may  be  brought  to  full  health. 

Some  say  that  China  needs  to  be  let 
alone.  She  needs  a  chance  to  work  out  her 
own  problems.  That  is  true.  But  isola¬ 
tion  is  as  impossible  for  China  as  for  any 
other  modern  nation. 

Some  say  that  China  needs  diplomatic 
aid.  That  is  also  true.  But  it  takes  small 
knowledge  of  history  to  know  how  re¬ 
stricted  and  how  doubtful  are  the  benefits 
of  diplomacy. 


8 


WORLD  SERVICE 


The  port  of  Foochow,  where,  in  1847,  the  first  two  missionaries 
of  our  church  landed 


Some  say  that  China  needs  a  develop¬ 
ment  of  her  natural  resources :  new  wealth 
will  bring  a  higher  standard  of  living. 
That,  too,  is  true.  But  such  development 
in  other  parts  of  the  earth  has  often 
brought  losses  that  more  than  balance 
the  gains. 

Some  say  that  China  needs  education 
for  her  masses.  This  need  is,  beyond  ques¬ 
tion,  immediate,  imperative.  But  there 
have  been  examples  in  both  East  and  West 
to  prove  that  education,  in  itself,  is  no 
insurance  of  national  health. 

All  agree  that  China  needs  something. 
The  leaders  of  the  “New  Tide  of  Thought,” 
that  movement  now  penetrating  to  the 
vitals  of  Chinese  life  and  there  producing 
upheaval,  say  that  China  needs  a  new 
study  of  all  her  ancient  sanctions,  a  new 
atmosphere  in  which  her  people  may  think 
new  thoughts,  live  on  new  levels,  achieve 
a  new  command  of  latent  forces.  In  other 
words,  that  China  must  have  an  inner 
transformation. 

That  paragraph  summarizes  the  reason 
for  and  challenge  to  the  Christian  enter¬ 
prise  in  China. 

The  Story  of  Seventy-Five  Years 

Where  Methodism  entered  China. — Prot¬ 
estant  Christianity,  like  every  influence 


that  came  to  China  from 
the  West,  entered  from 
the  South. 

Robert  Morrison  gave 
the  adventure  its  first 
foothold  in  1807  at  Can¬ 
ton.  Forty  years  later 
the  first  two  mission¬ 
aries  of  the  Metho¬ 
dist  Episcopal  Church 
landed  in  the  teeming 
port  of  Foochow  (see  pic¬ 
ture  at  the  left)  five  hun¬ 
dred  miles  farther  north 
along  the  coast. 

The  record  of  the  early 
years  makes  heart-break¬ 
ing  reading.  Death,  dis¬ 
ease,  fierce  opposition,  in¬ 
ternal  uprisings  that 
scattered  the  missionaries,  all  conspired 
to  make  the  work  seem  fruitless.  In  ten 
years  the  devoted  efforts  of  some  of  the 
best  missionaries  who  ever  labored  for 
the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  gained 
not  a  single  convert! 

Then,  at  the  end  of  the  first  decade,  the 
tide  turned.  The  first  convert  was  bap¬ 
tized  !  A  few  weeks  later  the  name  of 
his  wife  was  inscribed  as  that  of  the  first 
woman  to  be  baptized  by  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church  in  China.  By  the  end 
of  that  year  thirty-eight  adults  and  three 
children  had  been  gathered  in  the  group. 
With  a  church,  schools,  a  press,  medical 
work,  members,  probationers,  class-meet¬ 
ings,  quarterly  meetings,  the  mission  was 
finally  established  and  started  upon  its 
memorable  career. 

That  was  seventy-five  years  ago. 

How  the  occupation  spread. — Ten  years 
sees  a  permanent  foothold  won  at  Foo¬ 
chow.  Two  years  more  and  the  work  has 
spread  fifteen  miles  up  the  Min  River  from 
that  .city.  At  the  same  time  the  pioneers 
of  the  Woman’s  Foreign  Missionary  So¬ 
ciety  arrive,  and  special  work  for  women 
and  girls  starts.  Six  Chinese  local  preach¬ 
ers  are  licensed,  the  first  in  that  magnifi¬ 
cent  line  of  men  who  have,  when  called 
upon,  proved  faithful  unto  death. 


EASTERN  ASIA 


9 


We  cannot  follow  the  spread  of  the  work 
in  detail.  Take  a  map  of  China,  and  check 
off  by  twenty-year  intervals : 

I860 — And  the  work  is  huddled  in  and 
about  the  city  of  Foochow,  just  a  dot  on 
the  map  of  Fukien  province. 

1880 — and  the  work  is  begun  in  four 
provinces,  spreading  out  from  Foochow  to 
much  of  Fukien;  at  two  of  the  recently 
opened  ports  on  the  Yangtse  River; 
around  the  capital,  Peking;  at  the  foot  of 
China’s  sacred  mountain  in  Shantung. 

1900 — the  Boxer  year!  And  that  scourge 
finds  the  church  spreading  through  the 
provinces  where  it  has  previously  been 
found,  athwart  the  Yangtse  in  the  prov¬ 
inces  of  Anwhei  and  Kiangsi,  and  leaping 
a  thousand  miles  westward  to  the  heart  of 
the  largest  and  wealthiest  of  all  the  prov¬ 
inces,  Szechuen. 

1920 — the  Centenary!  No  new  prov¬ 
inces,  but  great  new  stretches  of  territory 
in  all  the  provinces  entered.  Isolated  sta¬ 
tions  linked.  Centers  of  occupation  care- 


A  sterling  Chinese  Christian  leader — the  Rev¬ 
erend  Liu  Fang,  district  superintendent 
of  the  Peking  District 


Entrance  to  the  Ichang  Gorge 


fully  planned  with  reference  to  the  new 
routes  of  travel  that  the  railroad  and  the 
modern  steamship  are  opening.  The  total 
responsibility  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church  faced,  and  plans  laid  to  meet  it! 

Chinese  Methodism  today. — Wonderful 
is  the  record  of  these  seventy-five  years! 
Not  only  is  the  church  established  in  seven 
provinces,  and  in  such  cities  as  Peking, 
Tientsin,  Nanking,  Chungking,  Chengtu, 
Nanchang,  and  Foochow,  but  there  are 
seven  annual  conferences  and  one  mission 
conference,  with  more  than  2,500  full-time 
Chinese  workers,  more  than  90,000  mem¬ 
bers  and  baptized  adherents,  and  more 
than  60,000  Sunday-school  pupils. 

The  scope  of  the  work  being  carried  on 
by  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  in 
China  is  not  to  be  exceeded  by  any  Chris¬ 
tian  body  in  any  part  of  the  world.  It 
ranges  from  varied  forms  of  preaching 
and  teaching  to  philanthropic  services  to 
widely  differing  communities,  with  efforts 
to  aid  in  the  transformation  of  the  con¬ 
ditions  of  thought  and  life  that  hamper 
many  sections.  It  is  specialized  work,  in 
the  best  sense  of  that  term.  And  it  is  con¬ 
stantly  attempting  new  modes  of  service. 

Most  significant  of  all  is  the  fact  that 
this  seventy-fifth  anniversary  of  the 
founding  of  Methodist  work  in  China  finds 
the  church  in  that  country  increasingly 
under  Chinese  leadership.  Three  genera¬ 
tions  of  effort  are  yielding  their  fruit  in 
men  and  women  who,  as  preachers,  teach- 


2 


10 


WORLD  SERVICE 


r 


General  Feng  addressing  his  soldiers 


ers,  writers,  executives,  are  proving  com¬ 
petent  to  carry  the  enterprise  rapidly  to 
such  triumphs  as  it  has  yet  to  know.  The 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church  in  China  has 
in  its  ranks,  as  laymen  and  as  ministers, 
as  capable  men  and  women  as  are  to  be 
found  in  any  part  of  the  world’s  Meth¬ 
odism. 

Emerging  China 

Where  world  movements  start. — Every¬ 
where  the  nations  feel  the  impulse  of  new 
forces.  Since  the  Centenary  was  launched 
the  political  aspect  of  much  of  the  world 
has  changed.  In  that  day  men  were  not 
talking  much  about  the  passing  of  mon¬ 
archism,  the  resurgence  of  Islam,  the 
emergence  of  communism,  or  the  rising 
tide  of  color.  Yet  these  are  the  great 
factors  to  be  faced  today. 

It  is  possible  that  when  some  H.  G. 
Wells  of  the  twenty-first  century  summar¬ 
izes  the  history  of  our  times  he  will 
point  to  China  as  the  place  where  the 
present  world  upheaval  began.  Perhaps 
he  will  date  the  beginning  in  1900  when 
China,  through  the  Boxers,  made  the  last 
attempt  of  the  East  to  resist  the  forces 
of  the  West.  Or  perhaps  he  will  date  it 
in  1911  when  the  Manchus  were  driven 
from  their  throne,  and  China  raised  the 
torch  of  democracy  amidst  the  imme¬ 
morial  darkness  of  Asia. 


There  have  been  revo¬ 
lutions  or  major  attempts 
at  revolution  in  twenty- 
nine  countries  since  1911. 
The  revolution  in  that 
year  has  proved  a  prelude 
to  a  world  upheaval. 

What  brought  the  revo¬ 
lution? — Why  was  China 
ready  to  break  with  the 
governmental  traditions 
of  forty  centuries?  Many 
causes  contributed.  There 
was  the  increasing  ineffi¬ 
ciency  of  the  Manchu  rule 
in  the  face  of  the  constant 
encroachment  from  with¬ 
out.  There  was  the  in¬ 
creasing  influence  of  wes¬ 
tern  ideas,  particularly  in  student  cir¬ 
cles.  And  probably  Yuan  Shih  Kai,  the 
first  president  of  the  republic,  was  right 
when  he  told  a  missionary  that  the 
overthrow  of  the  throne  came  as  an  in¬ 
evitable  result  of  the  preaching  of  human 
brotherhood  and  equality  before  God. 

It  was  significant  that  the  revolution 
found  strong  support  among  Chinese 
Christians.  During  these  years  of  tur¬ 
moil,  when  the  ideals  of  the  revolution 
have  frequently  seemed  about  extin¬ 
guished,  these  same  Christian  communities 
have  frequently  proved  themselves,  quietly 
but  determinedly,  devoted  to  the  coming 
of  a  new  day. 

The  struggle  for  control.— Events  in 
China  in  the  last  dozen  years  cannot  easily 
be  summarized.  Inevitably  there  has  been 
an  inner  struggle  for  control  between  con¬ 
servatives  and  progressives.  More  and 
more  the  conservative  voice  has  come  to 
be  that  of  a  blind,  irresponsible,  ruthless 
militarism.  The  most  hopeful  fact  in  any 
consideration  of  China’s  future  is  that  the 
voice  of  scholar  and  student,  once  most 
conservative,  is  now  progressive. 

When  the  revolution  of  1911  opened  the 
way  for  a  new  government,  an  Oriental 
compromise  gave  the  conservatives,  in  the 
person  of  Yuan  Shih  Kai,  the  offices, 
while  the  progressives  were  allowed  to 


EASTERN  ASIA 


11 


China  has  1,500,000  men  under  arms 


write  the  constitution. 

The  experience  of  later 
years  proved  that  the  con¬ 
trol  of  offices  and  army 
was  everything  and  the 
paper  constitution  nothing 
when  actual  governing 
was  at  stake. 

The  struggle  has,  there¬ 
fore,  been  one  to  secure  a 
government  in  which 
power  should  reside  in 
the  hands  of  those  who  up¬ 
hold  a  national  law,  rather 
than  in  the  hands  of  mili¬ 
tary  swashbucklers  who 
are  a  law  unto  themselves. 

The  figures  that  have 
flitted  so  rapidly  across 
the  Chinese  scene  have  all  been  ranged 
on  one  side  or  the  other  of  this  struggle. 

The  revolution  in  China  is  still  a  long 
way  from  success.  Days  come  frequently 
when  China’s  well-wishers  despair.  But 
there  are  these  encouraging  facts  to  keep 
ever  in  mind : 

Slowly  but  surely  the  power  of  the  mili¬ 
tarists  is  passing. 

Slowly  but  surely  the  progressive,  edu¬ 
cated  young  patriots  are  becoming  most 
potent  figures. 


But  the  power  of  the  militarists  is  giving  way  to 
the  dominance  of  progressive,  educated  young 
patriots.  Graduates  at  Peking  University 


Slowly  but  surely  the  revolution  is  pene¬ 
trating  far  below  the  political  surface  to 
change  China’s  life  all  the  way  down  to 
its  foundations. 

The  making  of  the  new  China  is  a  varied 
adventure.  Some  of  it  is  political,  but 
more  is  below  that  surface.  All  of  it  makes 
up  the  challenge  that  Christianity  now 
faces  in  that  land. 

New  China’s  Government 

China  in  arms. — The  anomaly  of  present 
conditions  in  China  is  to  be  found  in  the 
fact  that  while  the  Chinese  are  the  most 
pacific  of  peoples,  there  are  more  of  them 
now  under  arms  than  in  any  other  coun¬ 
try,  with  the  possible  exception  of  France. 

It  is  impossible  to  tell  exactly  how  large 
are  the  armies  of  China.  Every  new  mili¬ 
tary  uprising  proclaims  its  intention  to 
reduce  the  number  of  soldiers,  and  re¬ 
cruits  new  brigades.  Since  troops  hold 
their  allegiance  to  individual  leaders, 
while  those  leaders  are  practically  without 
control  from  any  central  government,  it  is 
impossible  to  stop  this  recruiting.  A  con¬ 
servative  estimate  would  place  the  number 
of  soldiers  in  China  today  at  1,500,000. 

Chinese  detest  these  armies  as  the 
scourge  of  their  country.  Unpaid  for  long 
periods,  the  troops  collect  a  living  by  levies 
on  towns  and  looting.  In  parts  of  the 


d 


12 


WORLD  SERVICE 


country  where  soldiers  have  been  em¬ 
ployed  to  put  down  banditry,  inhabitants 
have  soon  come  to  profess  a  preference  for 
the  bandits. 

Shifting  battle  lines.— Groups  of  these 
soldiers  engage  in  campaigns  every  sum¬ 
mer.  We  cannot  trace  in  detail  the  shift¬ 
ing  fortunes  of  these  internal  wars  since 
the  founding  of  the  republic.  The  bloody 
business  is  a  result  of  a  weak  central  gov¬ 
ernment,  bound  to  be  dominated  by  what¬ 
ever  general  can  place  his  troops  in  the 
most  advantageous  position. 

Generals  thus  form  into  cliques,  hoping 
by  combining  strength  to  advance  the  per¬ 
sonal  fortunes  of  each  member.  But  when 
any  member  acquires  too  much  power,  the 
other  generals  combine  to  bring  down  the 
emerging  figure.  This,  in  a  few  words, 
roughly  expresses  the  course  of  the  fight¬ 
ing  in  China  during  the  past  five  years. 

Behind  and  within  all  this  maneuvering 
of  individual  generals  and  military  cliques, 
is  to  be  seen  the  struggle  between  repub¬ 
licanism  and  reaction.  Certain  of  the 
generals  who  have  recently  achieved  emi¬ 
nence,  notably  Wu  Pei-fu  and  Feng  Yii- 
hsiang,  are  known  as  favorable  to  the 
progressive  cause.  It  is  doubtful,  how¬ 
ever,  whether  that  cause  can  be  estab¬ 
lished  through  the  services  of  any  of  the 
irresponsible  generals,  however  well-in¬ 
tentioned  they  may  be. 

What  of  the  future?— It  is  hazardous  to 
prophesy  China’s  political  future.  It  is 
possible  that  the  present  internal  chaos 
will  degenerate  into  general  anarchy, 
when  even  a  pretense  of  self-government 
will  be  impossible.  But  if  this  is  not  to 
happen,  along  what  lines  may  the  new 
China  hope  to  win  her  way  to  political 
stability? 

Hope  for  the  future  probably  lies  in  the 
strengthening  of  the  government  of  the 
provinces.  Already  some  of  them  have 
shown  strength  enough  to  expel  the  mili¬ 
tary  adventurers  who  have  exploited  them, 
and  set  up  administrations  composed  of 
local  officials.  This  beginning  may  develop 
into  a  movement  whereby  China  will  be¬ 


come  legally  what  it  is  in  tradition,  a  col¬ 
lection  of  largely  autonomous  provinces, 
confederated  only  to  provide  a  central  ad¬ 
ministration  to  represent  it  in  dealing 
with  foreign  affairs. 

The  Christian  contribution.  —  Has  the 
church  any  part  in  this  effort  to  provide 
China  with  a  workable  democratic  form 
of  government?  From  the  interplay  of 
personal  rivalries  and  clique  intrigues  it 
needs  not  be  said  that  the  church  must 
stand  sternly  aloof.  But  there  is  one  con¬ 
tribution  that  the  church  may  make.  If 
it  does  not  make  it,  China’s  friends  fail  to 
see  from  what  source  she  is  to  be  supplied. 

China’s  fundamental  political  need  is 
worthy  leaders.  To  be  sure,  that  is  the 
need  of  every  country,  but  in  a  country  in 
China’s  disorganized  condition,  the  need  is 
especially  pressing.  Unless  she  can  find 
men  who  will  stand  true  to  high  personal 
and  political  ideals,  who  will  sink  all  other 
interests  in  favor  of  the  welfare  of  the 
whole,  who  can  move  easily  in  the  mental 
currents  of  the  world  at  large,  China  is  in 
a  bad  way. 

The  Christian  church  must  supply  these 
men,  or  they  will  not  be  found. 

New  China’s  Resources 

Railroads  and  the  coolie. — There  are  less 
than  8,000  miles  of  railroad  in  China. 
That  means  little  until  it  is  interpreted  in 
terms  of  human  labor.  Then  it  is  seen  to 
doom  millions  of  Chinese  to  an  existence 
little  better  than  that  of  beasts  of  burden. 


Mr.  Julean  Arnold,  speaking  as  the  re¬ 
sponsible  commercial  agent  of  the  United 


A  Chinese  coolie  is  a  horse  for  work 


EASTERN  ASIA 


13 


States,  translates  the  meaning  of  China’s 
undeveloped  transportation  in  these 
terms:  “If  we  (Americans)  had  to  hire 
coolie-carriers  to  carry  the  freight,  not  to 
mention  the  one  billion  passengers  car¬ 
ried,  which  American  railways  hauled  last 
year,  it  would  take  twice  the  present  esti¬ 
mated  population  of  China,  or  800,000,000 
men,  each  man  carrying  160  pounds  fif¬ 
teen  miles  a  day  for  365  working  days.” 

No  wonder  that  observers  hold  that  the 
first  requisite  for  a  proper  development  of 
China’s  resources  is  an  adequate  system 
of  transportation.  Mr.  Arnold  has  esti¬ 
mated  that  there  must  be  50,000  additional 
miles  of  railway  before  this  development 
can  be  completed.  Others  have  pointed  out 
that  there  is  a  need  for  good  roads  as 
pressing  as  that  for  railways. 

This  lack  of  transportation  directly  af¬ 
fects  the  problem  of  food  supply,  which 
is  of  such  importance  in  China.  China’s 
farmers  are  admittedly  among  the  best  in 
the  world.  In  the  province  of  Shensi,  for 
example,  they  raise  thirty  to  forty  bushels 
of  wheat  to  the  acre  from  land  that  has 
been  producing  similar  crops  for  forty 
centuries.  But,  as  matters  now  stand,  it 
is  cheaper  to  move  wheat  7,000  miles  from 
Seattle  to  Hankow  than  the  600  miles  from 
Shensi. 

The  lure  of  raw  materials. — It  is  a  new 
China,  with  new  problems,  that  will  come 
when  this  problem  of  transportation  is 
solved,  and  trains  and  trucks  carry  the 
loads  now  borne  by  men  and  barrows. 
And  this  change  is  bound  to  come  quickly, 
for  it  is  now  known  that  China’s  soil  is 
packed  with  the  raw  materials  that  this 
industrial  age  most  covets. 

Reports  of  China’s  coal  and  iron  depos¬ 
its  have  probably  been  exaggerated.  It  is 
certain,  however,  that  she  possesses 
enough  of  these  two  requisites  for  a  mod¬ 
ern  industrial  state  to  make  it  possible  to 
compete  with  the  output  of  any  other  na¬ 
tion. 

The  coal  reserve  is  probably  from  forty 
to  fifty  billion  tons,  or  thirty-three  per 
cent  of  that  of  Great  Britain.  More  than 
a  third  of  this  is  anthracite,  in  contrast  to 


The  Hanyehping  Iron  Works  at  Hanyang 


the  condition  in  the  rest  of  the  world, 
where  anthracite  comprises  only  one- 
eighth  of  the  supply.  Since  it  is  possible 
to  mine  this  coal  for  not  more  than  75 
cents  a  ton  (U.  S.  gold)  it  can  be  seen  that 
when  transportation  brings  it  cheaply  to 
the  place  of  use  there  may  be  a  marked 
effect  upon  world  commerce. 

The  iron  reserve  is  estimated  at  a  billion 
tons,  or  about  four-fifths  of  that  of  Great 
Britain,  a  third  of  that  of  France  or  Ger¬ 
many  before  the  war,  or  a  quarter  of  that 
of  the  United  States. 

Of  other  resources,  China  holds  more 
than  half  the  world’s  antimony;  ranks 
after  the  Malay  States  and  Bolivia  in  her 
wealth  of  tin ;  is  already  third  in  cotton 
production;  and  will  produce  increasing 
tungsten,  molybdenum,  manganese,  lead, 
zinc,  petroleum,  silk,  vegetable  oils  (not¬ 
ably  those  from  the  soya  bean),  and  flour. 
Large  deposits  of  limestone  and  the  other 
ingredients  of  Portland  cement  make  good 
roads  possible. 

To  a  world  frantically  seeking  to  re¬ 
store  a  shattered  industrial  life,  the  lure 
of  such  wealth  is  compelling.  Let  one 
theorize  as  may  be,  it  is  certain  that  com¬ 
mercial  pressure  will  force  the  develop¬ 
ment  of  such  resources  before  many  more 
years  pass.  The  welfare  of  China’s  peo¬ 
ple,  and  the  peace  of  the  world,  is  wrapped 
in  the  basis  upon  which  this  development 
takes  place. 

The  Christian  contribution. — Much  of  the 
impulse  for  the  development  of  China’s 


WORLD  SERVICE 


14 

material  resources  will  come  from  the 
same  lands  from  which  have  come  Chris¬ 
tian  missionaries.  It  is  therefore  impera¬ 
tive  that  nothing  be  done  in  the  name  of 
such  development  that  will  deny  the  prin¬ 
ciples  Christians  have  proclaimed. 

For  this  reason  it  behooves  all  Christian 
churches  to  make  clear  their  attitude 
toward  the  commer¬ 
cial  and  industrial 
development  of  such 
lands  as  China.  A 
Christian  platform 
would  seem  to  de¬ 
mand  : 

1.  That  no  de¬ 
velopment  take  place 
upon  terms  unaccept¬ 
able  to  the  Chinese 
people. 

2.  That  no  de¬ 
velopment  take  place 
upon  terms  that 
would  rob  the  Chi¬ 
nese  people,  either 
temporarily  or  per¬ 
manently,  of  the 
wealth  that  should 
be  theirs. 

3.  That  no  development  take  place  upon 
terms  that  would  place  the  value  of  the 
product  above  the  welfare  of  the  worker. 

Churches  in  all  lands  must  unite  with 
the  church  in  China  to  secure  from  gov¬ 
ernments  guarantees  that  their  nationals 
will  embark  upon  the  development  of 
China’s  resources  only  on  this  basis.  This 
is  but  one  example  of  the  manner  in  which 
the  broadening  implications  of  the  Chris¬ 
tian  program  require  missionary  service 
in  so-called  Christian  lands  as  well  as 
overseas. 

New  China’s  Industry 

The  shift  to  manufacturing.  —  Thirty 
years  ago  there  was  not  a  factory  chimney 
in  China.  Today  the  country  is  filled  with 
manufacturing  plants  producing  goods 
that  already  compete  with  Western  prod¬ 
ucts  in  the  markets  of  the  world. 

A  far  from  complete  list  of  establish¬ 


ments  shows  that  there  are  now  in  China 
cotton  mills,  oil  mills,  flour  mills,  woolen 
mills,  silk  mills,  saw  mills,  paper  mills, 
canneries,  iron  foundries,  steel  works, 
shipbuilding  works,  knitting  works,  print¬ 
ing  works,  smelting  works,  glass  works, 
water  works,  brick  works,  electric  light 
plants,  packing  houses,  tanneries,  lace  and 

hair  net  factories, 
match  factories, 
sugar  factories,  cig¬ 
arette  factories,  fur¬ 
niture  factories,  por¬ 
celain  factories, 
railway  shops,  egg¬ 
drying  factories,  dis¬ 
tilleries,  breweries, 
arsenals. 

There  are  at  least 
twelve  cities  in 
China  that  are  cen¬ 
ters  of  modern  in¬ 
dustrialism.  Some  of 
these,  such  as  Wusih 
and  Nantungchow, 
were  insignificant 
villages  a  few  years 
ago.  The  growth  of 
Shanghai  from  a  col- 


Western  industrialism  makes  a  doubtful  con¬ 
tribution  to  Chinese  women — Cotton 
mill,  Shanghai 


lection  of  fishermen’s  huts  to  a  population 
of  more  than  a  million,  with  the  promise  of 
becoming  ultimately  the  world’s  largest 
city,  has  taken  place  in  less  time  than  the 
growth  of  Chicago. 

When  the  United  States  entered  the 
nineteenth  century  it  was  ninety  per  cent 
agricultural.  In  1910  only  thirty-three  per 
cent  of  its  population  lived  on  the  farm. 
When  China  entered  the  twentieth  century 
it  was  ninety  per  cent  agricultural.  If  a 
shift  to  manufacturing  involving  a  third 
of  these  takes  place  during  the  century  (a 
conservative  estimate)  more  than  the  en¬ 
tire  present  population  of  the  United 
States  will  be  affected !  Taking  into  con¬ 
sideration  what  such  shifts  have  meant  in 
other  lands,  who  can  estimate  the  power 
with  which  this  vast  migration  will  shake 
the  life  of  the  world? 

The  cotton  industry  offers  striking  illus¬ 
tration  of  the  way  in  which  a  new  indus- 


EASTERN  ASIA 


15 


trial  China  is  coming  into  being.  The 
number  of  cotton  factories  jumped  from 
49  in  1919  to  102  in  1922,  with  about 
1,500,000  spindles  producing  approxi¬ 
mately  300,000,000  pounds  of  yarn  a  year. 

The  steel  works  at  Hanyang  have  be¬ 
come  of  sufficient  importance  to  warrant 
the  Japanese  in  challenging  the  British 
claim  to  a  “sphere  of  influence”  in  that 
region. 

China  is  still  predominantly  agricul¬ 
tural.  It  will  remain  so  for  another  cen¬ 
tury.  But  the  shift  from  the  country  to 
the  city  and  from  the  soil  to  the  machine 
has  definitely  begun.  It  is  disturbing  the 
whole  tenor  of  Chinese  life.  Ultimately  it 
is  bound  to  affect  the  life  of  all  the  world. 

What  sort  of  mills? — With  Chinese  by 
the  millions  turning  to  the  mills  for  a  live¬ 
lihood  it  is  necessary  to  ask  concerning  the 
nature  of  this  industrialism  that  is  to  in¬ 
fluence  the  East.  It  is  probably  no  exag¬ 
geration  to  say  that,  for  sheer  brutality, 
the  Chinese  factory  system  cannot  be  sur¬ 
passed  in  any  other  part  of  the  world. 
Conditions  in  most  of  the  mills  are  such 
that  a  disinterested  observer  cannot  ob¬ 
tain  entrance. 

The  factory  system  of  China  makes 
enormous  use  of  the  labor  of  women  and 
children.  Figures  gathered  by  Mr.  Julean 
Arnold,  the  commercial  attache  of  the 
United  States,  and  by  Mr.  M.  T.  Tchou, 
show  that,  in  the  cotton  industry,  forty 


Out  of  every  ten  workers  in  Chinese  cotton 
mills,  four  are  women,  and  four  are  children 


Small  chance  have  they  to  secure  an  abundant 
life,  slaving  as  they  must  in  a  Shanghai 
cotton  mill 

per  cent  of  the  workers  are  women,  forty 
per  cent  children,  and  only  twenty  per 
cent  men.  In  Chinese  industry  as  a  whole, 
including  the  many  forms  in  which  it  is 
impossible  to  use  child  and  woman  labor, 
these  same  authorities  have  estimated  that 
fifteen  per  cent  of  the  workers  are  women 
and  twenty  per  cent  are  children ! 

To  these  workers  starvation  wages  are 
doled  out.  Mr.  Arnold  states  that  the  aver¬ 
age  wage  of  men  millworkers,  in  terms  of 
American  money,  is  from  15  to  20  cents 
a  day;  of  women  from  10  to  12*4  cents;  of 
children  from  5  to  10  cents.  Mr.  Tchou 
quotes  actual  figures  from  the  silk  mills  of 
Shanghai,  the  most  highly  paid  center  in 
China,  to  show  that  the  pay  of  skilled 
women  weavers  is  from  18  to  20  cents  a 
day;  of  unskilled  from  14  to  17 y2  cents;  of 
girls  from  iy2  to  10  cents. 

Sanitary  conditions  within  many  of  the 
factories  are  notoriously  bad,  although 
some  new  plants  show  an  improvement. 
Hours  of  labor  are  long,  the  average  being 
a  twelve-hour  shift.  More  than  seventy 


16 


WORLD  SERVICE 


per  cent  of  all  the  workers  in  China  work 
seven  days  in  a  week. 

Sickness  and  mortality  figures  among 
these  workers  are,  of  course,  frightfully 
high.  So  high  that,  in  the  absence  of  de¬ 
tailed  statistics,  it  is  unwise  to  make 
estimates. 

The  cause  of  such  exploitation. — Why  is 
such  a  merciless  industrialism  allowed  to 
come  into  existence,  with  the  warning  of 
Western  experience  in  plain  view?  Simply 
because  men  are  willing  to  bring  any  ruin 
upon  their  successors,  as  well  as  their  em¬ 
ployees,  if  they  may  thereby  obtain  a  quick 
profit. 

The  following  extract  is  from  a  trade 
paper  and  requires  no  comment: 

The  profits  of  the  -  factory  again  sur¬ 

pass  $1,000,000.  To  those  who  bestow  thought  on  the 
progress  of  textile  industries  in  China,  the  following 
particulars  concerning  this  concern  may  be  of  in¬ 
terest.  The  company  was  started  in  1904  with  a  paid 
up  capital  of  $600,000,  divided  into  6,000  shares  of 
$100  each.  The  capital  was  increased  to  $900,000  in 
1916.  .  .  .  For  the  past  two  years  it  has  been  running 
night  and  day  without  intermission.  .  .  .  The  working 
hours  are  from  5:30  a.  m.  to  5:30  p.  m.  and  from 
5  :30  p.  m.  to  5  :30  a.  m.  respectively.  No  meals  are 
supplied  by  the  factory.  Most  of  the  cotton  used  is 
produced  locally.  ...  It  will  be  seen  that  the  com¬ 
pany  is  in  an  exceptionally  favorable  position.  With 
the  raw  product  at  its  door,  an  abundant  and  ab¬ 
surdly  cheap  labor  supply  to  draw  on,  and  no  vexa¬ 
tious  factory  laws  to  observe,  it  is  not  surprising  that 
its  annual  profits  should  have  exceeded  its  total 
capital  on  at  least  three  occasions. 

No,  it  is  not  surprising.  But  it  will  be 
surprising  if  there  is  no  price  paid  for 
exploitation  of  this  sort. 

The  worst  of  it  is  that  so  much  of  this 
sort  of  industrialism  is  the  result  of  the 
demand  of  western  capital  for  quick  and 
large  returns.  For  example,  forty-six  per 
cent  of  the  cotton  mills  of  China  are  for¬ 
eign  owned. 

A  rising  tide  of  protest. — Inevitably  the 
Chinese  are  forming  to  combat  exploita¬ 
tion  of  this  sort.  The  growth  in  the  labor 
union  movement  in  China  during  the  past 
two  years  has  been  astonishing.  The  an¬ 
cient  guilds,  which  were  really  associa¬ 
tions  of  merchants  and  manufacturers, 
having  proved  unable  to  protect  the  work¬ 
ers,  the  workers  have  undertaken  their 


own  protection.  Great  success  has  at¬ 
tended  their  efforts. 

In  Hongkong  in  1921  Chinese  sailors 
struck  for  better  treatment  and  higher 
wages.  Sympathetic  strikes  that  finally 
involved  practically  all  the  Chinese  in  the 
city  brought  the  foreign  steamship  com¬ 
panies  to  terms,  but  not  until  275  ships, 
totaling  250,000  tons,  had  been  held  in 
harbor  for  weeks. 

After  that  victory,  sixty  labor  unions 
were  formed  in  Shanghai  within  a  few 
months.  In  the  cities  of  Canton  and  Chao- 
chow,  industrial  centers  of  southern 
China,  more  than  fifty  strikes  occurred  in 
the  first  nine  months  of  1922.  More  than 
nine-tenths  of  these  were  successful, 
bringing  wage  increases  of  from  ten  to 
forty  per  cent. 

The  determination  of  the  Chinese  work¬ 
ingman  was  shown  on  the  northern 
branch  of  the  Canton- Wuchang  railway, 
when  an  attempt  to  run  trains  under  mili¬ 
tary  guard  was  foiled  by  the  strikers 
throwing  themselves  on  the  rails  until 
more  than  a  hundred  had  been  injured  and 
killed. 

The  labor  unions  are  now  backing  a  list 
of  nineteen  demands,  ranging  all  the  way 
from  recognition  of  the  right  of  labor  to 
organize  to  the  obligation  of  the  govern¬ 
ment  to  provide  adequate  education  to  all 
workers.  These  they  desire  to  see  inserted 
in  the  permanent  constitution  of  the  re¬ 
public,  as  soon  as  that  document  is  framed. 

The  Christian  contribution.  —  While 
many  of  these  demands  of  labor  will  not 
be  realized  at  the  present  time,  and  much 
labor  unrest  is  a  result  of  demagogic  ap¬ 
peal  by  unworthy  leaders,  the  growth  of  a 
labor  movement  to  protect  China’s  mil¬ 
lions  against  a  rapacious  industrialism  is 
a  phenomenon  that  cannot  be  ignored.  No 
enterprise  that  hopes  to  share  largely  in 
the  shaping  of  the  future  China  can  neg¬ 
lect  this. 

Rightly,  the  Christian  forces  are  bestir¬ 
ring  themselves  to  deal  with  the  matter. 
The  meeting  of  the  World’s  Christian  Stu¬ 
dent  Federation,  held  in  Peking  in  1922, 


EASTERN  ASIA 


17 


was  marked  by  earnest  discussion  of  the 
problems  of  industry.  And  at  the  National 
Christian  Conference,  held  in  the  same 
year,  one  of  the  three  subjects  that  were 
brought  to  the  floor  for  direct  action  by 
the  delegates  was  the  adoption  of  a  reso¬ 
lution  pledging  the  church  in  China  to 
work  for  the  ultimate  establishment  of  the 
labor  standards  set  by  the  League  of  Na¬ 
tions,  and  for  the  immediate  adoption  of 
this  platform: 

1.  No  employment  of  children  under 
twelve  years  of  age. 

2.  One  day’s  rest  in  seven. 

3.  Safeguarding  the  worker’s  health  by 
the  limitation  of  working  hours,  improve¬ 
ment  of  working  conditions,  and  installa¬ 
tion  of  safety  devices. 

Nor  is  this  concern  to  confine  itself  to 
the  passing  of  resolutions.  Already  the 
Chambers  of  Commerce  of  Peking  and 
Chefoo,  important  industrial  centers,  have 
been  induced  to  adopt  the  church’s  pro¬ 
gram  for  their  industries.  The  same  ef¬ 
fort  will  be  carried  to  the  other  parts  of 
China. 

New  China’s  Education 

The  word  of  an  American  thinker. — “We 
talk  glibly  about  the  importance  of  the 
problem  of  the  Pacific,  and  even  the 
schoolboy  can  quote  Seward,  Hay,  and 
Taft.  But  what  do  we  suppose  this  prob¬ 
lem  to  be?  One  that  concerns  a  super¬ 
ficial  waste  of  mobile  waters?  No,  the 
real  problem  of  the  Pacific  is  the  problem 
of  the  transformation  of  the  mind  of 
China,  of  the  capacity  of  the  oldest  and 
most  complicated  civilization  of  the  globe 
to  remake  itself  into  the  new  forms  re¬ 
quired  by  the  impact  of  immense  alien 
forces.” 

John  Dewey  said  that. 

Difficulties  to  be  overcome. — But  when 
you  attempt  “to  transform  the  mind  of 
China”  you  face  the  most  difficult  educa¬ 
tional  task  in  history.  Only  the  necessity 
of  its  accomplishment,  which  Professor 
Dewey  has  stated  so  clearly,  nerves  men 
to  attempt  it. 

What  are  these  difficulties? 


She  is  a  living  symbol  of  China’s  dire  poverty 
— a  rag  picker 

1.  There  is  the  poverty  of  the  people. 
Investigation  has  shown  that,  in  Shang¬ 
hai,  with  the  cost  of  living  demanding  an 
income  for  a  single  man  of  at  least  $11.85 
(Mexican)  a  month  and  for  a  family  of 
five  of  at  least  $21.34,  more  than  40  per 
cent  of  the  population  live  below  this  line. 
In  North  China  more  than  half  the  people 
live  below  a  standard  that  is  20  per  cent 
under  that  in  Shanghai.  Such  poverty  re¬ 
quires  every  possible  contribution  from 
every  possible  hand,  and  cannot  leave  chil¬ 
dren  in  school  long  enough  to  give  them 
even  the  rudiments  of  an  education. 

2.  There  is  the  difficulty  of  the  language. 
The  substitution  of  a  new  written  form  of 
Chinese  for  the  old  classical  style  (see  the 
section  on  “White  Language”)  materially 
reduces  the  time  needed  to  make  one  a 
master  of  ordinary  literary  forms,  but 
Chinese,  without  an  alphabet,  remains  a 
language  requiring  intense  concentration. 

3.  There  is  the  difficulty  of  conserva¬ 
tism.  To  be  sure,  the  suspicion  with  which 
modern  education  was  once  regarded  has 
largely  passed  in  China.  But  some  re¬ 
mains,  particularly  in  reference  to  the  edu¬ 
cation  of  girls. 


18 


WORLD  SERVICE 


Two  of  the  100,000,000  Chinese  children  who 
should  be  in  school 


4.  There  is  the  difficulty  of  the  mass. 
With  at  least  100,000,000  who  should  be 
in  school,  it  can  be  seen  that  the  provision 
of  teachers  and  equipment  will  require 
years  and  large  appropriations. 

5.  There  is  the  difficulty  inherent  in 
changing  educational  standards.  However 
desirous  Chinese  may  be  for  a  new  type  of 
education,  better  pedagogy  does  not  come 
overnight.  A  majority  of  the  primary 
schools  are  still  of  a  miscellaneous  nature 
that  makes  their  work  of  problematic 
value. 

Government  plans  and  performance. — In 
the  new  China  there  are  scores  of  enthu¬ 
siasts  who  are  working  to  overcome  these 
difficulties  and  transform  China’s  mind 
with  a  modern  type  of  education.  Many 
of  these  have  become  educational  special¬ 
ists  in  postgraduate  schools  in  America, 
Europe,  and  Japan.  Some  of  them  have 
entered  the  Ministry  of  Education.  Under 
their  influence  a  well-balanced  educational 
program  has  been  adopted. 

This  program  provides  for  universal 
education  in  a  system  that  begins  in  the 
kindergarten,  passes  through  eight  or  nine 
years  in  the  lower  and  higher  primary 
school,  through  four  more  years  in  the 


middle  school,  then  branches  off  to  normal 
school  or  junior  college,  senior  college,  and 
university  technical  school.  Education, 
at  least  in  the  lower  primary  school,  is 
supposed  to  be  compulsory. 

Nowhere  is  there  a  better  balanced  na¬ 
tional  program  of  education.  When  it  is 
finally  carried  into  effect  it  will  give  China 
one  of  the  best  systems  of  public  schools  in 
the  world.  Up  to  date,  however,  so  much 
of  the  national  revenue  has  gone  for  the 
support  of  China’s  militarists  that  almost 
nothing  has  remained  wherewith  to  bring 
this  plan  into  being.  Most  of  the  national 
program  remains  on  paper. 

A  false  impression  is  created,  however, 
if  this  failure  to  achieve  all  the  ends  in 
view  is  emphasized.  Rather,  it  should  be 
pointed  out  that,  working  almost  without 
funds,  either  to  provide  school  buildings 
or  to  pay  teachers,  more  than  4,000,000 
students  have  actually  been  enrolled  in 
public  schools,  while  a  decade  ago  there 
were  certainly  not  more  than  a  million  in 
schools  of  any  kind.  Also,  there  are  200 
government  normal  schools,  with  an  aver¬ 
age  enrolment  of  150,  insuring  that  the 
area  of  educational  operations  can  con¬ 
stantly  be  broadened. 

The  Christian  contribution. — From  the 
first,  Christian  workers  have  recognized 
their  obligation  to  assist  in  the  transfor¬ 
mation  of  the  mind  of  China.  Indeed,  it  is 
not  too  much  to  say  that  such  measure  of 
transformation  as  has  been  achieved  is 
largely  the  result  of  the  service  rendered 
by  the  pioneer  schools  established  by  the 
missionaries. 

It  is  clear  that  the  church  can  never 
hope  to  provide  even  rudimentary  educa¬ 
tion  for  100,000,000  young  Chinese.  Nor 
should  it.  That  is  the  government’s  job. 
The  task  confronting  the  Christian  forces 
is  the  conducting  of  schools  that  shall  set 
the  models  for  all  other  schools.  By  mak¬ 
ing  these  model  schools  positively  Chris¬ 
tian,  the  Christian  touch  can  be  kept  on  all 
Chinese  education,  even  after  the  over¬ 
whelming  majority  of  schools  are  sup¬ 
ported  by  the  government. 


EASTERN  ASIA 


19 


Methodist  Schools  in 
China 


Teaching  China’s  young  ideas  how  to  read,  in  the  higher  primary 
school  at  Chungking 


The  sort  of  schools. — 

In  confronting  its  pres¬ 
ent  educational  opportu¬ 
nity  in  China  the  Metho¬ 
dist  Episcopal  Church  is 
seeking  to  do  just  this — 
not  to  make  many  schools, 
but  to  make  good  schools. 

One  of  the  last  statements 
made  by  Bishop  Wilson 
S.  Lewis  declared : 

“Faulty  principles  of 
pedagogy,  incompetent 
teachers,  illy  equipped  ed¬ 
ucational  institutions  con¬ 
stitute  an  unspeakable  menace  to  the 
propagation  of  the  true  religion  of  Jesus 
Christ.  Illogical  and  unadapted  courses 
of  study  are  a  reproach  to  our  intelligence 
and  our  piety.  Our  opportunity  is  to  build 
models  of  such  excellence  both  in  type  and 
quality  as  to  challenge  the  best  yet  known. 
One  institution  well  located,  well  equipped, 
thoroughly  furnished,  is  worth  an  unlim¬ 


ited  number  of  those  which  merit  the  title 
of  ‘sham.’  ” 

The  Methodist  program  of  education 
follows  that  laid  down  by  the  government. 
There  are  about  1,200  schools  of  all 
grades,  including  those  conducted  by  the 
Woman’s  Foreign  Missionary  Society. 
Thirty  thousand  pupils  are  in  the  lower 
and  about  6,000  in  the  higher  primary 
schools.  Three  thousand  are  in  the  middle 
schools,  a  term  corresponding  to  the 
American  high  school.  Seven  hundred  are 
in  college.  The  rest  are  in  technical  train¬ 
ing  schools  of  various  kinds. 

The  crown  of  the  school  system  is  to  be 
found  in  the  union  universities,  in  which 
the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  co-oper¬ 
ates  at  Peking,  Tsinan,  Nanking,  Chengtu, 
and  Foochow  with  other  American,  Cana¬ 
dian,  and  British  bodies  to  provide  as  high 
a  type  of  education  as  is  to  be  found  in 
China  today.  The  colleges  for  women  in 
Peking,  Nanking,  and  Foochow  also  are 
outstanding  institutions.  Here  is  Chris¬ 
tianity’s  supreme  opportunity  to  put  its 
imprint  upon  the  best  educated  of  China’s 
future  leaders. 


The  sort  of  students. — What  sort  of  stu¬ 
dents  come  from  these  schools? 


A  Chinese  Christian  girl 


They  are  well  educated.  Many  of  them, 
in  later  study  abroad  have  taken  high 
rank.  Many  are  filling  the  most  exacting 
posts  in  China  today. 


20 


WORLD  SERVICE 


A  part  of  the  campus 


They  are  patriots.  Not  only  in  such 
tests  as  that  of  the  Student  Movement  of 
1919,  but  in  the  deeper  test  of  continued 
national  services  at  personal  loss,  many 
of  these  students  and  graduates  have 
proven  their  calibre. 

They  are  Christians.  Even  in  the  col¬ 
leges,  which  enrol  their  students  after  the 


They  are  well-educated,  patriots,  Christians — 
leaders  for  new  China.  To  furnish  their 
kind  to  China  is  Christianity’s 
supreme  opportunity 


first  formative  years,  it  is  almost  always 
the  case  that  the  majority  of  the  graduates 
are  Christians.  In  the  North  China  Con¬ 
ference,  for  example,  a  survey  showed  that 
out  of  seventy-four  preachers,  thirty-five 
were  graduates  of  Peking  University. 

In  government  service,  in  commerce,  in 
philanthropic  leadership,  as  well  as  in  all 
forms  of  service  of  an  avowedly  Christian 
character,  the  products  of  Methodist 
schools  are  contributing  much  to  the  build¬ 
ing  of  a  new  China. 

Principles  of  development. — The  lines 
along  which  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church  must  proceed  to  develop  its  schools 
in  China  have  been  suggested  in  the  words 
of  Bishop  Lewis.  Not  the  number  of 
schools,  but  quality! 

It  cannot  be  said  that  there  are  yet 
enough  Methodist  schools.  In  not  a  single 
territory  is  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church  able  to  provide  an  elementary  edu¬ 
cation  even  for  those  children  of  its  mem¬ 
bership  not  otherwise  provided  for.  It  is 
still  necessary  to  increase  the  number  of 
schools  under  Methodist  auspices. 

Much  of  the  cost  of  this  development, 
however,  will  be  borne  by  the  Chinese.  The 
day  is  long  past  when  it  is  necessary  to 
pay  parents  in  order  to  secure  students. 
There  is  not  a  single  school  in  China,  so 
far  as  has  been  reported,  but  is  turning 
away  prospective  students.  Increasingly 
it  has  become  the  policy  to  require  of  any 


EASTERN  ASIA 


21 


of  Nanking  University 


community  a  substantial  contribution 
toward  the  building  and  equipment  of  a 
school  and  the  salary  of  the  teacher  before 
a  new  school  is  opened. 

There  are  also  some  gaps  in  the  educa¬ 
tional  system  that  must  be  filled.  Particu¬ 


Distribution  of  Methodist  Episcopal  educational 
institutions  in  China 


larly  must  there  be  more  adequate  provi¬ 
sion  for  the  training  of  teachers,  and  the 
raising  of  the  grade  of  the  schools  prepar¬ 
ing  preachers  and  other  Christian  workers 
is  an  immediate  need,  upon  which  the 
quality  of  our  ministry  depends. 


With  all  this,  the  church  does  not  forget 
that  its  duty  is  to  provide  models  that  shall 
commend  Christian  standards  of  education 
to  the  China  that  is  to  be.  For  this  pur¬ 
pose  educational  experts  are  required,  who 
are  called  upon  to  supervise  closely  the 
work  of  the  schools  already  established 
and  bring  up  all  standards  of  work. 

This  constant  rise  in  grade,  extending 
from  the  lower  primary  school  to  the  uni¬ 
versity,  with  the  extension  of  common 
school  privileges  to  all  the  Methodist  con¬ 
stituency,  can  be  said  to  comprise  the  im- 


A  scientist  in  the  making — student  of  organic 
chemistry  at  Nanking 


22  WORLD  SERVICE 


Poverty  and  disease  stalk  hand  in  hand — Chinese  women 
picking  rags  in  a  dump 


mediate  development  before  Methodist 
schools  of  China. 

New  China’s  Health 

The  menace  of  disease. — Drastic  effort 
for  the  betterment  of  the  health  of  China’s 
people  likewise  comprises  one  of  the  prob¬ 
lems  in  the  making  of  new  China.  While 
definite  statistics  are  lacking,  the  ravages 
of  disease  are  known  to  lower  greatly  the 
potential  powers  of  the  Chinese. 

Cholera,  plague,  smallpox,  dysentery, 
leprosy,  varied  forms  of  fever — -these  are 
the  diseases  that  are  popularly  thought  of 
in  connection  with  China.  It  is  true  that 
they  exist  in  strength,  taking  a  high  toll 
of  life  annually.  But  the  most  devastat¬ 
ing  of  all  ills  is  tuberculosis. 

In  the  city  of  Shanghai,  from  which 
fairly  accurate  medical  returns  are  obtain¬ 
able,  eleven  per  cent  of  the  deaths  in  a 
single  year  are  found  to  have  been  caused 
by  the  white  plague.  Twenty-five  hospi¬ 
tals  elsewhere  report  24.5  per  cent  of  their 
patients  as  tubercular,  although  some  of 
these  institutions  do  not  admit  pulmonary 
cases.  Out  of  a  hundred  students  selected 
at  random  from  a  lower  school  in  West 
China,  only  forty-six  were  from  families 
that  had  no  immediate  tubercular  history. 

These  are  but  indications  of  the  preva¬ 
lence  of  this  disease.  It  makes  its  way  into 
all  ranks  of  society.  Many  have  been  the 
ministers  of  the  gospel  who  have  been 
taken  by  it  from  their  work.  And  it  is  an 
axiom  of  history  that  you  cannot  build  a 
strong  nation  on  weak  bodies. 


Preventable  famines.  — 
Again  and  again  the  West 
has  been  roused  by  news 
of  famine  in  China.  The 
last  appeal  came  in  1920, 
when  most  of  North  China 
faced  starvation,  and  the 
response  was  more  gener¬ 
ous  than  ever  before. 

It  is  not  for  China’s 
own  good,  however,  to  go 
ahead  depending  upon  for¬ 
eign  philanthropy  to  keep 
her  children  alive.  Some 
causes  of  famine,  such  as 
drought  extending  over  two  years,  are 
beyond  control,  and  can  only  be  dealt  with 
by  an  improvement  in  communications 
that  make  it  possible  to  ship  food  easily 
from  one  part  of  the  country  to  another. 

Other  famines  need  never  have  been. 
With  water  in  the  rivers,  people  have 
starved.  Others  have  gone  hungry  while 
huge  tracts  remained  uncultivated.  Mod¬ 
ern  irrigation  and  methods  of  dry  farming 
can  contribute  much  to  overcoming  these 
conditions. 

Unguarded  childhood. — One  needs  al¬ 
ways  to  beware  of  statistics  as  to  infant 
mortality  in  China.  It  has  been  stated 
that,  of  seven  children  born,  not  more 
than  three  live  to  be  a  year  of  age.  There 
is  no  competent  authority  for  such  a  state¬ 
ment,  but  it  is  probably  true  that,  with 
the  exception  of  parts  of  interior  Africa 


Awaiting  the  distribution  of  supplies  from 
America,  in  the  famine  area 


EASTERN  ASIA 


23 


Dr.  Ida  Kahn’s  hospital  at  Nanchang — An  institution  of  the 
Woman’s  Foreign  Missionary  Society 


and  among  some  tribes 
of  uncivilized  Indians  in 
interior  South  America, 
the  death  rate  among  in¬ 
fants  is  higher  in  China 
than  anywhere  else  in  the 
world. 

It  is  grotesquely  cruel 
to  say  that  such  a  sacri¬ 
fice  is  the  only  thing  that 
keeps  China  from  hopeless 
over  -  population.  While 
vast  stretches  remain  as 
sparsely  settled  as  the 
western  states  of  America, 
and  methods  are  available 
wherewith  to  feed  all  this 
additional  population,  it  is  clear  that  here 
is  a  force  being  wasted  that  China  needs. 

The  Christian  contribution. — With  the 
doctor,  the  nurse,  the  hospital,  the  dis¬ 
pensary,  the  traveling  health  exhibit,  the 
city  sanitary  campaign,  the  agricultural¬ 
ist,  the  forester,  the  orphanage,  the  train¬ 
ing  class  for  mothers,  the  day  nursery,  and 
with  many  other  aids,  the  Christian  church 
is  coming  to  bear  its  part  in  conserving 
the  health  of  China. 

In  part  it  does  this  out  of  devotion  to 
the  health  of  all  peoples.  A  disease  that 
gathers  power  in  a  region  where  there  are 
no  competent  doctors  may  spread,  as  did 
the  influenza,  until  it  snuffs  out  lives  all 
over  the  globe.  But  even  the  pneumonic 
plague,  the  last  disease  known  to  medical 
science  with  a  mortality  record  of  100  per 
cent,  was  held  by  the  devotion  of  medical 
missionaries  and  their  associates  to  a  nar¬ 
row  confine. 

In  part  the  church  does  this  out  of  de¬ 
votion  to  China.  It  works  to  bring  China 
the  abundant  life  that  Christ  has  offered 
all  men.  And  surely  no  conception  of  an 
abundant  life  can  include  hungry  stom¬ 
achs,  diseased  bodies,  or  dying  babies. 

Methodism  and  China’s  Health 

The  work  of  the  medicine  kit. — In  con¬ 
serving  the  health  of  China  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church  is  bearing  a  notable 
part.  More  than  sixty  doctors  and  nurses 
are  on  the  field,  beside  the  Chinese  medical 


assistants  who  are  indispensable  for  the 
conduct  of  hospital  and  dispensary. 

In  Shanhaikuan,  where  the  Great  Wall 
runs  into  the  sea;  in  Peking;  in  Tientsin; 
in  Taian,  at  the  foot  of  China’s  sacred 
mountain;  in  Nanking;  in  Wuhu;  in  Kiu- 
kiang;  in  Nanchang;  in  Chungking;  in 
Tzechow;  in  Futsing;  in  Chengtu ;  in  Chin- 
kiang ;  in  Foochow ;  in  Kutien ;  in  Mintsing ; 
in  Yenping;  in  Yungan;  in  Hankong,  the 
port  for  Hinghwa;  and  in  Sienyu,  there 
are  Methodist  hospitals  or  major  dispen¬ 
saries.  Some  of  these  are  conducted  by  the 
Woman’s  Foreign  Missionary  Society;  the 
others  by  the  Board  of  Foreign  Missions. 

The  work  varies  all  the  way  from  the 
Hopkins  Memorial  Hospital  in  Peking, 
with  its  many  departments,  pronounced 
by  experts  the  best  church  hospital  in 
North  China,  to  rude  sheds  in  which  hun¬ 
dreds  await  devoted  doctors  with  the  salt 
solution  that  saves  from  the  dread  cholera. 
In  some  places  it  has  been  found  possible 
to  open  dispensaries,  staffed  by  Chinese 
trained  in  some  central  hospital,  in  which 
simple  remedies  are  provided  for  regions 
at  a  distance. 

For  many  years  the  medical  missionary 
was  the  surest  point  of  contact  be¬ 
tween  the  Chinese  and  the  gospel.  His 
service  in  that  respect  is  still  of  mighty 
value.  But  he  also  stands  as  a  constant 
proof  that  Christianity  cannot  see  men 
anywhere  in  misery  without  desiring  to 
help. 


24 


WORLD  SERVICE 


The  gospel  of  the  plow. — In  the  scientific 
study  of  new  methods  of  agriculture,  and 
in  object  lessons  given  by  agricultural  mis¬ 
sionaries  in  North  China  and  Hinghwa, 
the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  is  seeking 
to  do  its  part  in  lifting  the  standard  of  liv¬ 
ing  comfort  in  China. 

The  School  of  Agriculture  and  Forestry 
of  the  University  of  Nanking  has  already 
achieved  national  prominence,  and  the 
similar  school  to  be  developed  in  connec¬ 
tion  with  Peking  University  will  be  equally 
valuable.  Extension  work  and  experiment 
stations  are  being  started  in  Fukien  and 
are  projected  for  West  China.  Early  mis¬ 
sionaries  brought  to  China  many  articles 
of  today’s  ordinary  diet,  and  today’s  mis¬ 
sionaries  are  making  more  valuable  pres¬ 
ent  products  of  China’s  soil. 

It  is  too  early  as  yet  to  recount  the  out¬ 
come  of  the  agricultural  experiments  now 
in  process.  But  a  school  like  that  at  Nan¬ 
king,  by  improving  the  quality  of  the  cot¬ 
ton  raised  in  China  and  by  eliminating 
unhealthy  silk  worms,  has  given  an  en¬ 
tirely  new  outlook  to  those  two  basic  in¬ 
dustries  within  the  past  five  years  and 
large  future  development  is  certain. 

If  the  millions  of  Chinese  dependent 
upon  cotton  growing  or  silk  weaving  find 
a  better  market  for  their  products,  and  an 
increased  output  for  that  market,  thereby 
bettering  their  condition,  they  have  the 
service  of  such  a  school  largely  to  thank. 


“Cleanliness  is  next  to  godliness” — not  a  verse 
in  the  Bible,  indeed,  but  always  a  preach¬ 
ment  of  Christian  missions 


The  first  modem  cotton  gin  to  reach  China — 
imported  by  the  Agricultural  Department 
of  Nanking  University 


Practical  help  of  this  kind  in  solving  the 
problems  of  new  China  is  finding  recogni¬ 
tion  throughout  the  country. 

Touching  child  life.' — When  it  comes  to 
service  for  children  the  story  is  much  too 
long  to  compress  into  this  volume.  Leaving 
out  of  account  all  the  hospitals  and  all  the 
orphanages  and  all  the  kindergartens  and 
all  the  primary  schools,  one  is  tempted  to 
linger  over  the  story  of  the  ministry  of 
such  an  institution  as  the  Ida  Gracey 
Home  for  Crippled  Children  in  Kiukiang 
or  such  an  industrial  school  as  has  been 
conducted  in  Foochow.  The  temptation 
cannot  be  resisted  to  mention  a  single  bit 
of  service  in  one  city  that  requires  no  in¬ 
stitution  whatever. 

Every  sunshiny  day  in  the  city  of 
Hinghwa— -and  most  of  the  days  there 
are  sunshiny — a  procession  makes  its  way 
into  some  part  of  the  city.  After  screens 
have  been  set  up  in  some  safe  spot  beside 
the  street  mothers  are  invited  to  bring 
their  babies  for  a  proper  bathing.  At  first 
the  innovation  was  looked  upon  with  sus¬ 
picion.  Today  the  mothers  of  Hinghwa 
overtax  its  resources.  They  are  glad  to 
provide  the  cost  of  the  service.  And  the 


EASTERN  ASIA 


25 


babies  of  that  city  are  being  cared  for  as 
they  never  have  been  in  the  past ! 

A  simple  act?  Yes,  but  just  one  sample 
of  the  way  in  which  Methodism  is  doing 
its  part  in  every  realm  of  China’s  life  to 
look  after  the  welfare  of  China’s  people. 
For  it  is  all  a  contribution  to  the  making 
of  a  new  land. 

New  China’s  Culture 

“White  Language.” — In  his  Outline  of 
History,  Mr.  H.  G.  Wells  gives  more 
space  to  the  written  language  of  China 
than  to  the  American  Civil  War.  He  does 
so,  of  course,  because  he  holds  that  China’s 
language  has  had  the  larger  influence 
upon  the  course  of  humanity.  Probably 
he  is  right.  If  ever  a  language  was  de¬ 
signed  to  withhold  knowledge  from  the 
majority  of  men,  the  ancient  Chinese 
classical  form  of  writing,  known  as  wen-li, 
was.  No  man  could  be  said  to  have  mas¬ 
tered  its  intricacies  in  less  than  twenty 
years  of  intensive  study. 

For  years  men  have  known  that  a  new 
China,  founded  on  a  body  of  citizens  capa¬ 
ble  of  rendering  informed  judgments,  was 
impossible  as  long  as  the  ability  to  read 
and  write  was  confined  to  ten  per  cent 
of  the  population.  But  so  strong  was  the 
hold  of  the  iven-li,  hallowed  by  use  by  Con¬ 
fucius,  Mencius,  and  the  sages  of  thirty 
centuries,  that  all  attempts  at  reform  were 
baffled. 

In  1916  a  little  group  of  enthusiasts,  led 
by  Professor  Hu  Suh  of  the  National  Uni¬ 
versity  of  Peking,  began  to  write  in  a  form 
totally  different  from  the  wen-li.  No  one 
spoke  wen-li.  From  the  standpoint  of  speech 
it  was  as  dead  a  language  as  the  Latin 
in  which  Europe  wrote  its  medieval  litera¬ 
ture.  Three  hundred  million  Chinese 
speak  Mandarin.  Why  not  write  as  these 
speak? 

To  this  new  form  of  writing  was  com¬ 
monly  given  the  name,  pei-hua.  Literally 
that  means  “white  language,”  the  sugges¬ 
tion  being  of  the  whiteness  of  the  light 
of  the  sun.  The  new  form  is  designed,  in 
other  words,  to  produce  a  literature  that 
the  ordinary  Chinese  can,  in  the  Western 
phrase,  “see  through.”  Despite  the  fact 
3 


that  it  employs  the  traditional  Chinese 
characters,  it  will  probably  prove  as  possi¬ 
ble  to  give  the  rudiments  of  an  education 
in  this  medium  in  the  few  years  spent  in 
a  primary  school  as  in  the  same  number 
of  years  in  Western  schools  using  the  Ro¬ 
man  alphabet. 

Renaissance  or  revolution? — Naturally, 
the  appearance  of  the  pei-hua  aroused  the 
opposition  of  the  old  Chinese  literati.  The 
young  reformers  were  accused  of  under¬ 
mining  the  foundations  of  Chinese  culture. 
The  Chinese  is,  however,  as  reasonable  a 
creature  as  lives..  And  when  poetry,  phi¬ 
losophy,  history,  fiction,  and  all  other  im¬ 
aginable  literary  works  began  to  come 
from  the  presses  in  the  new  form,  and 
were  found  as  expressive  as  the  old,  pei- 
hua  soon  won  its  way  into  general  use.  At 
the  present  time  most  of  the  books,  prac¬ 
tically  all  of  the  periodicals,  including 
newspapers,  and  an  enormous  amount  of 
miscellaneous  literature  in  tract  form, 
are  being  issued  in  pei-hua. 

This  has  completely  changed  the  cul¬ 
tural  outlook  in  China  in  as  short  a  time  as 
since  the  Centenary  was  launched  !  Ponder 
that  statement.  It  is  probable  that  histo¬ 
rians  five  centuries  hence  will  put  it  down 
as  one  of  the  few  great  facts  of  our  times. 
The  number  able  to  read  a  Chinese  news¬ 
paper  has  been  at  least  doubled  since  the 
world  war  closed  !  And  the  increase  in  the 
number  of  literate  Chinese  will,  for  a  time, 
be  in  geometrical  proportion  as  the  num- 


Young  China  is  thinking.  Here  he  is  getting 
food  for  thought,  in  the  newspaper  room 
of  the  only  free  library  in  Peking 


26 


WORLD  SERVICE 


ber  of  schools  and  pupils  increases,  and 
the  time  necessary  to  learn  to  read  and 
write  decreases. 

The  result  of  flinging  these  doors  open 
to  millions  of  Chinese  has  been  compared 
to  Europe’s  Renaissance,  those  golden 
days  when  men’s  eyes  were  opened  to  new 
realms,  and  they  went  running  out,  men¬ 
tally  and  physically,  to  the  discovery  of 
new  worlds.  But  China’s  literary  leaders 
refuse  to  be  satisfied  with  that  word.  They 
are  filling  the  publications  that  are  spring¬ 
ing  up  with  the  world’s  latest  political, 
philosophical,  and  scientific  thought,  and 
they  insist  that  the  result  will  be,  not  a 
renaissance,  but  a  revolution ;  an  en¬ 
tirely  new  culture,  not  a  rebirth  of  an  old 
one.  And  why  not? 

What  is  Young  China  thinking? — The 
outward  and  visible  sign  of  this  inner  and 
spiritual  change  in  the  thought-life  of 
China  is  the  crush  of  magazines  to  the 
news  stands.  Many  of  them  die  a-borning. 
Others  attract  large  circulations,  and  are 
read  throughout  the  country.  There  is 
scarcely  a  student  center  that  does  not 
produce  its  papers. 

What  do  these  new  periodicals  offer 
China?  Better  than  any  attempt  to  de¬ 
scribe  them  is  to  list  the  table  of  contents 
of  a  single  issue  of  a  single  magazine, 
picked  at  random  from  a  newsstand  that 
bore  at  least  forty  others  much  like  it. 
This  was  a  magazine  issued  by  students  in 
a  government  school.  It  has  a  large  cir¬ 
culation.  Compare  its  contents  with  those 


Where  Chinese  opinion  is  moulded-— Press  room 
of  “The  Commercial  Press,”  Shanghai 


of  the  periodicals  to  be  found  on  the  news¬ 
stands  of  America,  or  better  still,  with  the 
student  publications  of  the  United  States. 
This  can  be  taken  as  a  fair  sample  of  what 
thousands  of  Chinese  are  reading  today : 

The  Christ  Before  Jesus. 

The  Foundations  of  Anarchy,  and  the  Society  of 
Anarchy. 

Opposed  to  the  Life  of  Individualism. 

The  Field  of  Psychology. 

Industry  in  Relation  to  Livelihood. 

Woman’s  Rights  and  the  Law. 

The  Present  Day  Power  of  Democracy. 

The  Building  of  Public  Opinion. 

The  Methods  of  Sociology. 

The  Christian  contribution.  —  Is  the 
church  to  stand  idly  by  while  the  cultural 
life  of  new  China  is  being  formed?  By  no 
means.  In  fact,  to  the  church’s  honor  be 
it  said  that  it  has  been  experimenting  in 
these  fields  for  years. 

It  was  the  Mandarin  version  of  the 
Bible,  translated  in  an  effort  to  give  the 
Scriptures  to  a  larger  audience  than  could 
read  the  wen-li  version,  that  first  showed 
the  possibility  of  producing  real  literature 
in  the  same  form  in  which  most  Chinese 
were  speaking.  It  has  been  the  church’s 
insistence  upon  the  necessity  of  a  liter¬ 
ate  membership  that  has  kept  this  prob¬ 
lem  of  an  easily-mastered  cultural  medium 
to  the  fore.  The  present  triumph  of  the 
pei-hua,  while  it  rightfully  belongs  to  Chi¬ 
nese  writers,  owes  much  to  the  pioneering 
of  the  Christian  church. 

Likewise,  the  church  has  a  responsi¬ 
bility  in  the  face  of  certain  kinds  of  litera¬ 
ture  that  are  flooding  the  Chinese  mar¬ 
kets.  The  production  and  distribution  of 
Christian  literature,  although  vigorously 
promoted  by  Bible  societies  and  publish¬ 
ing  agencies,  has  not  yet  attained  a  scale 
where  it  can  be  said  to  touch  more  than 
the  fringes  of  the  Chinese  market.  On 
the  other  hand,  continental  scepticism  in 
all  its  forms  is  being  translated  in  large 
editions,  and  great  numbers  of  question¬ 
able  novels  are  being  sold. 

This  moment,  while  this  huge  new 
group  of  readers  is  forming  its  habits  of 
reading  (for  it  must  be  remembered  that 
the  addition  of  a  single  per  cent  to  the 
number  of  literate  Chinese  increases  the 


EASTERN  ASIA 


27 


total  reading  public  by  4,000,000)  is  the 
time  of  all  times  for  the  church  to  stress 
the  distribution  of  Christian  literature. 

Methodist  literature  in  China. — In  this 
effort  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church 
must  bear  its  part.  For  years  the  Metho¬ 
dist  Publishing  House  has  been  one  of 
the  outstanding  Christian  agencies  in  this 
field.  The  Mission  Book  Company,  a 
union  distributing  agency  in  which  the 
Methodist  Publishing  House  has  a  part¬ 
nership,  sells  more  than  half  of  the  total 
Christian  literature  distributed,  leaving 
out  of  the  account  the  sale  of  Bibles  and 
Scripture  portions. 

Behind  the  publishing  and  distributing 
agencies  is  the  Methodist  editorial  force, 
composed  entirely  of  Chinese,  under  the 
direction  of  Dr.  Lo  Ren-yen.  This  highly 
efficient  group  produces  a  weekly  news¬ 
paper  in  co-operation  with  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church,  South,  and  a  monthly 
magazine  that  circulates  among  the  young 
Christians  far  beyond  Methodist  bound¬ 
aries. 

Miss  Laura  M.  White,  of  the  Woman’s 
Foreign  Missionary  Society,  has  also  gath¬ 
ered  a  woman’s  staff  composed  almost  en¬ 
tirely  of  graduates  of  Methodist  schools 
for  girls,  who,  working  in  conjunction 
with  the  Christian  Literature  Society, 
produce  a  monthly  that  has  been  nick¬ 
named  ‘‘The  Ladies’  Home  Journal  of 
China.” 

In  addition  to  periodicals,  both  these 
editorial  staffs  bring  out  a  large  amount 
of  pamphlet  and  book  literature.  All  of 
it  is  steadily  winning  recognition. 

Spreading  the  Scriptures. — In  no  part  of 
the  world  has  the  work  of  the  Bible  soci¬ 
eties  been  more  effective.  The  American 
Bible  Society  has  as  its  agent  a  minister 
of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church.  Un¬ 
der  its  direction  1,987,326  Bibles  and  por¬ 
tions  of  Scripture  were  distributed  during 
1922,  very  little  of  it  without  some  pay¬ 
ment. 

Some  hint  of  the  vast  influence  of  this 
work  may  be  obtained  from  this  report, 
but  one  of  many  that  have  come  in  during 
the  present  year : 


The  American  Bible  Society’s  wheelbarrow 
and  colporteur  in  China 


“Last  year  when  I  visited  this  village 
and  opened  an  outstation  the  Taoist  priest 
was  the  first  inquirer,  although  he  was 
living  in  a  temple.  Later,  I  stayed  a 
couple  of  weeks  there  and  he  often  came 
over  to  see  me.  He  read  very  well,  so  I 
gave  him  some  tracts  and  small  books. 
We  prayed  together  and  I  started  to 
teach  him  the  Bible,  but  very  soon  I  dis¬ 
covered  that  he  understood  nearly  every¬ 
thing  that  I  taught  him.  The  acts  of  our 
Saviour  he  knew;  why  he  came  and  died; 
and  the  baptismal  act.  So  I  asked  if  he 
had  read  the  gospel  before.  ‘Only  once,’ 
he  said,  ‘twenty  years  ago.’  ‘How  do  you 
know  so  much  about  the  gospel  then?’  I 
asked.  ‘Some  men  belonging  to  your  doc¬ 
trine  from  the  province  of  Shansi  went 
through  here  at  that  time  preaching  the 
gospel  and  selling  books.  I  heard  them 
preach  and  wanted  to  buy  a  small 
Matthew’s  gospel,  but  one  of  the  men  said 
that  I  should  rather  buy  a  New  Testament. 
I  replied  that  I  could  not  afford  it,  but  he 
said  it  did  not  matter;  so  he  gave  me  a 
New  Testament  and  I  gave  him  eight 
cash.  At  the  first  I  did  not  understand 
anything  and  I  thought  to  throw  the  book 
away;  but  I  kept  on  reading,  and  slowly 


28 


WORLD  SERVICE 


Buddhism,  at  the  hands  of  its  parasitic  priest¬ 
hood,  is  degenerating  into  idolatrous 
superstition 


I  began  to  understand;  and  now  I  know 
that  this  book  talks  about  the  true  God 
and  that  Jesus  is  my  Saviour.  At  first, 
when  I  did  not  understand  so  much,  I  wor¬ 
shipped  a  tablet  on  which  I  had  written 
Shangti  Lao  Tien  Ie,  (Jehovah,  Lord  of 
Heaven)  ;  but  now  I  have  thrown  that 
away  and  only  worship  Jesus.’  ” 

New  China’s  Soul 

The  fundamental  lack.— In  considering 
what  must  be  provided  for  the  making 
of  the  new  China  mention  has  been  made 
of  the  stabilizing  of  government,  the  de¬ 
velopment  of  natural  resources,  the  build¬ 
ing  of  industrial  life,  the  safeguarding 
of  health,  the  providing  of  education,  the 
forming  of  a  new  culture.  In  all  these 
the  Christian  church  has  been  shown  to 
have  a  share,  and  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church,  as  an  important  factor  in  the 
Christian  enterprise,  has  been  shown  as 
facing  an  unescapable  responsibility. 

But  China’s  fundamental  need,  as  her 
best  sons  and  daughters  see,  is  for  some¬ 
thing  more  intangible  and  at  the  same 
time  more  important  than  any  of  these. 
China  needs  a  renewed  spiritual  life. 
Many  of  the  fountains  at  which  her  soul 
has  drunk  are  drying  up.  Soul-sterility 
confronts  her  as  an  immediate  menace. 

When  officials  can  mouth  moral  maxims 
and  grow  rich  on  graft;  when  industry 


can  pile  up  profits  and  squeeze  out  lives; 
when  hunger  and  death  can  be  regarded 
complacently  as  the  due  portion  of  the 
majority;  when  education  can  lead  to  ag¬ 
nosticism  and  materialism  be  exalted  as 
a  way  of  life,  then  the  soul  of  any  nation 
is  endangered.  How  is  this  danger  being 
met? 

The  menace  of  disintegrating  faiths. — 
China  for  almost  two  thousand  years  has 
lived  largely  under  the  impetus  of  three 
faiths  —  Confucianism,  Buddhism,  Tao¬ 
ism.  To  be  sure,  Mohammedanism  has  been 
in  China  since  the  days  of  Mohammed 
himself,  and  has  gathered  several  million 
adherents.  But  these  live  as  separated 
groups,  isolated  from  the  life  about  them. 
It  is  the  three  named  that  have  made 
China  what  she  is. 

Taoism  has  degenerated  into  a  maze  of 
incantations  and  superstitions  that  cannot 
much  longer  survive  the  blaze  of  a  new 
day.  It  is  passing,  and  that  rapidly. 

Buddhism,  while  containing  elements 
of  permanent  value,  and  experiencing 
some  local  attempts  at  revival  and  puri¬ 
fication,  is  suffering  from  a  priesthood  of 
low  intelligence.  The  parasitic  Buddhist 
priest  is  the  butt  of  every  tearoom  jester. 
Popular  Buddhism,  under  his  hands,  has 
become  such  an  idolatrous  superstition 
that  to  thinking  Chinese  it  is  repulsive. 

Confucianism  is  coming  to  be  recog¬ 
nized  as  a  philosophy  rather  than  a  reli¬ 
gion.  Confucius  was  himself  too  agnostic 
ever  to  have  given  birth  to  a  religion.  As 
a  philosophy,  Confucianism  will  exert  in¬ 
fluence  for  generations  to  come.  On  the 
whole,  it  will  be  beneficial  influence.  As 
a  religion,  its  limitations  are  perceived. 

But  if  nothing  is  to  take  the  place  of 
these  passing  faiths,  the  world  may  well 
tremble.  China,  animated  by  an  agnos¬ 
tic  materialism,  would  become  overnight 
a  serious  menace  to  world  peace.  For  her 
own  good,  as  well  as  for  the  good  of  all 
others,  she  must  find  a  faith  by  which  to 
live. 

Can  Christianity  fill  the  breach? — As  far 
as  human  wisdom  can  discern,  China’s 
spiritual  allegiance  will  be  settled  for  a 
hundred  years  within  the  next  ten.  The 


EASTERN  ASIA 


29 


Washington  Conference  has  assured 
China  a  ten-year  breathing  space,  during 
which  time  she  will  decide  the  status  with 
which  she  will  face  the  future.  Is  it  to 
be  as  a  Christian  nation? 

Not  if  many  devoted  Chinese  have  their 
way.  They  believe  that  any  religion  is 
an  antiquated  absurdity,  and  that  what 
China  must  have  is,  in  the  phrase  of  a 
student,  “the  iron-and-blood  heart  and 
spirit.”  They  frankly  favor  a  material¬ 
istic,  militaristic  state. 

Nor  can  there  be  any  hope  of  making 
China  Christian  in  the  sense  that  it  is  to 
reproduce  any  particular  Western  civili¬ 
zation.  Bertrand  Russell  has  written  as 
though  “Christianizing”  and  “American¬ 
izing”  China  were  the  same  thing.  China 
sees  too  clearly  how  far  short  the  West 
has  fallen  in  its  approximation  of  Chris¬ 
tian  ideals  to  allow  that  mistake. 

Nor,  let  it  be  admitted,  can  China  be 
made  Christian  in  these  few  years  in  the 
sense  that  all  Chinese  will  join  Christian 
churches. 

But  this  can  happen :  Jesus  Christ  can 
be  held  up  before  China  as  the  saviour 
and  captain  of  her  soul.  Enough  of  her 
leaders,  now  and  to  come,  can  be  brought 
to  intimacy  with  Christ  to  set  afoot  forces 
that  will  have  vast  molding  powers.  Ex¬ 
amples  of  the  power  of  his  gospel  can  be 
multiplied.  Christianity  can  be  shown 
generating  spiritual  vitality.  And  this 
can  be  done  before  the  eyes  of  enough  Chi¬ 
nese  to  insure  that,  finally,  all  China  will 
seek  soul-strength  at  this  source. 


One  of  our  brothers  in  Christ — local  preacher 
in  Chungking 


This  is  an  answer  of  faith,  contingent, 
as  it  must  be,  upon  a  proper  support  for 
the  Christian  enterprise  during  these  next 
years.  But  it  is  a  faith  that  grows  out 
of  knowledge;  the  knowledge  that  Chris¬ 
tianity,  given  the  chance,  can  save  China. 

The  Methodist  Program  in  China 

A  solemn  responsibility. — The  Metho¬ 
dist  Episcopal  Church  faces  this  crucial 
hour  in  China  in  a  sense  of  solemn  re¬ 
sponsibility.  It  does  not  possess  unlim¬ 
ited  resources.  Yet  it  knows  that  it  must 
bear  its  full  share  of  the 
task,  and  that  without 
lingering. 

There  is  no  room  within 
this  book  to  outline  the 
Methodist  program  in 
China  in  its  entirety. 
Mention  can  only  be  made 
of  the  three  main  lines  of 
strategy  that  are  being 
followed. 

Encouraging  Chinese 
leaders.  — -  The  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church  had 
Chinese  local  preachers 


Christianity  must  furnish  the  spiritual  guides  for  new  China 


30 


WORLD  SERVICE 


A  result  of  the  Centenary — Institutional 
church  at  Chengtu 


almost  as  soon  as  it  had  Chinese  converts. 
From  that  first  day,  three-quarters  of  a 
century  ago,  the  main  effort  has  been  to 
discover  Chinese  capable  of  bearing  large 
responsibilities. 

Today,  on  the  fifty-one  districts  of 
China’s  Methodist  conferences,  there  are 
forty-three  Chinese  district  superintend¬ 
ents.  Chinese  act  as  heads  of  schools,  and 
hold  full  professorial  rank  in  colleges  and 
universities.  In  the  general  promotional 
agencies,  such  as  the  Eastern  Asia  Jubilee, 
Chinese  are  at  the  head  of  departments, 
and  there  is  a  Chinese  executive  secre¬ 
tary.  In  the  Central  Conference  for  East¬ 
ern  Asia  a  majority  of  the  delegates  are 
Chinese.  On  finance  committees  numbers 
of  Chinese  sit.  Half  the  membership  of 
the  All-China  Finance  Committee  is  Chi¬ 
nese.  In  fact,  it  is  impossible  to  touch  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church  intimately 
anywhere  in  China  without  finding  Chi¬ 
nese  moving  into  places  of  responsibility. 

It  is  a  commonplace  of  foreign  missions 
to  say  that  the  evangelization  of  any  coun¬ 
try  rests  at  last  in  the  hands  of  the  Chris¬ 
tians  of  that  country.  In  China  the  Metho¬ 
dist  Episcopal  Church  gives  evidence  of  its 
readiness  to  rely  upon  the  Chinese  mem¬ 
bers  of  the  church  to  take  the  lead.  This 
is  not  by  any  theoretical  pronouncement, 
but  by  actually  turning  over  responsi¬ 
bility  as  fast  as  the  Chinese  will  receive  it. 

Erecting  commanding  institutions. — It  is 
impossible  to  cover  China  immediately 
with  all  the  Christian  institutions  that  na¬ 
tion  will  eventually  demand.  Nor  would 
it  be  wise,  were  it  possible. 


But  it  is  wise,  in  this  brief  and  critical 
hour,  to  place  in  conspicuous  centers  some 
institutions  that  will  adequately  represent 
Christianity.  Because  of  its  poverty,  the 
Chinese  church  cannot  do  all  that  is  thus 
required.  To  the  extent  of  its  ability,  it 
is  doing  amazingly  well. 

The  church  at  large  is  therefore  called 
upon  to  plant  without  delay,  a  few  great 
colleges,  a  few  great  hospitals,  a  few  great 
churches.  Well  located,  these  must  give 
millions  of  Chinese  an  object  lesson  in  the 
scope  and  service  of  Christianity.  A 
glance  at  the  map  of  China,  showing  the 
principal  centers  of  Methodist  occupation, 
will  show  how  strategically  located  to  in¬ 
fluence  north,  south,  east,  center,  and  west 
are  the  cities  in  which  the  outstanding 
Methodist  institutions  are  being  erected. 

Occupying  the  field  fully.— -The  Metho¬ 
dist  Episcopal  Church  will  not  soon  seek 
new  territory  in  China  to  enter.  In  the 
careful  delimitation  of  responsibility  as 
between  missions  the  Methodist  obligation 
has  been  clearly  determined. 

But  there  is  a  difference  between  enter¬ 
ing  a  field  and  occupying  a  field.  If  the 
responsibility  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church  is  for  the  evangelization  of 
40,000,000  Chinese,  as  is  generally  stated, 
and  there  are  not  today  500  missionaries 
of  the  Board  of  Foreign  Missions  and 
Woman’s  Foreign  Missionary  Society  on 
the  field,  it  will  hardly  be  claimed  that 
complete  occupation  has  yet  taken  place, 
or  that  it  is  immediately  in  view. 


Kindergarten  children  at  the  Central 
Institutional  Church,  Foochow 


EASTERN  ASIA 


31 


Taking  into  account  all  possible  work¬ 
ers,  Chinese  and  foreigners,  ordained  and 
unordained,  in  educational,  medical,  agri¬ 
cultural,  literary,  business,  and  all  other 
forms  of  work,  as  well  as  evangelistic,  on 
furlough  in  America  as  well  as  in  China, 
there  are  not  more  than  5,600  available. 

THOUSANDS 


i 

NDAY  S< 
ENROLM 

/ 

SI 

:hool / 

ENT  r' 

1 

i 

(/ Fu 
r  MEME 

LL 

ERS 

• 

/ 

1 850  I860  1870  1880  1890  1900  1910  1920  1930 

Increase  in  church  and  Sunday-school 
members — 1850-1922 

The  situation  in  China  is  too  pressing  to 
allow  a  drifting  policy  any  chance  of  suc¬ 
cess.  The  church  cannot  put  one  evangel¬ 
istic  missionary  in  Chengtu  and  another 
in  Chungking,  ten  days’  journey  distant, 
and  a  third  in  Suining,  another  week  dis¬ 
tant,  and  a  fourth  in  Tzechow,  still  a  week 
away,  and  then  call  the  West  China  terri¬ 
tory,  where  it  is  solely  responsible  for  the 
welfare  of  12,000,000  people,  occupied. 

During  the  world  war  there  were  poli¬ 
ticians  who  tried  to  convince  their  nations 
that  victory  might  be  won  by  a  policy  of 
“wait  and  see.”  They  were  wrong,  and 
the  people  knew  it.  In  this  struggle  the 
church  sometimes  seems  content  to  “wait 
and  see”  what  will  happen.  If  the  field  is 
not  occupied  in  China  without  delay  it  is 
clear  what  will  happen.  The  hour  of  our 
visitation  will  pass. 

A  Few  Developments 

As  suggestive  of  some  of  the  things  that 
the  Methodist  Church  has  already  done  in 
China  mention  may  be  made  of  four  en¬ 
terprises. 

The  Institutional  Church,  Foochow. — 
If  you  take  a  map  of  the  great  city  of  Foo¬ 
chow,  capital  of  the  province  of  Fukien, 
and  locate  its  geometrical  center,  the  point 


In  one  year,  25,560  eye  cases  were  treated  in 
this  clinic  at  Hopkins  Memorial 
Hospital,  Peking 


of  your  pencil  will  just  about  fall  upon  the 
Siong  Iu  Dong  (Central  Institutional 
Church.)  This  church  has  not  yet  been 
able  to  obtain  the  plant  it  must  eventually 
have,  but,  in  adapted  Chinese  buildings, 
it  already  conducts  a  full  program  of 
church  services,  a  kindergarten,  schools 
for  girls  and  boys,  a  museum,  medical 
work,  and  a  course  of  lectures  that  draws 
from  all  parts  of  the  city  and  all  grades  of 
society. 

A  Chinese  pastor  trained  in  America 
heads  a  staff  of  twenty  workers,  of  whom 
two  others  have  studied  abroad.  The  Chi¬ 
nese  contribute  several  thousand  dollars 
yearly  to  the  support  of  the  enterprise, 
which  can  be  regarded  as  a  type  of  the 
church  by  which  it  is  hoped  to  challenge 
the  attention  of  even  China’s  teeming 
cities. 

Hopkins  Memorial  Hospital,  Peking. — In 
a  quarter  of  the  city  of  Peking  in  which 
medical  responsibility  cannot  be  shared 
with  another  church  this  hospital  has, 
since  1875,  been  ministering.  Started  by 
the  Woman’s  Foreign  Missionary  Society, 
it  has  been  since  1885  under  the  direction 
of  the  Board  of  Foreign  Missions. 

The  usual  work  of  a  mission  hospital  is 
carried  on  by  a  staff  that  includes  six  for¬ 
eigners.  Training  is  given  Chinese  for 
service  as  dispensary  and  hospital  assist¬ 
ants.  An  eye  clinic  has  attracted  partic¬ 
ular  attention,  for  diseases  of  the  eye  are 


32 


WORLD  SERVICE 


Mothers  bring  their  babies  to  the  Bible  Women’s 
Training  School  (Woman’s  Foreign  Mis¬ 
sionary  Society  School  at  Hinghwa) 


common  in  China.  In  a  single  year,  25,560 
treatments  were  given  in  this  one  clinic, 
with  6,451  more  in  a  special  eye  clinic  for 
those  desiring  special  service.  A  dental 
department  has  been  developed  during  the 
Centenary  period  in  which  men  are  being 
prepared  for  dental  service  in  seven  other 
hospitals. 

Even  today,  after  decades  of  service, 
such  a  hospital  provides  a  point  of  contact 
for  the  gospel  with  24,546  people  in  a 
single  year.  Of  these,  1,870  were  gathered 
into  regular  Bible  study  classes.  Forty- 
one  patients  joined  the  church. 

The  Hopkins  Memorial  Hospital  is  not 
designed  to  be  the  largest  conducted  in 
China  by  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church. 
It  is,  however,  suggestive  of  the  scope  of 
and  response  to  service  of  this  kind. 

Biblical  School,  Hinghwa.  —  Approxi¬ 
mately  sixty  students  come  annually  from 
the  graduating  classes  of  the  higher  pri¬ 
mary  schools  of  the  Hinghwa  Conference 
to  take  the  three-year  course  that  is  to  pre¬ 
pare  them  for  the  ministry.  This  makes  it 
necessary  to  plan  much  of  the  course  as  an 
equivalent  to  general  high  school  training. 
In  addition  to  this  and  the  special  theo¬ 
logical  and  Biblical  studies,  the  student 
must  take  two  years’  work  in  Sunday 
school  and  boys’  club  work,  and  show  two 


years  of  experience  as  a  student  pastor  be¬ 
fore  graduation. 

When  it  is  remembered  that  there  are 
only  two  other  Christian  schools  of  high 
school  grade  in  the  territory  of  the 
Hinghwa  Conference,  it  can  be  seen  that, 
with  this  course,  the  man  entering  the  min¬ 
istry  is  given  a  mental  equipment  that  will 
put  him  in  advance  of  most  of  his  fellows. 
The  membership  of  the  Hinghwa  Confer¬ 
ence  is  practically  composed  of  the  grad¬ 
uates  of  this  school. 

The  Hinghwa  Biblical  School  is  far  from 
being  the  highest  grade  institution  for  the 
training  of  Methodist  ministers  in  China. 
Yet  it  has  contributed  the  major  impulse 
toward  the  evangelization  of  what  is  now 
the  most  nearly  Christianized  portion  of 
China.  As  the  standards  of  general  intelli¬ 
gence  mount,  so  will  the  standards  of  this 
school.  And  this  is  true  of  all  training 
schools  in  China. 

University  of  Nanking. — This  institution, 
one  of  the  five  of  highest  grade  in  which 
the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  has  a 
part,  was  formed  in  1910  by  a  union  of 
the  Northern  Presbyterians,  Disciples, 
and  Methodists.  Two  years  later  the 
Northern  Baptists  joined  the  project.  By 
1921  the  student  body  of  college  grade  had 
grown  from  fifty-six  to  300;  the  number 
of  foreign  teachers  from  seventeen  to 
thirty-four;  the  number  of  Chinese  teach¬ 
ers  from  twenty  to  sixty-four,  of  whom 
eight  had  been  educated  abroad;  and  the 
property  valuation  from  $125,000  to 
$600,000. 

This  university  includes  a  College  of 
Arts  and  Science,  a  College  of  Agriculture 
and  Forestry,  a  Junior  College,  and  schools 
giving  specialized  work  in  forms  of  edu¬ 
cation,  business  administration,  and  medi¬ 
cine.  In  addition,  there  are  preparatory 
departments,  a  language  school  for  the 
training  of  new  missionaries  and  a  hos¬ 
pital. 

In  close  relation  are  the  Ginling  Col¬ 
lege  for  women  and  the  Nanking  Theo¬ 
logical  Seminary,  both  likewise  union  in¬ 
stitutions. 

The  work  of  the  University  of  Nanking 
in  improving  the  cotton  crop  of  China,  in 


EASTERN  ASIA 


33 


securing  superior  silk 
worms,  and  in  promoting 
reforestation  has  gained 
wide  recognition.  Equally 
significant  work  is  being 
done  in  the  other  schools 
of  the  same  rank. 


The  Hour  of  Decision 
God’s  great  hours. — God 
has  his  own  times  and 
seasons.  In  his  dealing 
with  China  surely  this  is 
one  of  them.  Once  before 
the  door  to  a  Christian 
China  was  wide  open.  Mr. 

Wells  tells  how  the  em¬ 
peror  of  China  begged  the 
Christian  West  to  send 
teachers,  and  how  the  op- 

poitunity  was  allowed  to  China  is  open — her  Great  Wall  avails  no  more 

pass.  Now  the  second  hour 

of  opportunity  is  here.  But  there  are  A  desperate  struggle. — Within  China  the 
plenty  of  signs  that  this  one,  too,  will  not  struggle  between  the  old  and  the  new,  the 
linger.  The  fathers  prayed  for  genera-  outworn  and  the  needful,  the  material  and 
tions  that  China’s  tight-barred  doors  the  spiritual,  is  being  desperately  waged, 
might  be  opened.  They  are  opened  now.  It  is  a  long  way  from  settled  as  to  how 
But  to  what  purpose  if  we  do  not  enter?  that  struggle  may  go.  Indeed,  if  one  looks 

without  faith,  it  is  easy  to  believe  that 
China  will  soon  adopt  a  policy  of  iron-and- 
blood  materialism  that  will  make  her  a 
danger  to  all  the  world. 

Christianity,  and  Christianity  alone,  has 
the  spiritual  contribution  upon  which 
China  dare  rely  to  organize  her  life  for  a 
peaceful  and  larger  future.  Jesus  Christ 
is  the  only  leader  who  can  bring  this 
mighty  mass  safely  through  the  perils  of 
these  hours.  And  the  Methodist  Episco¬ 
pal  Church  dare  not  shirk  its  share  in  the 
work  of  bringing  China  into  touch  with 
him. 


Girls  from  the  Ginling  College,  in  which  the 
Woman’s  Foreign  Missionary 
Society  co-operates 


The  immediate  need. — There  has  been  no 
attempt  here  to  list  all  the  places  in  which 
the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  must 
move  forward.  But  the  needs  of  all  these, 
as  they  have  been  presented,  have  been 
scrutinized  by  a  long  line  of  investigating 
bodies;  revised  and  again  revised.  Finally, 
the  church  has  authorized  as  its  pro¬ 
gram  in  China  for  1925 ; 


WORLD  SERVICE 


The  1925  Program  for  China 
Missionary  Staff  is  required  on  these  lines: 


Evangelistic  work  . .  37  Couples 

Educational  work  .  91  Couples 

Medical  work  . 46  Couples 

Other  work  .  28  Couples 


5  Single 
37  Single 
25  Single 
21  Single 


Total 


.2 02  Couples  88  Single 


Work  Operations  will  be  conducted  on  these  lines  : 

Institutional  Churches  in  13  Cities . $20,400 

Other  Church  work  in  38  Cities .  42,100 

Rural  Church  work  on  597  Circuits .  99,519 


Total  for  Evangelistic  Work . 

785  Primary  Day  Schools  . 

108  Primary  Boarding  Schools . 

25  Middle  Schools  and  Junior  Colleges 
4  Universities  (Our  share  in  Unions) 

6  Theological  Seminaries  . 

9  Other  Training  Schools  . 


Total  for  Educational  Work  .  . 

19  Hospitals  . $^,785 

39  Dispensaries  .  21,650 


Total  for  Medical  Work  . 

Publishing  and  Publicity  . . 

General  and  Miscellaneous  Types  of  Work 

Total  for  Work  Operation  . 


$40,224 
.  46,755 
.  53,898 
.  27,758 
.  15,490 
.  18,370 


Property  Prof  ects 

19  New  Missionaries’  Bungalows  . — 

8  Institutional  Churches  . . 

15  Other  city  churches . 

75  Smaller  churches  . — . 

44  Parsonages  and  other  projects . . 

Total  for  Evangelistic  Work  projects.. 

38  Lower  Primary  (Day)  Schools . 

23  Higher  Primary  (Boarding)  Schools . 

15  Middle  School  Buildings . 

3  University  Buildings  . 

3  Theological  School  Buildings . 

3  Other  School  Projects  . 

Total  for  Educational  Work  Projects 

7  Hospital  Buildings  . 

7  Dispensary  Buildings  . 

Total  for  Medical  Work  Projects  . 

5  Other  Projects  . 


$177,000 
65,900 
.  85,000 
.  40,875 


40,230 

115,400 

233,450 

42,833 

48,228 

27,400 


$170,000 
.  28,865 


$626,650 


$162,019 


$202,495 


65,415 

37,892 

88,115 

$555,936 


$  91,207 


368,775 


507,541 

198,865 

19,990 


Total  for  Property  Projects . 

Total  Program  (China) 


$1,186,378 

$2,368,964 


EASTERN  ASIA 


35 


JAPAN 


The  Leader  of  the  Orient 

An  imperial  romance. — In  all  history 
there  is  no  more  romantic  story  than  the 
development  of  Japan,  within  fifty  years, 
from  an  isolated  and  (from  the  Western 
viewpoint)  backward 
island  into  one  of  the 
world’s  great  powers. 

From  the  time  the 
doors  of  the  island 
empire  closed  upon 
the  traders  of  the 
sixteenth  century 
until  Commodore 
Perry’s  squadron 
forced  them  open 
again,  Japan  was 
apparently  the  most 
determinedly  Ori¬ 
ental  of  all  Ori¬ 
ental  nations.  Half 
a  century  later  she 
has  so  completely  oc- 
cidentalized  certain 
features  of  her  life 
that  she  can  enforce 
her  will  upon  the 
Occident. 

There  have  been 
those  who  have  be¬ 
lieved  the  extension 
of  Western  civilization  exclusively  a  pre¬ 
rogative  of  the  white  peoples.  It  is  not 
so  many  years  since  Mr.  Kipling  wrote  of 
“The  White  Man’s  Burden.”  But  that  idea 
has  almost  passed,  and  Japan  has  been 
largely  the  cause  of  its  passing.  In  the 
change  from  isolated  island  to  imperial 
empire  Japan  has  committed  many  of  the 
same  sort  of  sins  that  have  disgraced  the 
imperialisms  of  the  West.  But  this  cannot 
hide  the  reality  of  her  achievement  in  fit¬ 
ting  herself  to  cope  with  an  alien  civiliza¬ 
tion  within  a  man’s  life  time.  Modern 
Japan  is  a  good  deal  of  an  international 
miracle. 

Champion  of  the  East. — It  is  as  the  de¬ 
fender  of  the  East  against  the  encroach¬ 
ments  of  the  West  that  many  patriotic 


Japanese  have  conceived  their  country. 
There  have  been  times  when  the  same 
conception  has  been  current  in  other 
Asiatic  countries.  Certain  it  is  that,  with 
all  Japan’s  mistakes,  her  defiance  of  the 

West  has  brought 
about  a  changed  atti¬ 
tude  toward  the  East 
on  the  part  of  the 
European  powers. 

At  the  beginning 
of  the  last  decade  of 
the  nineteenth  cen¬ 
tury,  the  stage  was 
set  in  the  Orient  for 
a  general  division 
among  European 
states  of  the  suppos¬ 
edly  defenseless  ter¬ 
ritories  of  the  East. 
To  some  extent  that 
division  has  taken 
place  on  the  Asiatic 
mainland,  but  not  to 
the  extent  that  once 
seemed  certain.  The 
reason  is  to  be  found 
in  the  growth  of  Ja¬ 
pan  as  a  military 
power. 

Tests  of  strength. — 
In  1894-95  Japan  fought  China  for  the 
leadership  of  the  Far  East.  The  West  was 
so  little  impressed  by  the  strength  shown 
by  the  Nipponese  that  a  group  of  Euro¬ 
pean  powers,  led  by  Russia,  coolly  appropri¬ 
ated  part  of  the  spoils  of  that  victory.  For 
the  rest  of  the  century,  and  following  the 
Boxer  uprising  in  China,  this  European 
advance  continued.  Russia  led,  gradually 
absorbing  Korea,  then  gaining  practical 
control  of  Manchuria,  and  making  unmis¬ 
takable  advances  toward  Mongolia. 

England,  with  her  empire  in  India,  was 
as  much  frightened  by  this  growth  of 
Russian  power  in  Asia,  as  Japan,  and 
agreed,  in  the  Anglo-Japanese  alliance,  to 
hold  the  circle  if  Japan  went  to  war.  In 
1905  Japan  stopped  the  Russian  advance. 


36 


WORLD  SERVICE 


It  has  become  the  custom  to  point  out 
how  little  Japan  won  in  her  war  with 
Russia.  At  least  she  won  a  place  as  one 
of  the  great  powers,  and  five  years  later 
was  established  as  a  power  on  the  Asiatic 
mainland. 

One  of  the  great  powers. — As  one  of  the 
great  powers,  Japan  has  disappointed 
many  hopes  in  Asia  and  among 
the  liberals  of  the 
rest  of  the  world. 

It  must  be  said, 
however,  that  Ja¬ 
pan  has  never  pre¬ 
tended  to  be  other 
than  an  intensely 
centralized  and 
conservative  mon¬ 
archy,  and  that,  in 
the  worst  phases  of 
her  imperialism, 
she  has  followed 
models  set  for  her 
by  other  states. 

There  has  been  in 
Korea  or  Formosa 
no  cynical  disre¬ 
gard  for  right  in 
order  to  gain  trade 
or  political  ad¬ 
vantages  but  can 
be  paralleled  in 
the  colonial  his¬ 
tory  of  most,  if  not 
all  of  the  world’s  other  powers. 

Imperial  policy. — As  one  of  the  powers, 
Japan  has  set  herself  to  strengthen  her 
political  and  industrial  position.  To  do 
the  former  she  has  followed  the  obvious 
militaristic  models  of  Europe,  building 
up  an  effective  conscript  army  and  a  navy 
that  ranks  third  among  the  navies  of  the 
world.  The  real  government  of  the 
empire  has  been  too  largely  in  the  hands 
of  the  militaristic  groups.  Japan  would 
point  to  her  present  enviable  position 
among  Asiatic  nations  as  complete  justi¬ 
fication  of  this  course. 

To  strengthen  her  industrial  position, 
Japan  has  begun  to  change  from  an  agri¬ 
cultural  to  a  manufacturing  state,  and 


Map  of  Japan,  showing  railways  and 
Methodist  Episcopal  resident  stations 


has  sought  to  annex  or  control  many 
islands  in  the  Pacific  and  parts  of  the 
Asiatic  mainland  which  might  be  ex¬ 
pected  to  yield  raw  materials.  Japan  is 
handicapped  by  lack  of  coal  and  iron, 
those  fundamental  requisites  of  a  modern 
state,  within  her  own  boundaries.  She 
has  sought  to  overcome  this  handicap  as 
other  states  have,  by  going  out 

o  with  a  gun  to 

/  seize  such  terri- 

/  tory  as  might 
yield  the  precious 
minerals.  She  but 
follows  long  precedent. 

It  has  yet  to  be 
proved  that  other  na¬ 
tional  ideals  will  be  nec¬ 
essary  in  order  that  a 
state  may  maintain 
leadership  in  the  period 
just  opening.  Many; 
have  said  that  this  will 
be  so,  but  Japan  is 
waiting  for  ocular 
proof.  By  her  course  at 
the  Washington  Confer¬ 
ence  she  gives  evidence 
that,  if  a  change  is  nec¬ 
essary,  she  will  adapt 
herself  to  new  interna¬ 
tional  conditions  as 
readily  as  she  did  to 
the  strange  environ¬ 
ment  into  which  she  was  thrust  fifty 
years  ago. 

Modern  Japan 

From  agriculture  to  manufacturing. — 
Not  long  after  the  opening  of  the  nine¬ 
teenth  century  England  learned  that, 
after  a  restricted  territory  contains  a  cer¬ 
tain  population,  it  can  continue  to  support 
its  inhabitants  only  by  shifting  from  agri¬ 
culture  to  manufacturing  as  a  means  of 
livelihood.  A  dozen  can  be  employed  in 
a  factory  producing  goods  to  be  ex¬ 
changed  for  food  to  every  one  who  can 
be  employed  on  the  land. 

At  the  opening  of  the  twentieth  cen¬ 
tury  Japan  had  to  face  the  same  condi¬ 
tion  and  learn  the  same  lesson.  Her 


EASTERN  ASIA 


37 


Movies  in  Japan 


population  had  reached  the  forty-nine 
million  mark,  or  approximately  295  per¬ 
sons  to  every  square  mile.  As  only  seven¬ 
teen  per  cent  of  the  volcanic  territory  of 
Japan  proper  is  available  for  cultivation 
(and  this  includes  thousands  of  square 
miles  of  terraced  hills  that  would  be 
shunned  in  such  a  land  as  America)  it 
was  apparent  that  the  point  had  been 
reached  at  which  new  arrangements  for 
supporting  the  life  of  millions  must  be 
made. 

The  war  and  Japanese  industry. — Coloni¬ 
zation  projects,  whether  in  semi-tropical 
Formosa  or  colder  Korea  and  Manchuria, 
did  not  attract  more  than  a  few  hundred 
thousand.  Japanese  leaders  were  astute 
enough  to  see  that  the  only  solution  lay 
in  the  building  of  a  highly  organized  in¬ 
dustrial  state. 

Soon  after  this  decision  had  been 
reached,  as  factories  began  to  rise  in  cer¬ 
tain  sections,  the  nations  of  Europe 
plunged  into  war  and  sought  desperately 
for  markets  in  which  to  buy  needed  sup¬ 
plies.  Within  a  single  year  the  number 
of  factory  workers  in  Japan  mounted  from 
300,000  to  more  than  2,000,000.  Wages 
doubled  and  trebled.  The  cost  of  living 
did  the  same  thing.  The  nation  was  trans¬ 
formed  from  a  debtor  to  a  creditor  state 
over  night.  The  stock  markets  were 
jammed  with  speculators.  Profiteers 


amassed  enormous  for¬ 
tunes.  Wealth  seemed 
about  to  become  the  por¬ 
tion  of  every  family. 

Post-war  conditions.  — 
The  inevitable  reaction 
has  come  since  the  war. 
Much  of  the  war-fostered 
trade  was  with  the  Rus¬ 
sian  government,  and 
when  the  Tsar  fell  Japa¬ 
nese  manufacturers  of 
munitions  found  them¬ 
selves  holding  tsaristic 
bonds  of  doubtful  value. 
This  explains  much  of 
Japan’s  interest  in  the 
Russian  empire. 

With  the  collapse  of  the  war  markets, 
notably  in  silk,  as  many  fortunes  have 
been  lost  as  were  made  during  the  hey¬ 
days  of  speculation.  Unemployment  is 
rife  in  Japan  today.  But  the  shift  to  a 
manufacturing  basis  is  permanent.  The 
volume  of  trade  in  such  a  port  as  Yoko¬ 
hama,  for  instance,  has  grown  from 
$500,000  in  1860  to  $353,500,000  in  1916 
and  $739,000,000  in  1920.  While  there 
is  a  depression  in  Japan  at  present  just  as 
there  is  in  every  other  part  of  the  indus¬ 
trial  world,  Japan  is  on  an  entirely  differ¬ 
ent  basis  from  that  of  the  period  when, 
for  example,  the  Centenary  was  in  formu¬ 
lation.  Japan  is  now  a  nation  of  confirmed 
industrialism. 


Japanese  children  have  much  fun  on  that  one 
day  in  each  year  when  the  old  wall  paper 
is  replaced  by  new — for  then  they 
may  draw  pictures  on  the  walls 


38 


WORLD  SERVICE 


Western  industrialism  invades  Japan:  Power 
looms  in  mill  at  Kagoshima 


Social  Strengths  and  Ills 

Added  material  comforts. — In  the  rapid 
changes  that  have  come  to  Japan  in  the 
past  half  century,  there  have  been  great 
advances  in  certain  aspects  of  Japanese 
life.  Living  is  more  comfortable,  particu¬ 
larly  in  the  cities.  Wages  have  gone  up, 
as  in  Yokohama,  where  a  carpenter  now 
receives  from  $1.65  to  $2.00  a  day,  and  a 
gardener  $1.40  a  day. 

The  cost  of  living  has  likewise,  ad¬ 
vanced,  until  Japanese  cities  are  said  to 
be  the  most  expensive  places  in  the  world 
in  which  to  live.  But  the  rise  in  wages 
has  made  for  an  increased  purchasing 
power  on  the  part  of  the  masses. 

A  literate  nation.— Greatest  of  the  social 
advantages  has  been  that  won  through 
the  fine  system  of  public  schools  whereby, 
in  a  generation,  Japan  has  advanced  from 
general  illiteracy  to  one  of  the  highest 
rates  of  literacy  in  the  world..  With  this 
has  gone  an  increase  in  political  respon¬ 
sibility. 

The  Japanese  are  today  a  nation  of 
newspaper  readers,  and  although  Japan¬ 


ese  newspapers  frequently  leave  something 
to  be  desired  in  their  discussion  of  public 
affairs  (as  do  the  papers  of  some  other 
countries),  there  is  constant  and  open 
debate  on  such  matters.  The  Japanese 
constitution  was  so  framed  as  to  reduce 
popular  participation  in  the  government 
to  a  minimum,  but  the  agitation  for  uni¬ 
versal  suffrage  and  parliamentary  con¬ 
trol  of  all  national  affairs  is  constantly 
increasing. 

Factory  evils. — On  the  other  side  of  this 
account  must  be  drawn  the  picture  of  the 
social  ills  that  already  plague  Japan,  and 
will  do  her  still  greater  harm  in  the  fu¬ 
ture.  The  factory  system,  as  it  has 
grown  up,  has  been  of  a  peculiarly  con¬ 
scienceless  kind,  with  a  few  exceptions. 

The  exploitation  of  labor,  particularly 
of  woman  labor,  has  given  birth  to  enor¬ 
mous  discontent  that  now  smolders  be¬ 
neath  the  surface  of  Japanese  life,  but 
may  burst  forth  in  social  revolt  at  almost 
any  time.  Much  quick  wealth,  also,  has 
come  as  the  result  of  shady  business  prac¬ 
tices  that  have  given  Japanese  merchan¬ 
dise  a  bad  reputation  abroad. 


Even  the  newsies  read  in  Japan 


of  prostitution,  and  apparently  little  head¬ 
way  is  being  made  in  dealing  with  this  so¬ 
cial  evil,  although  statistics  on  young  men 
examined  for  the  army  show  an  alarming 
increase  in  the  number  unfit  for  service. 


EASTERN  ASIA 


39 


Drunkenness  seems  to 
be  on  the  increase,  and 
popular  festivals  are 
being  increasingly  demor¬ 
alized  by  liquor. 


Patriotic  Japan 


Selling  wine  on  the  streets  of  Osaka 


The  Cross  in  Japan 

How  Christianity  came 
to  Japan.  —  To  Francis 
Xavier,  great  missionary 
of  the  sixteenth  century, 
there  came,  in  Malaysia, 
a  convert  who  confessed 
to  have  fled  from  a  mur¬ 
der  committed  in  Japan. 
Under  the  inspiration  and 
guidance  of  this  convert, 
Xavier  penetrated  the 
island  empire,  and  there 


Strength  or  weakness. — 

Perhaps  the  greatest  so¬ 
cial  ill  of  all,  although  it 
is  frequently  seen  only  in 
its  political  implications, 
is  the  national  cult  of  pa¬ 
triotism.  Up  to  a  certain 
point,  patriotism  may  be 
a  source  of  strength  to  a 
state.  But  in  the  concep¬ 
tion  of  the  Japanese  ruler 
as  above  criticism,  which  works  to  protect 
from  criticism  the  bureaucracy  that  con¬ 
trols  the  ruler,  there  is  nothing  but  danger. 
Undergird  this  conception  of  patriot¬ 
ism  with  a  constantly  stimulated  patri¬ 
otism  and  the  world  may  have  to  deal 
with  an  international,  as  well  as  national, 
danger. 

The  inner  struggle. — The  internal  life 
of  Japan  presents  a  constant  struggle.  In 
the  first  fifty  years  of  the  new  era  this 
struggle  was  largely  between  two  war¬ 
like  clans,  the  Satsuma  and  the  Choshu, 
for  control.  The  clans  still  have  their 
jealousies  and  bickerings,  but  today  they 
are  united  in  a  great  fight. 

Modern  Japan  has  come  to  power  on  a 
bureaucratic  model  much  like  that  of  Ger¬ 
many  before  the  world  war.  A  class  of 


Slum  children  of  Kobe 

professional  office-holders,  largely  re¬ 
cruited  from  the  aristocratic  clans,  has 
controlled  the  country.  But  the  very 
development  of  the  country  has  brought 
about  the  rise  of  a  democratic  group,  in¬ 
tent  upon  winning  for  the  people  at  large 
the  control  of  the  state.  Despite  the 
never-ceasing  efforts  to  guard  against  the 
dissemination  of  “dangerous  thoughts,” 
this  group  has  increased. 

Democracy  or  bureaucracy.  —  Today 
the  bureaucracy  is  locked  in  a  life-and- 
death  struggle  with  democracy.  Appar¬ 
ently,  the  bureaucracy  is  in  an  impreg¬ 
nable  position.  Only  the  spirit  of  these 
times  and  the  devotion  of  the  democrats 
are  to  be  weighed  against  it.  All  the  his¬ 
tory  of  this  period  in  Japan  is  to  be  read 
in  the  light  of  this  inner  struggle. 


40 


WORLD  SERVICE 


founded  one  of  the  strongest  of  the  Jesuit 
missions  of  that  time.  The  center  of 
Catholic  influence  was  at  Nagasaki,  where 
the  majority  of  the  inhabitants  were  bap¬ 
tized. 

Why  Japan  closed  her  doors. — As  fre¬ 
quently  happened  with  Jesuit  missions, 
questions  of  political  policy  became  of 
paramount  importance.  Those  were  feu¬ 
dal  days  in  Japan,  and  the  local  lord  of 
Nagasaki,  the  political  patron  of  the  Jes¬ 
uits,  proved,  in  the  long  run,  unable  to 
withstand  the  power  of  his  enemies.  He 
and  his  Christian  followers  were  wiped 
out  with  hideous  slaughter. 

At  the  same  time  the  suspicions  of  the 
Japanese  were  aroused  by  the  dealing  of 
the  priests  with  Spanish  sailors,  who 
boasted  of  their  intention  to  conquer 
wherever  the  cross  was  planted.  As  a 
result  Christianity  itself  was  put  under 
an  interdict. 

Despite  fearful  persecution,  however. 


“O  ye  who  tread  the  Narrow  Way 
By  Tophet-flare  to  Judgment  Day, 

Be  gentle  when  ‘the  heathen’  pray 
To  Buddha  at  Kamakura.” 

— Rudyard  Kipling. 


the  first  Catholic  priests  to  return  to  the 
vicinity  of  Nagasaki  after  Japan  was 
again  opened,  in  the  middle  of  the  last 
century,  found  several  hundred  with 
rosaries  and  crucifixes,  who  claimed  se¬ 
cretly  to  be  Christians. 

The  doors  reopen. — Protestant  mission¬ 
aries  pressed  in  on  the  heels  of  Commo¬ 
dore  Perry,  and  several  daring  young 
Japanese,  going  to  America  for  education, 
were  converted  and  returned  to  take  an 
outstanding  part  in  the  Christian  advance 
in  their  native  land.  The  Methodist  Epis¬ 
copal  Church  began  its  work  in  1873  and 
was  soon  established  in  half  a  dozen 
widely  separated  centers. 

A  quick  response.  —  The  country  was 
so  eager  for  the  influences  from  the 
West  that  were  to  reform  its  life  that 
it  welcomed  the  religion  of  the  West  as  an 
expected  part  of  those  influences.  Many 
missionaries  were  given  far-reaching  op¬ 
portunities  for  service,  notably  Guido 
Verbeck,  a  Christian  teacher  from  Amer¬ 
ica,  to  whom  is  given  the  honor  of  being 
known  as  the  father  of  Japan’s  system  of 
state  education. 

For  more  than  two  decades  the  Prot¬ 
estant  advance  was  limited  only  by  the 
resources  of  the  missions.  Had  the 
churches  adopted  anything  like  an  ad¬ 
equate  program  in  Japan  from,  say,  1875 
to  1885,  Japan  might  have  been  a  Chris¬ 
tian  country  today,  and  the  whole  outlook 
of  the  Orient  changed.  Timidity  at  that 
time  marks  one  of  Christianity’s  great 
failures  to  take  advantage  of  a  God-given 
opportunity. 

Growing  self-control. — A  natural  reac¬ 
tion  followed  the  initial  rush  of  the 
Japanese  to  embrace  Western  ways. 
Christianity  suffered  in  that  reaction. 
Finally  the  present  Japan  began  to 
emerge,  saying,  “We  will  not  reject  the 
West.  We  will  take  the  best  of  the  West 
and  adapt  it  to  our  needs.” 

The  same  spirit,  working  within  the 
Japanese  churches,  brought  a  powerful 
movement  toward  self-control.  It  was 
felt  that,  in  order  to  make  a  true  adapta¬ 
tion  to  Japanese  life,  the  churches  must 
be  under  Japanese  leadership. 


EASTERN  ASIA 


41 


The  present  preaching  place  at  Akunoura.  Pastor  Fekushima 
standing  in  the  doorway 


The  Methodists  were 
the  last  of  the  large  Prot¬ 
estant  groups  to  carry 
this  into  effect.  Finally, 
in  1907,  the  three  leading 
Methodist  bodies  (the 
Canadian  Methodists,  the 
Methodist  Episcopal 
Church,  South,  and  the 
Methodist  Episcopal 
Church)  united  to  form 
the  Japan  Methodist 
Church.  By  this  union, 
one  Methodist  body  ap¬ 
peared  instead  of  three, 
thus  eliminating  all  dan¬ 
gers  of  overlapping  work. 

Each  of  the  missions  was 
left  to  carry  on  its  work, 
particularly  in  the  realm 
of  higher  education,  but  the  life  of  the 
churches  was  put  under  the  guidance  of 
this  purely  Japanese  body. 

Japan  Methodism 

A  growing  church. — The  experiment  of 
1907  has,  in  the  judgment  of  many  ob¬ 
servers,  justified  itself.  Although  for  a 
few  years  after  the  formation  of  the 
united  church  there  was  some  confusion 
it  was  not  long  before  the  Japanese-led 
body  found  its  feet,  and  the  present  rate 
of  growth  is  remarkable. 

In  1907  the  total  number  of  members 
was  12,014.  In  1921  it  was  28,934,  a  gain 
of  148  per  cent  in  fourteen  years !  During 
the  same  period  the  number  of  Sunday 
schools  increased  from  247  to  587,  the 
number  of  pupils  in  those  schools  from 
21,928  to  42,902,  the  number  of  wholly 
self-supporting  churches  from  16  to  33, 
and  the  contributions  from  $19,115  to 
$155,345 — or  from  $1.59  annually  per 
member  to  $5.36 ! 

The  Centenary  in  Japan. — Much  of  this 
gain  has  come  within  the  past  two  years. 
Inspired  by  reports  of  the  Centenary  in 
America,  the  Japan  Methodist  Church 
more  than  doubled  its  giving  between 
1920  and  1921,  while  it  launched  an  evan- 
4  ' 


gelistic  advance  that  is  making  its  im¬ 
pression  upon  all  Japanese  Protestantism. 

It  is  the  more  unfortunate  that,  in  the 
face  of  this  zeal,  the  Centenary  has  been 
able  to  carry  out  so  few  of  the  projects 
it  has  announced  for  Japan.  It  is,  how¬ 
ever,  recognized  that  without  the  increase 
in  funds  for  running  expenses  made  pos¬ 
sible  by  the  Centenary,  the  enormous  rise 
in  living  costs  in  Japan  would  have 
forced  the  closing  of  much  of  the  work 
already  established. 

A  democratic  body. — The  Japan  Metho¬ 
dist  Church  is  noted  for  the  strength  of 
the  leadership  it  has  already  produced, 
and  for  the  spirit  of  democracy  within  its 
ranks.  A  visitor  to  the  last  General  Con¬ 
ference  reported  that  the  one  word  heard 
constantly  in  the  debates  was  “democ¬ 
racy,”  and  since  the  founding  in  1907 
the  changes  that  have  been  made  in  gov¬ 
ernment  have  always  pointed  in  that  di¬ 
rection.  In  all  the  life  of  Japan,  members 
of  the  Methodist  Church  can  be  counted  as 
bulwarks  on  the  democratic  side. 

The  missionary’s  task. — As  the  control 
of  the  established  churches  was  handed 
over  to  the  Japan  Methodist  Church,  the 
foreign  missionaries  moved  on  to  occupy 
territory  then  untouched.  Although 
these  new  centers  are  also  under  the  legal 


42 


WORLD  SERVICE 


Japan’s  future 


control  of  the  indigenous  body,  they  con¬ 
stitute  a  work  the  main  responsibility  for 
which  rests  upon  the  mother  church. 

The  missionaries  work  in  entire  har¬ 
mony  with  the  Japanese  leaders,  and  are 
counted  a  necessity  at  the  present  stage 
in  the  life  of  the  church.  Especially  valu¬ 
able  is  the  contribution  that  they  may 
make  in  suggesting  to  Japanese  pastors 
varied  methods  by  which  to  carry  on  their 
work. 

Japanese  Christianity  and 
World  Peace 

The  larger  importance  of  modern  mis¬ 
sions. — In  this  religious  situation  in  mod¬ 
ern  Japan  is  to  be  seen  the  vital  part 
being  played  by  Christian  missions  in  the 
formation  of  a  new  world  order.  The 
Christian  missionary  still  works  for  the 
transformation  of  men’s  lives  one  by  one, 
as  he  always  has,  and  as  he  always  will. 
But  he  is  also  at  work  for  the  transfor¬ 
mation  of  those  social  and  political  condi¬ 
tions  that  hinder  the  establishment  of  the 
rule  of  God  throughout  the  earth.  And 
in  that  work  he  comes  to  stand  between 
mankind  and  numberless  ills.  His  minis¬ 
try  is,  like  his  Master’s,  manifold. 


Strategic  Japan. — It  is  not  too  much  to 
say  that  the  history  of  the  rest  of  this 
century  will  be  largely  conditioned  by 
what  happens  in  Japan  within  the  next 
few  years.  If  the  bureaucratic  forces 
gain  control,  there  is  every  indication 
that  they  will  embark  upon  an  imperialis¬ 
tic  course  upon  the  Asiatic  mainland 
that  will  mean  war  upon  a  vast  scale. 
Statesmen  are  today  watching  the  Far 
East  as  the  probable  scene  of  the  next 
world  war,  if  such  a  war  comes.  Bureau¬ 
cracies  are  essentially  the  same,  wherever 
found.  That  in  Japan  is  not  more  selfish, 
more  brutal,  more  stupid  than  have  been 
those  in  Europe.  Nor  is  it  less. 

Christianity  as  a  democratic  agency. — 
The  importance  of  the  democratic  strug¬ 
gle  within  Japan  thus  becomes  clear.  But 
the  democratic  forces  are  still  small  in 
size,  and  while  they  are  constantly  grow¬ 
ing,  a  member  of  the  Japanese  Diet  de¬ 
clared  recently  before  the  Federal  Council 
of  Churches  that  “the  number  of  liberals 
is  few,  their  power  small,  and  the  move¬ 
ment  has  not  advanced  to  the  stage  where 
we  can  believe  it  has  changed  the  politics 
of  the  nation.” 

It  can  be  only  by  providing  a  compact, 
unbreakable  central  group,  about  which 
this  democratic  movement  can  rally,  and 
by  animating  it  with  a  supernatural 
spirit,  that  the  defeat  of  the  entrenched 
bureaucracy  can  be  compassed.  This  is 
precisely  what  Christianity  is  doing  in 
Japan  today!  Every  congregation — es¬ 
pecially  every  Protestant  Christian  con¬ 
gregation — is  a  center  of  democratic 
strength.  And  the  fate  of  the  democratic 
movement  in  Japan  is  largely  bound  up 
with  the  fate  of  Japanese  Christianity! 

A  struggle  far  from  won. — It  would  be 
a  mistake  to  underestimate  the  serious¬ 
ness  of  this  inner  struggle  within  Japan, 
by  supposing  that  the  spirit  of  the  times 
makes  the  victory  of  democracy  certain. 
Japan  is  only  a  half  century  from  feudal¬ 
ism.  Its  spiritual  ties  are  all  with  a  con¬ 
tinent  that  has  been  the  immemorial  home 
of  autocracy. 

With  the  Japan  Methodist  Church  occu¬ 
pying  the  honorable  place  that  it  does 


EASTERN  ASIA 


43 


among  the  Christian  bodies  of  Japan,  a 
main  division  of  the  democratic  forces,  it 
would  be  treason  to  the  future  peace  of 
the  world  not  to  support  it  now  to  the 
fullest  ability  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church. 

Methodism’s  Agencies  in  Japan 

General  occupation. — The  map  on  page 
36,  shows  where  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church  maintains  missionaries  in  Japan. 
It  is  to  be  remembered  that  there  are 
many  stations  of  the  Japan  Methodist 
Church  not  indicated.  It  will  be  seen  that 
this  occupation  covers  most  of  the  im¬ 
portant  centers  of  Japan,  with  the  excep¬ 
tion  of  those  from  which  agreements 
made  with  other  missions  exclude  our 
workers.  Note,  also,  that  the  work  has 
followed  the  Japanese  into  Chosen  (Ko¬ 
rea)  where  there  is  a  district  of  the  Japan 
Methodist  Conference  almost  entirely  self- 
supporting.  This  work  is  confined  to 
Japanese. 

An  awakened  church. — Foremost  among 
the  agencies  must  be  placed  the  churches. 
Every  district  reporting  from  Japan  bears 
witness  to  an  astonishing  display  of  spir¬ 
itual  vigor,  due  to  Centenary  stimulus. 
Here  are  a  few  sample  reports: 

Tokyo  District:  “The  Forward  Move¬ 
ment  wras  a  direct  result  of  the  Cen¬ 
tenary  Movement  at  home, 
and  has  been  both  spir¬ 
itually  and  materially  a 
great  blessing  to  the 
Japan  Methodist  Church. 

Land  has  been  purchased, 
buildings  projected,  and 
a  general  advance  reg¬ 
istered.” 

Tokai  District  (includ¬ 
ing  Yokohama) :  “The 
church  has  taken  on  new 
life,  financially  and  spir¬ 
itually.  We  all  hope  that 
the  stimulus  thus  gained 
may  be  a  permanent 
force,  for  it  has  added 
greatly  to  the  efficiency 
of  the  church.” 


North  Kyushu  District  (including  Nag¬ 
asaki):  “The  church  is  entirely  under 
native  leadership  and  doing  far  better 
than  it  could  under  missionaries.  The 
number  of  full  members  rose  from  412  to 
707  last  year,  and  contributions  from 
$9.80  to  $13.71  per  member.” 

South  Kyushu  District  (including  Ku- 
manoto):  “There  is  manifest  improve¬ 
ment  each  year.  In  general  faithfulness, 
loyalty  to  our  faith,  wisdom  in  meeting 
difficulties,  devotion  to  the  church,  the 
Japanese  Methodists  are  making  a  fine 
record.” 

Chosen  Japanese  District:  “Nothing  has 
done  so  much  to  arouse  the  Japanese 
Christians  to  their  responsibility  for  evan¬ 
gelizing  the  people  as  the  Centenary. 
Their  goals  and  efforts  to  reach  these 
goals  are  most  praiseworthy.  There  has 
never  been  such  activity  as  is  now  evi¬ 
dent  among  Japanese  Methodists.” 

Helping  to  mold  the  Japanese  mind. — No 
more  grave  condition  confronts  the  Chris¬ 
tian  program  in  Japan  than  that  presented 
by  the  schools.  It  is  unnecessary  for  the 
churches  to  maintain  lower  schools,  be¬ 
cause  of  the  efficient  government  system 
of  primary  education.  (There  are  a  few 
Christian  primary  schools,  and  certain 
kindergartens  have  proved  of  large  value. 


Chapel  in  the  Aoyama  Gakuin,  Tokyo 


44 


WORLD  SERVICE 


The  campus  and  buildings 


But  a  Christian  system  of  primary 
schools  is  not  contemplated.) 

In  the  field  of  higher  schools  and  col¬ 
leges,  however,  the  Christian  forces  are 
required.  For  one  thing,  the  state  does 
not  supply  facilities  to  accommodate  more 
than  half  of  the  graduates  of  primary 
schools  who  would  continue  their  educa¬ 
tion.  For  another,  the  atmosphere  within 
the  government  higher  schools  is  not  favor¬ 
able  to  religion.  The  last  time  a  census 
of  religious  affiliations  was  permitted  in 
the  Government  University  at  Tokyo  the 
students  reported  themselves  as: 


Agnostics  . 2,989 

Atheists  . 1,511 

Christians  .  60 

Buddhists  .  49 

Shintoists  .  9 


Most  of  the  missions  at  work  in  Japan 
have  established  schools  of  a  higher 
grade  to  deal  with  this  dangerous  situa¬ 
tion.  The  Methodist  Episcopal  Church 
has  three  such,  in  the  south  at  Nagasaki, 
in  the  north  at  Hirosaki  and  in  the  center 
at  Tokyo.  The  schools  in  the  north  and 
south  are  crowded  to  their  capacity. 


At  Hirosaki  and  Nagasaki. — From  the 
school  at  Hirosaki  have  gone  many  lead¬ 
ers  of  Japanese  life,  such  as  Viscount 
Chinda,  formerly  ambassador  at  Wash¬ 
ington  and  present  personal  adviser  to 
the  Prince  Regent,  Viscount  Sato,  also  at 
one  time  ambassador  at  Washington, 
Bishop  Honda  and  many  others.  Educa¬ 
tional  conditions  in  that  part  of  Japan 
for  a  time  brought 
about  the  closing 
of  this  school  but 
the  urging  of 
both  government 
and  alumni  has 
secured  its  re¬ 
opening. 

The  school  at 
Nagasaki  has  al¬ 
ways  held  as  com¬ 
manding  a  posi¬ 
tion  as  would  be 
suggested  by  its 
site  on  a  hill  looking  out  over  the  entire 
city  and  harbor.  The  greatest  handicap  of 
this  institution  is  the  restricted  property 
upon  which  it  is  necessary  to  fit  in  build- 


CHRISTIANS  13 


^SHINTOISTS  0.2 * 
BUOOHISTS  U* 


Religious  affiliations  at 
Government  University, 
Tokyo 


EASTERN  ASIA 


45 


of  Aoyama  Gakuin 


ings  like  the  pieces  of  a  puzzle.  The  limit 
of  enrolment  with  present  facilities  has 
long  since  been  reached. 

Aoyama  Gakuin. — At  Aoyama  Gakuin, 
on  the  outskirts  of  Tokyo,  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church  has  the  crown  of  its 
educational  system  in  Japan.  Here,  in  an 
institution  that  contains  academy,  college 
and  theological  school,  is  to  be  found  the 
largest  enrolment,  1,589,  in  any  mission 
school  in  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church. 
Of  this  number,  608  are  in  the  college, 
which  meets  the  strictest  requirements  of 
the  Japanese  government  and  has  full  rec¬ 
ognition.  Two-thirds  of  the  running  ex¬ 
penses  are  contributed  locally  and  one  of 
the  outstanding  buildings,  Katsuta  Hall, 
is  the  gift  of  an  alumnus. 

It  is  the  plan  of  the  church  to  develop 
Aoyama  Gakuin  into  a  university,  which 
will  require  a  large  addition  to  the  teach¬ 
ing  force  and  the  physical  equipment. 
Much  of  the  cost  of  advance  will  be  con¬ 
tributed  in  Japan.  It  is  of  interest  to 
note  that  with  all  the  plans  for  enlarge¬ 
ment,  the  program  for  Aoyama  Gakuin 
calls  for  only  as  much  support  from 


America  by  1934  as  is  now  being  con¬ 
tributed  by  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church,  South,  to  one  school  in  Japan. 

Facing  the  industrial  situation. — To  sug¬ 
gest  some  of  the  lines  along  which  the 
Methodist  Church  is  working  in  the  fast 
growing  industrial  life  of  Japan,  a  visitor 


Spiritual  leaders  for  the  new  Japan — theolog¬ 
ical  students  at  Aoyama  Gakuin 


46 


WORLD  SERVICE 


Mailing  Christian  literature  from  the  Methodist 
Publishing  House,  Tokyo 


ought  to  study  the  vast  Akunoura  dis¬ 
trict  of  Nagasaki,  where,  in  a  strip  three 
miles  long,  12,000  workmen  live  while 
they  build  great  steamers  and  battleships 
that  fly  Japanese  flags. 

In  this  district,  entirely  controlled  by 
the  Mitsubishi  Shipbuilding  Company 
(the  largest  of  its  kind  in  Japan),  has 
been  started  what  is  to  become  a  model 
institutional  development.  Here,  with  the 
approval  of  the  company,  the  church  is 
working  among  the  29,552  persons  who 
make  up  this  distinct  community. 

The  territory  is  left  entirely  to  the 
Methodists  by  other  Christian  bodies.  The 
Mitsubishi  Company  supports  a  certain 
amount  of  welfare  work  but  this  can  not 
be  said  to  go  below  the  surface  of  the 
social  and  moral  problems  presented. 

A  fine  piece  of  property  has  already 
been  secured,  standing  within  a  hundred 
yards  of  the  Mitsubishi  Technical  School, 
within  three  hundred  yards  of  the  Mitsu¬ 
bishi  Hospital,  and  adjoining  the  primary 
school  for  this  district.  On  this  prop¬ 
erty  it  is  proposed  to  erect  a  fine  institu¬ 
tional  plant,  for  which  $72,500  must  be 
contributed  from  America. 

The  staff  for  this  plant  is  already  in 
view  and  is  thoroughly  trained  to  meet 


the  most  exacting  require¬ 
ments.  Both  as  a  contri¬ 
bution  in  a  center  of  the 
industrial  unrest  that 
plagues  Japan  today,  and 
as  an  example  for  Chris¬ 
tian  work  in  other  parts 
of  the  empire,  this  Aku¬ 
noura  project  must  be 
carried  through  speedily. 

Printed  evangelism.  — 
Within  the  last  few  years 
an  unusual  type  of  mis¬ 
sionary  work  has  been 
evolved  through  the  inser¬ 
tion  of  advertisements 
bearing  a  Christian  mes¬ 
sage  in  the  newspapers. 
Since  practically  all 
Japanese  are  newspaper 
readers  (see  the  picture 
on  page  38),  these  appeals  have  proved 
of  remarkable  value. 

The  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  parti¬ 
cipates  in  and  makes  possible  the  exten¬ 
sion  of  this  type  of  effort.  Moreover,  the 
Methodist  Publishing  House  in  Tokyo  has 
become  the  leading  Christian  concern  of 
its  kind  in  Japan.  The  house  shows  a 
profit  yearly,  and  all  such  profits  are 
being  used  to  amplify  the  work  of  this 
agency.  At  the  present  time  when  Japan 
is  unusually  open  to  a  printed  message, 
the  value  of  the  publishing  house  can  be 
much  increased. 


Coming  from  the  Methodist  Sunday-school 
in  the  Akunoura  District 


EASTERN  ASIA 


47 


Bible  distribution.— As  is  natural  under 
the  conditions  described,  the  market  for 
the  distribution  of  the  Scriptures  is  con¬ 
stantly  increasing.  The  American  Bible 
Society  is  responsible  for  this  work  in  the 
northern  half  of  Japan,  leaving  the  south¬ 
ern  part  to  the  agents  of  the  British  and 
Foreign  Bible  Society.  By  the  end  of 
1921  the  American  body  reported  a  total 
.distribution  of  4,676,258  volumes.  It  is 
stated  that  prison  authorities  in  many 
parts  of  the  empire  now  seek  Testaments 
for  the  use  of  the  prisoners. 

The  Need. — In  view  of  the  issues  at 
stake,  the  present  program  of  the  Metho¬ 
dist  Episcopal  Church  in  Japan  can  not 
be  considered  at  all  adequate.  For  the 
maintenance  of  this  work  and  such  ad¬ 
vance  as  the  church  has  approved  of  dur¬ 
ing  1925  this  program  has  been  adopted: 
Missionary  Staff  is  required  on  these  lines: 
Evangelistic  Work.... 13  Couples  0  Single 

Educational  Work . 13  Couples  3  Single 

Medical  Work .  0  Couples  0  Single 

Other  Work .  7  Couples  1  Single 


33  4  $106,500 


Work  Operations 


Church  Work  from  Centers......-.-..,. 

$  54,641 

2  High  Schools  . 

$32,050 

1  College  . 

51,400 

83,450 

1  Missionary,  Medical  Service... 

2,300 

Other  Work  . 

25,075 

Total  for  Work  Operations . 

$165,466 

Property  Projects 

1  New  Missionary  Bungalow . 

$10,000 

Land — Kago  Shima  . 

5,000 

$  15,000 

1  Institutional  Center  . . 

40,000 

3  City  Churches  . 

49,000 

14  Smaller  Churches  . . 

43,440 

3  Parsonages  . 

4,000 

Other  Evangelistic  Work  Proj- 

ects  . 

6,000 

142,440 

1  Orphanage  . 

15,000 

4  High  School  Buildings . 

62,716 

2  College  Buildings  . 

60,000 

137,716 

Office  Equipment  . 

2,000 

Centenary  Projects, 

Payments  Due  . 

10,883 

12,883 

Total  for  Property  Project 

s . 

$308,039 

Total  Program  (Japan) 

$580,005 

KOREA 


.The  Passing  of  the  Morning  Calm 

Working  amid  new  forces. — Apostles  of 
progress  confront  an  entirely  changed 
nation  in  Korea  today.  To  some  extent, 
change  has  come  through  the  efforts  of  the 
Japanese.  More  important,  however,  is 
the  change  in  spirit  and  mental  attitude 
on  the  part  of  the  17,500,000  Koreans. 

Forty  years  ago  Korea 
was  known  as  the  “Land 
of  the  Morning  Calm.” 

She  maintained  that  calm 
by  an  isolation  more  com¬ 
plete  even  than  that  of 
Japan.  On  her  hundreds 
of  miles  of  coast  no  cities 
or  villages  were  allowed  to 
rise.  Even  after  this  iso¬ 
lation  was  penetrated,  the 
Korean  maintained  an 


inner  calm  that  appeared  to  indicate  com¬ 
plete  lack  of  interest  in  the  world  without 
or  in  the  forces  that  were  bringing  such 
rapid  change  in  other  parts  of  the  Far 
East. 

When  his  country  was  made  a  plaything, 
the  Korean  seemingly  accepted  the  situa¬ 
tion  with  resignation.  He  had  no  interest 


Modern  street  scene  in  old  Seoul 


48 


WORLD  SERVICE 


The  East  Gate  Sunday  school  at  Seoul 

in  learning,  and  the  introduction  of  rail¬ 
roads,  manufacturing  establishments,  and 
other  marks  of  a  material  civilization 
moved  him  not  at  all. 

Today  all  this  is  changed.  There  is 
hardly  a  person  in  Korea  who  has  not 
passed  through  the  fire  of  the  independ¬ 
ence  movement  which  has  fused  all  groups 
into  a  self-conscious  nation.  Carrying  on 
Christian  work  under  such  conditions  pre¬ 
sents  a  problem  totally  different  from  that 
which  the  church  faced  a  decade  ago. 

Changes  of  a  half  decade. — The  most  cas¬ 
ual  traveler  through  Korea  can  not  fail  to 
be  struck  by  the  material  advance  of  the 
last  few  years.  Highways  capable  of 
bearing  automobile  traffic  are  being  ex¬ 
tended  rapidly.  The  railway  system  will 
soon  reach  every  important  center.  Such 
a  city  as  Seoul,  the  capital,  has  been  trans¬ 
formed  into  one  of  the  most  modern  mu¬ 
nicipalities  of  the  Far  East. 

New  schools  are  to  be  seen  everywhere. 
The  government  had  by  1919  a  total  of 
556  common  schools  (the  common  school 
in  Korea  is  equivalent  to  the  American 
grammar  school),  but  the  complete  gov¬ 
ernment  program  calls  for  870  such 
schools. 

Afforestation  is  carried  ahead  rapidly, 
with  150,000,000  trees  planted  in  a  single 
year.  The  value  of  the  output  of  min¬ 
erals  has  increased  from  $3,000,000  at  the 
time  of  the  annexation  to  $12,102,344  in 
1920.  Imports  have  increased  from 
$33,560,000  to  $140,395,000  during  the 
same  period,  and  exports  from  $10,490,000 


to  $109,830,000.  There  were  in  1919 
fourteen  manufacturing  companies  with 
an  average  capital  of  more  than  $250,000. 
In  only  five  of  these  companies,  however, 
is  Korean  capital  invested  and  only  two 
are  completely  Korean  in  their  control. 

Nor  has  the  contribution  of  Japan  to  the 
making  of  a  new  Korea  been  wholly  ma¬ 
terial.  Particularly  in  administration 
there  has  been  great  improvement.  The 
old  Korean  government  was  notorious  for 
corruption  even  in  the  Far  East.  Bishop 
Herbert  Welch  states  that  “in  place  of  the 
old  corrupt  and  exceedingly  inefficient 
government  that  prevailed  before  the  an¬ 
nexation,  there  has  been  established  a  vig¬ 
orous  and  thoroughly  honest  government 
that  has  greatly  improved  the  comfort, 
safety,  etc.,  of  the  people  and  has  made 
life  and  property  secure.” 

A  critical  situation. — But  while  this  ad¬ 
vance  must  be  recognized,  it  is  none  the 
less  true  that  the  situation  In  Korea  has 


Tree  planting  near  Seoul 


EASTERN  ASIA 


49 


in  it  elements  of  great  danger.  The  so- 
called  independence  movement  of  1919,  re¬ 
pressed  so  sternly  by  the  government,  has 
disappeared  from  surface  view.  To  be 
sure,  there  is  still  agitation  carried  on  by 
Koreans  in  other  parts  of  the  world.  But 
in  Korea  itself,  except  for  an  occasional 
outbreak  on  the  part  of  some  irresponsi¬ 
ble  individual,  opposition  to  Japanese  rule 
smolders  under  the  surface.  For  this  rea¬ 
son  it  is  the  more  dangerous,  and  the 
Japanese  to  some  extent  realize  it. 

The  latest  official  report  of  the  Japa¬ 
nese  Government-General  devotes  several 
pages  to  an  account  of  the  way  in  which 
the  favor  of  the  Koreans  has  been  sought. 
Higher  posts  in  the  government  have  been 
offered  to  natives.  New  schools  are  being 
built  for  them  at  a  rapid  rate.  The 
teaching  of  certain  subjects  in  Korean  is 
permitted  in  these  schools.  Many  of  the 
worst  features  of  police  administration 
have  been  abolished.  Groups  of  Korean 
officials  and  teachers  have  been  taken 


“Bean  Porridge  Hot — Bean  Porridge  Cold” — 
as  played  in  Korea 


Kindergarten  paper  houses 


by  the  government  on  tours  of  Ja¬ 
pan,  and  moving  pictures  of  Japanese  life 
and  of  material  improvements  introduced 
by  the  Japanese  have  been  shown  through¬ 
out  Korea. 

Little  is  being  left  undone  that  the  ad¬ 
ministration  can  think  of  to  win  the  con¬ 
fidence  of  the  Koreans,  but  it  will  be  a  long 
time  before  that  confidence  is  won. 
Koreans  believe  that  whatever  is  now 
being  done  for  their  welfare  comes  as  a 
result  of  the  aroused  moral  indignation  of 
the  world.  Nor  does  the  good  will  of  the 
administration  always  make  itself  felt  in 
the  acts  of  its  subordinate  officers. 

Missionaries  and  Christian  workers 
generally  are  guarding  themselves  against 
interference  in  political  matters.  But 
while  the  situation  in  Korea  is  what  it  is 
and  the  basic  doctrines  of  Christianity  are 
what  they  are,  there  is  always  danger  lest 
some  unforeseen  incident  create  grave  dif¬ 
ficulties. 


Methodism  in  Korea 
How  the  land  is  occupied. — Korea  often 
seems  to  the  traveler  to  be  just  a  great 
handful  of  mountains  heaped  up  and 
thrown  off  the  northeast  coast  of  Asia. 
The  country  is  about  equal  in  area  to 
Kansas,  but  has  a  population  approxi¬ 
mately  ten  times  that  of  that  state.  It  is 
a  land  of  villages,  with  only  a  few  cities 
of  any  size.  Nine-tenths  of  the  villages 
contain  fewer  than  fifty  homes. 

The  progress  of  Christianity  in  Korea 
has  attracted  the  attention  of  the  Chris- 


50 


WORLD  SERVICE 


tian  world.  With  Protestant  missions 
started  as  recently  as  1885,  it  is  claimed 
that  there  has  been  a  new  convert  every 


Methodist  Episcopal  resident  sta¬ 
tions  in  Korea 


hour  day  and  night  since  the  work  began. 
Today  approximately  three  hundred  thou¬ 
sand  Koreans — one  in  every  sixty — are 
reported  as  Christians. 

The  six  largest  Protestant  denomina¬ 
tions  at  work  in  Korea  have  divided  the 
territory  to  prevent  duplicating  of  effort. 
The  accompanying  map  shows  the  way  in 
which  the  territory  of  the  Methodist  Epis¬ 
copal  Church  is  scattered  about  central 
and  northern  Korea.  More 
than  3,000,000  people  live 
in  these  sections  for 
whom  Methodism  is  solely 
responsible.  The  centers 
of  work  are  in  the  cities 
of  Seoul,  Pyeng  Yang, 

Yeng  Byen,  Chemulpo, 

Wonju,  and  Kongju. 

The  general  organiza¬ 
tion  of  the  church  is  much 
like  that  of  early  Metho¬ 
dism  in  England  and 
America.  County  seats  and 
other  important  towns  are 


made  the  heads  of  circuits,  each  one  of 
which  includes  a  good  many  preaching 
points.  The  church  in  Korea  relies  upon 


How  Korea  is  divided  among  six 
Protestant  denominations 


volunteer  service  from  lay  preachers  for 
much  of  its  advance. 

Marks  of  an  apostolic  church. — In  many 
ways  the  church  in  Korea  is  reminiscent 
of  that  described  in  the  Acts  of  the 
Apostles.  It  has  a  vital  prayer  life  that 
is  based  upon  an  intense  searching  of  the 
Scriptures.  It  is  not  at  all  uncommon  for 
congregations  to  spend  five  nights  a  week 
in  Bible  study.  Out  of  this  has  grown  the 


School  children  at  prayer 


EASTERN  ASIA 


51 


practice  of  personal  work.  One  observer 
reports:  “Never  a  service  ends  in  Korea 
without  an  invitation  for  new  believers 
to  come  forward.  There  are  few  services 
when  some  do  not  come.  I  have  seen  as 
many  as  fifty  at  a  regular  church  service. 
They  do  not  come  because  of  the  sermon 
that  was  preached ;  they  come  because 
some  other  person  in  that  congregation 
talked  with  them  and  talked  with  God 
about  them  and  finally  led  them  to  the 
altar.  This  individual  work  has  become 
so  important  that  we  never  baptize  a  new 
believer  without  asking  if  he  has  led 
anyone  to  Christ.  The  three  hundred 
thousand  Christians  in  Korea  were  won 
largely  in  this  way.” 

Another  feature  of  the  life  of  the 
Korean  church  is  its  benevolence.  Many 
churches  have  almost  reached  self-support, 
and  it  is  planned  that  practically  every 
church  now  established  shall  reach  that 
goal  within  the  next  ten  years.  One  mark 
of  the  stewardship  of  the  Korean  is  seen 
in  the  fact  that,  while  the  membership  of 
the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  owing 
largely  to  political  conditions,  showed  a 
decrease  between  1916  and  1920,  the  con¬ 
tributions  rose  from  $44,689  to  $132,635. 
During  the  Centenary  period  more  than 
$150,000  was  subscribed  by  the  Methodists 
of  Korea  for  missionary  work  outside  of 
the  local  church.  This  leads  to  reference 
to  another  feature,  namely,  the  missionary 
zeal  of  the  Koreans.  Not  only  are  they 
anxious  for  the  conversion  of  their  fellow 
countrymen,  but  they  have  formed  a  mis¬ 
sionary  society  that  is  sending  representa¬ 
tives  to  work  among  the  Koreans  who 
live  in  Manchuria. 

It  is  no  wonder  that  Sherwood  Eddy 
once  declared  that,  if  Christianity  dies  out 
in  the  West,  it  exists  in  Korea  in  sufficient 
strength  to  re-evangelize  the  world. 

Through  the  fire. — In  common  with  that 
of  other  churches,  Methodist  work  in 
Korea  suffered  heavily  during  the  inde¬ 
pendence  agitation.  Many  schools  were 
closed,  pastors  imprisoned,  churches 
burned,  and  hundreds  of  church  members 
suffered.  For  a  time  it  seemed  as  though 


A  Korean  baby  carriage 


the  responsibility  for  the  uprising  might 
be  placed  by  the  authorities  upon  the 
church  because  the  progressive  character 
of  the  church  members  gave  Korean  Chris¬ 
tians  a  leading  part  in  the  movement. 

At  present,  however,  the  antagonism  of 
the  local  government  has  disappeared. 
While  the  Japanese  are  correct  in  at¬ 
tributing  to  Christianity  indirect  respon¬ 
sibility  for  the  Korean  desire  for  freedom, 
they  have  been  assured  that  churches  and 
missions  will  to  the  fullest  extent  possible 
co-operate  with  the  government  in  urging 
respect  for  law  and  aiding  the  efforts  to 
bring  about  a  mutual  understanding  be¬ 
tween  Koreans  and  Japanese.  A  working 
basis  between  church  and  state  has  been 
found. 

On  the  other  hand,  while  the  Koreans 
have  been  disappointed  in  their  hopes  of 
intervention  by  western  nations,  many  of 
them  now  feel  that  what  their  country 
most  needs  is  internal  change,  so  that  they 


52 


WORLD  SERVICE 


are  flocking  to  the  churches  as  they  have 
never  in  the  past.  Missionaries  report 
that  while  some  of  these  inquirers  leave 
when  they  find  no  political  activities  pro¬ 
moted,  there  remains  the  largest  group  of 
seekers  the  church  in  Korea  has  ever 
known. 

A  veteran  missionary  says:  “The  pres¬ 
ent  Christian  movement  in  Korea  is  the 
most  intelligent,  the  most  determined,  the 
most  Korea-wide  movement  toward  the 
Christian  church  we  have  seen.  Our 
churches  are  full  and  our  schools  are  over¬ 
flowing.  There  is  an  open-hearted  eager¬ 
ness  that  has  never  before  been  seen  in 
Korea.  I  have  talked  with  our  own  mis¬ 
sionaries  and  those  of  other  denomina¬ 
tions  and  they  all  say  that  the  churches 
have  an  increased  attendance — it  amounts 
in  some  places  to  as  much  as  two  hundred 
or  three  hundred  per  cent.” 

The  Present  Impact 

A  zealous  church.— Every  district  report 
from  Korea  confirms  this  judgment. 
Scarcely  a  district  but  tells  of  congrega¬ 
tions  being  held  together  by  lay  workers. 
In  many  cases  it  has  been  impossible  to 
provide  pastors.  By  far  the  majority  of 
preachers  in  the  Korea  Conference  today 
are  laymen. 

“All  the  work  of  evangelizing  and 
soul  winning  is  done  by  native  agencies,” 
writes  another  missionary.  “The  church 
in  Korea  is  a  virile,  self-propagating 
church.  The  ‘Day  Collection’  is  a  unique 
thing  in  the  Korean  Church.  By  this 
method  men  and  women  pledge  so  much 
of  their  time  to  direct  evangelistic  work 
without  remuneration.  The  missionary 
leads  and  co-operates  with  the  native  lead¬ 
ers  in  special  evangelistic  services,  in 
training  and  to  some  extent  in  actual  per¬ 
sonal  work.  But,  aside  from  giving  direc¬ 
tion,  inspiration  and  momentum,  the  mis¬ 
sionary’s  efforts  are  very  limited  as 
compared  to  those  of  the  native  church.” 

The  educational  problem. — But,  while 
the  church  in  Korea  is  famed  for  its  evan¬ 
gelistic  zeal,  there  lies  before  it  an  edu¬ 
cational  problem  that  is  giving  its  leaders 


Give  this  lad  an  opportunity — 


much  concern.  Until  recently  the  aver¬ 
age  Korean  had  little  interest  in  education. 
The  most  constructive  result  of  the  in¬ 
dependence  movement,  however,  has  been 
the  realization  that  the  strength  of  Korea 
in  the  future  depends  upon  the  proper 
training  of  her  young  people  today. 

Education  is  the  topic  of  greatest  con¬ 
cern.  Anywhere  a  school  is  opened  it  can 
be  filled  to  overflowing.  Yet  while  this 
is  true,  as  one  observer  reports,  “the  op¬ 
portunity  for  educating  boys  under  Chris¬ 
tian  influence  is  fast  slipping  away.”  It 
is  the  government  that  is  rising  to  this 
challenge. 

Reports  from  every  district  in  Korea 
tell  of  Methodist  schools  closed  or  about 
to  be  closed,  until  it  seems  probable  that 
within  a  few  years  there  will  be  almost  no 
Methodist  common  schools  in  the  country. 
This  is  because  the  establishment  of  high 
grade  schools  by  the  government  makes  it 
impossible  to  meet  the  situation  with  poorly 
housed,  poorly  equipped,  and  understaffed 
mission  schools.  The  alternatives  are 
good  schools  or  none. 

Increasingly,  likewise,  the  government 
will  take  over  the  field  occupied  by  the 
higher  common  school,  roughly  equivalent 
to  the  American  high  school. 


EASTERN  ASIA 


53 


— and  the  result  will  pay 


It  seems  tragic  that  in  this  period  when, 
despite  all  the  efforts  of  the  government, 
not  half  of  the  boys  who  do  apply  can  be 
accommodated,  the  limited  resources 
should  force  withdrawal  from  this  field 
and  leave  the  moulding  of  the  most  im¬ 
pressionable  years  in  the  hands  of  an 
agency  that  is  not,  to  say  the  least,  ag¬ 
gressively  favorable  to  Christianity. 

The  development  of  higher  common 
schools  under  the  impetus  of  the  Cen¬ 
tenary  at  Kongju  and  Pyeng  Yang  calls 
for  rejoicing,  but  our  overcrowded  Pyeng 
Yang  school  reports  that  last  year  it  ad¬ 
mitted  450  boys  between  the  ages  of  four¬ 
teen  and  twenty-two  and  had  to  turn  away 
more  than  500. 

Chosen  Christian  College. — In  union 
with  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church, 
South,  the  Northern  Presbyterians  and 
the  Canadian  Presbyterians,  the  Metho¬ 
dist  Episcopal  Church  conducts  in  Seoul 
the  Chosen  Christian  College.  Here,  on  a 
campus  which,  together  with  the  present 
plant,  is  valued  at  $347,000,  the  evangeli¬ 
cal  denominations  are  making  their  bid  for 
the  commanding  institution  of  higher 
learning  in  Korea. 

The  government  has  not  yet  entered  this 
field,  although  it  has  collegiate  work  in 


prospect.  The  universities  of  Japan  show 
what  the  government  will  be  able  to  do. 
If  Christian  education  is  not  to  be  stigma¬ 
tized  as  second  rate,  it  is  necessary  that 
the  Chosen  Christian  College  receive  full 
equipment  for  the  most  progressive  type 
of  modern  education.  At  the  present  time 
the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  is  under 
obligation  to  provide  a  residence  for  one 
more  American  faculty  member,  two 
Korean  professors  who  are  graduates  of 
American  universities,  a  chapel  and  a  part 
of  the  college’s  necessary  endowment. 

Preparing  a  ministry.  —  In  the  Union 
Methodist  Theological  Seminary  in  Seoul, 
our  church  is  co-operating  with  the  Meth¬ 
odist  Episcopal  Church,  South,  to  provide 
adequate  training  for  the  men  upon  whom 
will  fall  the  leadership  of  the  church  in 
Korea.  Out  of  the  180  Methodist  min¬ 
isters  now  at  work  in  Korea,  100  are  grad¬ 
uates  of  this  school.  There  are  at  pres¬ 
ent  ninety-seven  students  enrolled  who 
will  soon  be  in  the  active  ministry.  How¬ 
ever,  it  will  be  seen  that  this  hardly  be¬ 
gins  to  meet  the  needs  when  it  is  known 
that  there  are  811  churches  for  which 
ministers  must  be  supplied. 

The  Union  Theological  School  now  has 
an  advanced  course  which  is  given  in  Eng¬ 
lish  for  graduates  of  the  Chosen  Christian 
College.  It  trains  Korean  graduates  of 
the  Pierson  Memorial  Bible  School,  an  in¬ 
stitution  of  lower  grade  conducted  in 
Seoul  in  connection  with  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church,  South,  and  the  North¬ 
ern  Presbyterian. 

Training  modern  physicians. — In  Korea, 
as  in  other  Eastern  lands,  the  need  for 
modern  physicians  is  so  insistent  that  the 
church  is  giving  much  attention  to  their 
education.  In  Seoul,  at  the  Severance 
Union  Medical  College,  Northern,  South¬ 
ern,  and  Canadian  Presbyterians  unite 
with  the  two  branches  of  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church  to  maintain  the  leading 
medical  school  in  Korea.  From  this  school 
113  doctors  have  already  graduated,  while 
from  the  hospital,  conducted  in  connection 
with  the  college,  forty-two  Korean  nurses 
have  gone  out.  The  faculty  at  the  present 


54 


WORLD  SERVICE 


larger  churches  and, 
where  its  membership  can 
be  guided  so  that  it  does 
not  degenerate  into  a 
political  debating  society, 
it  forms  a  fine  instrument 
for  the  development  of 
initiative  and  Christian 
character  in  the  young 
people. 

In  this  period  of  intel¬ 
lectual  awakening,  the 
production  and  distribu¬ 
tion  of  Christian  litera¬ 
ture  becomes  of  increasing 
importance.  The  Metho- 
time  includes  twenty-one  Americans,  dist  Episcopal  Church  has  a  part  in  the 
Canadians,  and  Australians;  six  Japanese;  support  of  the  Christian  Literature  Soci- 


Congregation  at  First  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  Pyeng  Yang 


and  eighteen  Kore¬ 
ans.  There  are  fifty- 
seven  medical  stu¬ 
dents  in  training  and 
thirty-five  studying 
to  be  nurses. 

In  addition  to  the 
Severance  College 
and  hospital,  the 
Methodist  Episcopal 
Church  has  in  Korea 
medical  work  in 
Pyeng  Yang,  Haiju, 

Wonju,  and  Kong.ju. 

Other  evangelizing 
agencies.  —  An  out¬ 
standing  feature  of 
the  quickening  life  of  the  church  in  Korea 
is  the  improvement  in  methods  of  Sunday- 
school  work  and  the  grow¬ 
ing  work  of  such  schools. 

Under  the  inspiration  of 
trained  leaders,  schools 
are  being  conducted  in 
practically  every  Metho¬ 
dist  circuit  in  Korea.  In 
many  places  separate 
schools  are  carried  on  for 
adults  and  for  children, 
and  ideals  are  high. 

The  Epworth  League 
exists  in  some  of  the 


Bible  women  giving  tracts  to  working  women 


ety  of  Korea  which 
during  the  single  year 
of  1921  published 
47,644,244  pages  of 
evangelical  litera¬ 
ture.  This  has  been 
found  to  be  an 
agency  of  peculiar 
value  and  must  re¬ 
ceive  increasingly 
large  financial  provi¬ 
sion. 

Looking  Ahead 

The  Korean  church 
today.  —  There  are 
sixty-nine  Korean 
full  members  of  an¬ 
nual  conferences,  with  twenty  on  trial, 
281  unordained  native  Korean  preachers 


Bedside  clinic  at  Severance  Hospital,  Seoul 


EASTERN  ASIA 


55 


Children  paying  subscription  to  church 
in  actual  labor 

and  exhorters,  and  406  other  male  work¬ 
ers.  Behind  these  stand  fifty-one  mis¬ 
sionaries,  with  thirty-four  additional 
representatives  of  the  Woman’s  For¬ 
eign  Missionary  Society,  and  two  other 
foreign  workers.  The  church  reports 
23,686  in  its  baptized  community,  of  whom 
19,985  are  members.  There  are  500  Sun¬ 
day  schools  enrolling  27,599  pupils.  There 
are  482  churches,  125  parsonages,  and 
twenty-one  residences  for  missionaries. 

The  Need 

There  is  no  question  that  the  work  at 
present  under  way  in  Korea  must  be  main¬ 
tained.  It  is  hardly  possible  that  the  Meth¬ 
odist  Episcopal  Church  will  be  ready  to 
regard  this  present  work  as  its  full  meas¬ 
ure  of  responsibility.  In  view  of  the 


need  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  has 
approved  this  program  for  work  in  Korea 
during  1925 : 

Missionary  Staff  is  required  on  these  lines: 
Evangelistic  Work.... 13  Couples  1  Single 

Educational  Work . 14  Couples  1  Single 

Medical  Work .  5  Couples  4  Single 

Other  Work .  2  Couples  0  Single 


Total  . 34 

6 

$113,300 

Work  Operations : 

Church  Work  from  114  Centers. 
63  Day  Schools  . 

..$  6,400 

24,957 

11  Boarding  Schools  . 

..  12,100 

3  High  Schools  . 

23,450 

2  Theological  Schools  . 

.  3,940 

1  College  . 

.  5,000 

Miscellaneous  . 

.  2,100 

52,990 

5  Hospitals  . 

.  10,900 

8  Dispensaries  . 

.  6,000 

16,900 

Other  Work  .  28,180 

Total  for  Work  Operations .  $123,027 

Property  Projects: 

5  New  Missionary  Bungalows .  33,900 

2  City  Churches  . $30,000 

22  Smaller  Churches  .  24,950 

1  Parsonage  .  370 

Other  Evangelistic  Projects....  10,250  65,570 


2  Day  School  Buildings .  4,000 

6  Boarding  School  Buildings .  59,600 

1  High  School  Building .  7.500 

1  College  Building .  6,000 

Other  Educational  Projects....  3,250  80,350 


1  Hospital  Building  .  25,000 

1  Hospital  Water  Supply  .  2,000  27,000 


Total  for  Property  Projects .  $206,820 

Total  Program  (Korea) .  $443,147 


■ 


' 


SOUTHEASTERN  ASIA 


. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  m  i  m  1 1  > 


PHILIPPINE  ISLANDS 
MALAYSIA 
DUTCH  EAST  INDIES 


Distribution  of  Methodist  Episcopal  Churches  in  Southeastern  Asia 


CENTENARY  SCHOOL  AT  KLANG,  MALAYSIA 


It  is  beginning  to  dawn  upon  some  people  that  whether 
the  East  shall  become  Christian  is  a  matter  that  vitally 
concerns  every  nation  and  must  determine  the  future 
of  humanity. 

W.  E.  Orchard. 


SOUTHEASTERN  ASIA 


A  Scattered  Field 

The  busy  Methodist,  glancing  at  the 
map,  frequently  fails  to  realize  how  large 
is  the  field  in  which  his  church  is  work¬ 
ing  in  Southeastern  Asia.  The  Philip¬ 
pines,  Sumatra,  Borneo,  Java,  Banka,  the 
Straits  Settlements,  the  Malay  States — 
these  seem  just  a  jumble  of  islands  and  a 
stub-end  of  a  continent,  an  inconsiderable 
bit  of  lace-work  flung  across  one  corner  of 
the  grand  design. 

Yet  the  field  that  the  Methodist  Episco¬ 
pal  Church  knows  as  Southeastern  Asia, 
if  it  were  transferred  to  the  western 
hemisphere,  would  stretch  from  Canada 
on  the  north  to  Santo  Domingo  on  the 
south,  and  would  almost  cover  the 
American  continent  east  and  west. 

There  are  about  57,500,000  peo¬ 
ple  in  this  field.  That,  to  be  sure, 
is  only  half  the  population  of  the 
United  States.  But  it  represents 
an  average  density  for  the  entire 


group  of  sixty-four  persons  to  every 
square  mile.  The  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church  is  the  only  American  mission 
(save  a  few  workers  of  the  Seventh  Day 
Adventists  and  similar  bodies)  in  all  this 
region,  except  in  the  Philippines.  In  the 
Philippines  the  membership  of  the  Meth¬ 
odist  Episcopal  Church  is  almost  equal  to 
that  of  all  the  other  Protestant  bodies. 

The  work  in  Malaysia  was  begun  in  1885 
by  William  F.  Oldham,  now  bishop  in 
South  America.  There  is  now  an  annual 
conference  including  the  work  on  the 
Malay  Peninsula,  and  a  mission  confer¬ 
ence  covering  the  Netherlands  Indies.  The 
episcopal  residence  is  at  Singapore. 

James  M.  Thoburn,  later  bishop 
in  India,  carried  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church  into  the  Philip¬ 
pines  in  1899.  There  is  an  annual 
conference  now,  and  a  church  with 
60,000  members.  The  episcopal 
residence  is  at  Manila. 


60 


WORLD  SERVICE 


Features  of  the  Work 

No  such  unity  of  problem  can  be  found 
in  Southeastern  Asia  as  exists  in  other 
grand  divisions  of  the  church’s  foreign 
field. 

In  the  Philippines,  the  work  is  almost 
wholly  evangelistic.  Favorable  conditions 
created  by  the  American  occupation  en¬ 
able  the  church  to  center  its  attention 
upon  the  development  of  a  self-reliant, 
self-propagating  Christian  community.  In 
a  remarkable  degree  this  aim  is  being 
realized. 

In  Malaysia,  the  work  has,  up  to  this 
time,  been  largely  among  Chinese.  Shift¬ 
ing  by  the  thousands  from  South  China 
to  the  Straits,  where  many  of  them  win 
wealth,  these  merchants  have  proven  ap¬ 
preciative  of  an  educational  approach.  As 
a  result,  strong  Chinese  congregations 
have  been  founded,  and  some  of  the  most 
successful  mission  schools  in  the  world 
filled  with  children  who  have  come  largely 
from  Chinese  homes.  This  work,  with  the 
help  of  the  government  or  with  the  liberal 
support  of  the  Chinese,  has  been  largely 
self-supporting. 

In  the  Dutch  East  Indies,  and  in  Ma¬ 
laysia  as  well,  the  church  now  realizes  its 


responsibility  to  the  millions  of  un¬ 
evangelized  Malays.  This  work  is  just 
beginning,  with  the  training  of  native 
preachers  and  with  the  provision  of  vari¬ 
ous  proved  modes  of  approach.  It  can 
confidently  be  stated,  however,  that  the 
strategy  of  advance  in  the  Malay  archi¬ 
pelago  will  emphasize  this  evangelistic 
work  among  Malays  from  this  time  for¬ 
ward. 

The  Immediate  Need 

Because  of  this  diversity  in  task  it  is 
impossible  to  carry  through  any  pro¬ 
grams  that  apply  to  Southeastern  Asia  as 
a  whole.  There  are  some  special  workers 
in  these  fields,  such  as  the  Rev.  Archie  L. 
Ryan,  who  is  directing  Sunday-school  ad¬ 
vance  in  the  Philippines,  and  Mr.  E.  H. 
Rue,  who  devotes  some  of  his  time  to  spe¬ 
cial  Ep worth  League  work  in  Malaysia. 

There  is,  however,  no  special  program 
for  Southeastern  Asia  as  a  unit,  as  dis¬ 
tinguished  from  its  parts.  The  program 
as  approved  for  1925  will  be  found  under 
each  geographical  division.  To  avoid  too 
great  detail  these  divisions  have  been 
presented  as  the  Philippine  Islands, 
Malaysia,  and  the  Dutch  East  Indies. 


PHILIPPINE  ISLANDS 


An  Experiment  Long  Awaited 

In  a  sympathetic  atmosphere. — 

When  thg  United  States  took  over 
the  Philippines,  the  evangelical 
church  awoke  to  the  realization 
that  here  for  the  first  time  mis¬ 
sionary  work  might  be  projected 
in  a  non-Christian  land  under  fa¬ 
vorable  political  and  social  condi¬ 
tions. 

The  public  schools  that  were  es¬ 
tablished  throughout  the  islands 
were  such  as  have  evolved  in  Prot¬ 
estant  countries.  Missionaries  were  as¬ 
sured  of  intelligent  understanding  of  their 
work  on  the  part  of  officials.  And  while 
there  were  thousands  of  followers  of  other 


faiths  in  the  islands,  there  were 
likewise  great  numbers  who  had 
been  in  touch  with  Christianity  as 
at  least  nominal  members  of  the 
Roman  Catholic  Church. 

What  the  result  has  been. — The 
remarkable  results  achieved  in  the 
less  than  a  quarter  of  a  century 
since  Protestant  work  was  begun 
have  shown  that,  given  such  favor¬ 
able  conditions,  the  church  will  go 
forward  rapidly. 

Of  all  the  Protestant  bodies  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church  has  gathered 
by  far  the  largest  membership.  There  are 
more  than  63,000  names  on  its  rolls,  or 
more  than  three  times  as  many  members 


Methodist  terri¬ 
tory  in  the 
Philippines 


SOUTHEASTERN  ASIA 


61 


thousands 


Full  membership  has  grown  more  rapidly  in  the 
Philippines  than  in  Korea,  where  the 
record  has  been  phenomenal 

as  in  Korea,  which  has  about  twice  the 
population,  much  greater  compactness,  a 
longer  period  of  Protestant  effort,  and 
where  the  results  achieved  by  our  mis¬ 
sions  have  been  considered  remarkable. 
In  addition,  the  church  in  the  Philippines 
is  more  nearly  self-supporting  than  in 
any  other  part  of  Asia. 

The  Philippines  Today 

Social  advances. — The  United  States 
can  point  with  pride  to  the  results  of  its 
twenty  years  of  administration  in  the 
Philippines.  More  rapidly  than  in  any 
other  large  colony  in  the  world  the  peo¬ 
ple,  who  had  lived  under  a  despotism  for 
centuries,  have  been  brought  to  local  and 
insular  self  government. 

A  modern  educational  system  has  been 
planted  throughout  the  islands.  An  effec¬ 
tive  bureau  of  health  has  segregated  lep¬ 
rosy  and  driven  out  cholera,  bubonic 
plague,  and  smallpox.  Public  roads  have 
been  built  in  all  parts  of  the  islands.  Con¬ 
crete  bridges  span  the  most  important 
streams.  Artesian  wells  provide  a  pure 
water  supply.  Railroad  mileage  has  in¬ 
creased  from  one  hundred  to  five  hundred 
miles. 

Wages  have  gone  up  rapidly.  There 
are  no  economic  conditions  in  the  Philip¬ 
pines  that  make  it  necessary  for  men  to 
do  the  labor  of  animals,  as  they  do  in 


China  and  Japan  when  they  haul  rickshas 
or  carry  sedan  chairs. 

Most  of  the  trades  in  a  city  like  Manila 
are  well  organized,  and  the  strike  is  as 
powerful  a  weapon  as  in  Europe  and 
America. 

Social  problems. — To  be  sure,  vice  has 
entered  as  well  as  material  advancement. 
Intemperance,  gambling,  and  other  social 
evils  are  strong.  But  over  against  these 
may  be  placed  the  active  campaigns,  fre¬ 
quently  led  by  Filipinos,  for  the  abolition 
of  these  conditions.  Throughout  the  Phil¬ 
ippines  there  is  today  an  enormous  public 
demand  for  education  which  holds  out 
promise  of  vastly  improved  social  and 
economic  conditions  in  the  future. 

Self-government  and  independence. — At 
present  practically  all  local  government, 
as  well  as  that  of  the  provinces,  is  in  the 
hands  of  Filipinos.  Under  the  Jones  law 
the  only  officials  now  appointed  by  the 
President  of  the  United  States  are  the 


Jidiuie  tvnicb 

l-U 1 I 1 l 1 L-  I  1,1 

10  0  10  20  w  40.50  60  70  80  90  100 

Methodist  Episcopal  centers  in  Luzon 


62 


WORLD  SERVICE 


How  a  church 


Governor-general,  the  Vice  Governor  (who 
is  also  the  Secretary  of  the  Department 
of  Public  Instruction),  the  Auditor,  and 
the  Deputy  Auditor.  All  members  of  the 
senate  and  the  house 
of  representatives 
are  Filipinos. 

There  are  thirty- 
eight  Filipino  pro¬ 
vincial  governors,  of 
whom  thirty  -  three 
are  elected  by  popu¬ 
lar  vote.  Although  it 
cannot  be  said  that 
these  officials  have 
made  a  perfect  rec¬ 
ord  as  administra¬ 
tors,  yet  in  view  of 
the  short  period  dur¬ 
ing  which  they  have 
been  out  from  under 
the  domination  of  a 
foreign  power  their 
record  must  be  re¬ 
garded  as  commenda¬ 
ble. 

Constant  agitation 
is  going  on  in  favor 
of  complete  inde¬ 
pendence.  While  many 
friends  of  the  Fili¬ 
pinos  do  not  believe 
that  the  time  has 
arrived  when  the 
islands  should  be  cut 
entirely  loose  from 
the  guidance  and 
protection  of  the 
United  States,  it  can¬ 
not  be  doubted  but 
that  independence 
will  be  achieved  be¬ 
fore  many  years  shall  have  passed. 

How  the  Church  Has  Grown 

A  field  for  the  evangelist. — Protestant 
missionaries  pushed  into  the  Philippines 
immediately  after  the  raising  of  the  Amer¬ 
ican  flag.  They  found  the  missionary 
task  simplified  by  the  fact  that,  first,  cen¬ 
turies  of  Catholic  effort  had  familiarized 
most  of  the  Filipinos  with  Christian  terms 


and,  second,  the  government  had  deter¬ 
mined  to  set  up  a  public  school  system. 

With  the  government  opening  schools 
everywhere  and  bringing  teachers  by  the 

shipload,  it  was  un¬ 


1.  Bamboo  shack  (above)  with  thatched  roof 

2.  Wooden  chapel  (below)  with  iron  roof 


necessary  for  the 
missions  to  begin  ed¬ 
ucational  work.  This 
left  the  field  open  to 
the  evangelist.  The 
emphasis  from  the 
beginning  has  been 
upon  evangelism  and 
the  results  have  al¬ 
ready  been  seen. 

All  advance  plans 
now  call  for  an  in¬ 
crease  in  evangelistic 
effort.  The  Philip¬ 
pines  provide  prob¬ 
ably  the  largest  field 
for  a  single  type  of 
approach  in  the 
world. 

Self  -  support  and 
self-propagation.  —  If 
any  one  thing  has 
marked  the  church  in 
the  Philippines  from 
its  birth,  it  has  been 
the  support  of  the 
work  by  the  native 
congregations.  Ac¬ 
cording  to  the  poli¬ 
cies  first  adopted  and 
still  adhered  to, 
funds  have  not  been 
provided,  except  in 
the  cases  of  a  few 
city  institutions,  for 
the  erection  of 
churches. 

Congregations  have  been  encouraged  to 
build  such  churches  as  they  could  them¬ 
selves  afford.  This  has  meant  that  most 
of  the  Methodist  congregations  in  the  Phil¬ 
ippines  have  begun  their  worship  in 
shacks  built  of  bamboo  with  thatched 
roofs.  After  they  have  gathered  strength, 
they  have  graduated  into  wooden  chapels 
with  corrugated  iron  roofs.  From  this 
the  next  step  has  been  to  concrete 


SOUTHEASTERN  ASIA 


63 


churches,  proof  against  the  ravages  of  the 
climate.  Many  a  Methodist  congregation 
is  now  in  the  third  edifice  it  has  occupied 
since  its  organization  less  than  twenty 
years  ago.  (See  the  three  illustrations  on 
this  and  the  preceding  page.) 

Such  devotion  as  has  made  possible  this 
sort  of  self-support  has  also  led  to  a  rapid 
spreading  of  the 
church  through  the 
Filipino  effort.  At 
the  present  time,  for 
example,  in  addi¬ 
tion  to  the  forty-nine 
members  of  the 
annual  conference  of 
the  Methodist  Episco¬ 
pal  Church  and  forty- 
six  local  preachers, 
there  are  1,117  un¬ 
ordained  Filipinopas- 
tors  and  exhorters, 
offering  a  lay  force 
for  evangelistic  ad¬ 
vance. 

The  prevention  of 
overlapping.  —  In 
1902  an  Evangeli¬ 
cal  Union  was  organ¬ 
ized  by  the  missions 
of  the  Methodist 
Episcopal,  Presbyte¬ 
rian.  Congregational, 

United  Brethren,  and 
Disciples  churches.  In  order  to  prevent 
duplication  of  effort,  the  territory  was 
divided  up  between  these  agencies. 

The  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  ac¬ 
cepted  responsibility  for  the  evangelism 
of  all  that  part  of  the  island  of  Luzon,  the 
principal  member  of  the  Philippine  group, 
lying  north  of  a  line  drawn  east  and  west 
through  the  City  of  Manila.  While  there 
are  a  few  bodies  at  work  that  have  not 
recognized  the  decisions  of  the  Evangeli¬ 
cal  Union,  it  can  be  said  that  there  is  prac¬ 
tically  no  overlapping  in  the  Protestant 
work  in  the  Philippine  Islands. 

Centers  of  Methodist  occupation. — There 
are  eight  districts  in  the  Philippine 
Islands  Conference.  Manila,  the  capital, 
contains  ten  congregations  and  several  in¬ 


stitutions,  such  as  the  Union  Theological 
Seminary,  the  Methodist  Publishing 
House,  and  the  hostel  for  the  Methodist 
students. 

Methodism  also  occupies  Vigan,  with 
hostels  for  students  for  both  sexes;  Caba- 
natuan;  San  Fernando,  also  the  seat  of 
student  hostels  and  a  Bible  Training 

school;  Paniqui;  Ma- 
lolos,  Tuguegarao, 
where  there  are  hos¬ 
tels  for  boys  and 
girls;  and  Aparri, 
where  there  is  a  dis¬ 
pensary.  In  addition 
to  these  cities  there 
are  hundreds  of 
towns  occupied,  with 
241  churches  already 
built  and  about  the 
same  number  of  con¬ 
gregations  which 
have  as  yet  no  build¬ 
ings.  The  develop¬ 
ment  of  railroads 
and  motor  roads  is 
rapidly  bringing  all 
parts  of  the  work 
within  twenty  -  four 
hours  of  Manila. 

The  Methodist 
Publishing  House 
distributes  literature 
in  ten  dialects  and  is 
one  of  the  most  valuable  evangelistic  agen¬ 
cies  in  the  islands. 

The  Union  Theological  Seminary  has 
raised  its  standards  so  that  it  now  admits 
only  graduates  of  accredited  high  schools 
as  regular  students.  In  co-operation  with 
the  Presbyterians,  the  United  Brethren, 
the  Congregationalists  and  the  Disciples, 
the  Methodists  are  here  preparing  a  high 
type  of  leadership  for  Protestant  advance. 

By  establishing  hostels  in  educational 
centers,  we  give  students  from  Christian 
homes  decent  living  conditions  and  by  such 
a  constructive  ministry  hold  them  within 
the  influence  of  the  church. 

All  observers  report  that  the  necessary 
preparation  has  been  made  and  sufficient 
momentum  accumulated  to  carry  the 


■grows 


3.  Concrete  building,  proof  against 
tropical  climate 


64 


WORLD  SERVICE 


Nurses  from  the  Mary  J.  Johnson  Hospital,  Manila 


church  in  the  Philippines  on  to  a  great  ad¬ 
vance  movement  in  the  next  few  years. 

Proposals  for  the  Future 

The  building  of  churches.— While  the 
church  has  been  going  forward  rapidly  in 
the  Philippines,  it  has  not  yet  entered 
large  stretches  of  territory  that  have  been 
voted  its  peculiar  responsibility.  In  Zam- 
bales  province,  for  example,  there  is  a 
stretch  of  almost  100  miles  of  coast  where 
84,000  people  live  without  preacher, 
priest,  or  other  religious  worker.  Indeed, 
in  the  province  of  Rizal,  surrounding  the 
city  of  Manila,  not  more  than  one-third 
of  the  territory  has  been  occupied.  More¬ 
over,  almost  half  of  the  congregations 
already  formed  are  still  without  perma¬ 
nent  homes  and  many  of  the  churches 
already  built  are  of  the  flimsiest  character. 

The  contribution  of  the  Philippine 
church  toward  the  support  of  its  pastors 
has  grown  from  $9,657  in  1916,  when 
there  were  49,000  church  members  to 
$53,754  in  1922,  with  63,000  church  mem¬ 
bers.  The  value  of  buildings  owned  by 
the  church  has  increased  during  the  same 
period  from  $29,461  to  $818,610.  The  num¬ 
ber  of  congregations  and  the  number  of 
church  edifices  must  immediately  be  in¬ 
creased. 

It  is  not,  however,  the  policy  of  the 
church  to  call  upon  the  Methodists  of 
America  to  contribute  any  large  part  of 
this  advance.  In  certain  city  projects, 
such  as  would  require  missionary  support 


in  America,  some  assist¬ 
ance  will  be  sought  from 
outside  sources.  In  most 
cases  the  entire  cost  of 
new  church  buildings  will 
fall  upon  Filipinos. 

Safeguarding  the  stu¬ 
dents. —  While  the  policy 
of  the  government  lifts 
from  the  Christian  forces 
the  necessity  for  providing 
education,  save  for  spe¬ 
cialized  forms  of  church 
service,  there  remains  a 
responsibility  toward  the 
moral  welfare  of  the  students  in  the  gov¬ 
ernment  schools.  Hundreds  of  these 
come  from  a  distance  to  the  centers  in 
which  high  schools  have  been  located. 
Here  students  of  both  sexes  are  frequently 
forced  to  live  under  dangerous  condi¬ 
tions.  Many  sons  and  daughters  of  Chris¬ 
tian  families  drift  away  from  their  reli¬ 
gious  moorings,  while  others  fall  into  vi¬ 
cious  ways. 

The  erection  of  hostels  has  proved  the 
only  satisfactory  method  of  dealing  with 
this  condition.  These  are  practically  self- 
supporting  and  are  under  careful  super¬ 
vision.  In  order  to  hold  the  coming  gen¬ 
eration  several  of  the  hostels  already 
overcrowded  must  be  enlarged  and  still 
others  must  be  planted  in  strategic  educa¬ 
tional  centers. 

A  hospital  in  Manila. — The  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church  feels  that  the  time  has 
come  when  it  must  provide  medical  serv¬ 
ice  in  some  central  point  for  its  members. 
For  this  reason  there  is  proposed  the  erec¬ 
tion  of  a  hospital  in  Manila.  Practically 
all  the  other  Protestant  bodies  now  at 
work  in  the  Philippines  have  an  extensive 
medical  program. 

The  Woman’s  Foreign  Missionary  So¬ 
ciety  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church 
has  a  hospital  for  women  and  children. 
There  are  not  enough  facilities,  however, 
to  provide  for  all  who  seek  its  aid. 

The  Methodists  have  for  years  been  im¬ 
posing  upon  the  charity  of  the  other 
bodies,  but  the  time  has  come  when  all 


SOUTHEASTERN  ASIA 


65 


these  have  more  cases  for  which  they  are 
directly  responsible  than  they  can  ac¬ 
commodate.  It  is  believed  that  a  hospital 
erected  in  Manila  will  be  self-supporting 
both  as  regards  expenses  and  maintenance 
of  staff. 


in  the  available  reading  public  as  well  as 
the  growing  interest  in  education,  there 
is  now  a  chance  to  bring  the  evangelical 
message  to  the  attention  of  thousands  who 
were  almost  entirely  beyond  reach  a  few 
years  ago. 


Other  forms  of  work. — Within  the  last 
few  years  the  development  of  Sunday 
schools  has  come  to  the  forefront  of  the 
Protestant  program.  There  are  now  more 
than  38,000  members  in  the  Sunday 
schools  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church.  Provision  for  the  adequate 
training  of  executives  and  teachers  as 
well  as  for  the  opening  of  large  numbers 
of  new  schools  must  be  made.  It  is  prob¬ 
able  that  no  item  in  the  program  for  the 
Philippine  Islands  means  more  to  the 
future  of  the  church  than  the  budget  for 
Sunday-school  expansion. 

Within  the  last  few  years  there  has 
been  a  remarkable  advance  in  Epworth 
League  work,  which  it  is  proposed  to  en¬ 
courage  by  the  use  of  training  institutes 
and  specially  prepared  literature. 

Particular  attention  is  to  be  given  to  the 
development  of  the  Methodist  Publishing 
House.  By  additions  to  the  present  plant 
not  only  can  its  use  be  increased  but  much 
of  the  cost  of  the  literature  program  can 
be  defrayed  from  additional  rentals.  The 
value  of  this  form  of  propaganda  is  widely 
acknowledged  and  with  the  great  increase 


The  Immediate  Need 
In  view  of  conditions  in  the  Philippines 
the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  has  au¬ 
thorized  the  following  program  for  1925 : 

Missionary  Staff  is  required  on  these  lines : 
Evangelistic  Work.. .10  Couples  2  Single 

Educational  Work .  9  Co-uples  0  Single 

Medical  Work .  2  Couples  0  Single 

Other  Work .  1  Couple  1  Single 


Total  . 22  3  $  68,150 

Church  work  from  175  Centers .  25,079 

For  Operating : 

1  School  . $  1,050 

2  Dormitories  .  700 

1  College  (our  share) . 300 

1  Theological  School  . 7,250  9,300 

1  Hospital  .  7,800 

Other  and  General  Work .  12,000 


Total  for  Work  Operations . $  54,179 

For  Property  Projects: 

2  City  Churches  .  $64,000 

6  Smaller  Churches  . 7,330 

2  Parsonages  .  1,500 

4  Dormitories  .  65,000 

1  Hospital  .  7’SOO 

1  Missionary  Bungalow  .  6,500 


Total  for  Property  Projects . 

Total  Program  (Philippine  Islands). 


$151,830 

$274,159 


A  church  growing  as  rapidly  as  that  in  the  Philippines  needs  many  trained  preachers 


66 


WORLD  SERVICE 


MALAYSIA 

(Straits  Settlements,  Federated  Malay  States, 
Unfederated  Malay 


Singapore — An  Oriental  Melting  Pot 

A  city  with  seventy  languages. — At  the 
southeastern  tip  of  Asia  lies  one  of  the 
world’s  most  cosmopolitan  cities.  Singa¬ 
pore  in  a  way  is  the  Ellis  Island  of  the 
Orient.  Of  its  total  popu¬ 
lation  of  425.000  nearly 
seventy  per  cent  were  born 
elsewhere.  More  than 
300,000  are  Chinese,  and 
of  these  seventy-five  per 
cent  are  immigrants.  Sev¬ 
enty  languages  may  be 
heard  on  Singapore’s 
streets  and  the  work  of 
the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church  is  carried  on  in 
eight  tongues. 

The  population  of  Singa¬ 
pore  shifts  more  than  that 
of  any  other  city  in  the 
world.  In  1921,  for  exam¬ 
ple,  95,220  immigrants  en¬ 
tered  British  Malaysia  from  India  and 
126,077  from  China,  while  55,481  Indians 
and  68,383  Chinese  left. 

Singapore  has  been  for  some  time  the 
third  port  in  Asia  and  the  seventh  in  the 
world.  During  the  last  few  years,  how¬ 
ever,  the  decline  in  the  tin  and  rubber 
industries,  upon  which  the  commercial  life 
of  Malaysia  has  largely  depended,  has 
lowered  the  prosperity  of  the  city.  Con¬ 
ditions  are  beginning  to  improve,  but 
Singapore  is  still  dotted  with  unoccupied 
houses  and  many  inhabitants  are  scarcely 
able  to  earn  a  living  wage. 

A  center  of  Chinese  influence. — Until  the 
break  in  the  rubber  and  tin  markets. 
250,000  Chinese  were  entering  the 
Straits  Settlements  from  the  southern 
provinces  of  China  every  year.  They  came 
as  fortune  hunters,  and  what  they  sought 
they  found.  As  a  result,  the  population 
of  Singapore  is  predominantly  Chinese 
and  business  enterprises  largely  in  Chinese 


States,  Sarawak) 

hands.  Many  Chinese,  have,  after  making 
their  fortunes  in  the  Straits,  returned  to 
the  land  of  their  birth.  Others  are  con¬ 
tent  to  remain  under  British  government, 
although  there  is  an  increasing  agitation 
among  them  for  some  share 
in  its  responsibilities. 

The  educational  work  of 
Methodist  missions  in  Sin¬ 
gapore  has  appealed  to  the 
Chinese  of  the  merchant 
class,  who  have  been  ready 
to  give  financial  support. 
At  the  same  time,  the  great¬ 
est  response  to  the  evangel¬ 
istic  work  has  come  from 
this  group.  Many  Chinese 
immigrants  have  been  in 
contact  with  Christianity 
in  Canton,  Hinghwa,  or 
Foochow  before  leaving 
China.  Others  have  taken 
Christianity  from  Malay¬ 
sia  to  other  parts  of  the  East. 

Reaching  a  permanent  population. — The 
collapse  of  industry  in  the  Straits  has  at 
least  made  clear  the  presence  of  a  perma¬ 
nent  population.  Those  whose  roots  had 
not  gone  deeply  into  the  life  of  the  city 
left  under  the  economic  stress,  but  a  large 
group  remained  and  it  is  among  these  that 
the  work  of  the  church  is  being  concen¬ 
trated. 

An  evidence  of  the  emergence  of  this 
permanent  population  is  to  be  found  in  the 
increasing  number  of  women  among  the 
non-native  population.  In  the  decade  be¬ 
tween  1911  and  1921,  while  the  increase 
in  male  population  was  2,920,  the  increase 
in  female  population  was  5,470.  Among 
the  Chinese,  of  whom  it  used  to  be  said 
that  no  respectable  Chinese  woman  had 
ever  come  to  Malaysia,  there  number  now 
470  females  to  every  1,000  males. 

Workers  in  Singapore  formerly  com¬ 
plained  that  there  remained  little  to  show 


Methodist  Episcopal  centers  in 
the  Malay  peninsula 


SOUTHEASTERN  ASIA 


67 


Eighteen  hundred  pupils  in  front  of  Oldham  Hall, 
Anglo-Chinese  school,  Singapore 


for  their  efforts  over  a 
period  of  years  because 
they  were  generally 
preaching  to  a  procession. 

Statistics  of  the  church  in 
that  city  now  show  that 
permanent  increase  has 
begun  in  every  depart¬ 
ment  of  church  member¬ 
ship  during  the  last  three 
years. 

Oldham  Hall.  —  For 
years  the  Anglo-Chinese 
School  for  boys  (more 
familiarly  known  as  Oldham  flail)  con¬ 
ducted  by  the  Methodist  Mission  in  Singa¬ 
pore,  has  been  one  of  the  outstanding  edu¬ 
cational  institutions  of  the  Far  East. 
Founded  by  Bishop  William  F.  Oldham 
during  his  early  days  as  a  missionary,  the 
school  has  provided  education  up  to  college 
grade  for  thousands  of  boys  who  are  now 
the  Chinese  leaders  of  Malaysia. 

In  this  school  are  primary,  lower  ele¬ 
mentary,  higher  elementary,  commercial, 
and  college  preparatory  departments  with, 
at  the  last  report,  about  1,800  students. 
The  teaching  is  done  in  English.  Similar 
schools  have  been  located  in  other  centers 
of  Malaysia  and  all  have  won  the  same 
recognition. 

Sanctified  printing  presses. — No  institu¬ 
tion  ever  planted  by  the  Methodist  Episco¬ 
pal  Church  in  another  land  has  done  a 
more  distinctive  work  than  has  the  Meth¬ 
odist  Publishing  House  in  Singapore.  This 
plant,  which  is  self-supporting,  and  has  a 
fine  equipment,  has  issued  thousands  of 


Fairfield  Girls’  School,  Singapore — 
a  W.  F.  M.  S.  institution 


pages  of  Christian  literature  in  Chinese, 
Malay  Arabic,  Tamil,  and  English. 

Today  the  Methodist  Publishing  House 
is  recognized  as  the  leading  publishing 
concern,  whether  religious  or  secular,  of 
Malaysia.  Its  influence  as  an  evangelistic 
agency  cannot  be  estimated. 

The  future  in  Singapore. — The  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church  is  the  only  American 
body  maintaining  a  mission  in  the  Straits 
Settlements.  The  emphasis  in  the  past 
has  been  mainly  upon  educational  work. 
By  a  system  of  government  grants,  the 
work  has  been  maintained  at  small  cost  to 
the  mission. 

Schools  for  girls,  conducted  by  the 
Woman’s  Foreign  Missionary  Society, 
have  won  as  distinctive  a  place  as  those 
for  boys.  In  Singapore,  for  example,  the 
Methodist  Girls’  School  is  overtaxed, 
many  of  its  pupils  coming  from  the 
wealthiest  homes  in  the  city. 

At  some  time  in  the  future  the  Metho¬ 
dist  Episcopal  Church  expects  to  extend 
its  educational  system  so  that  a  full  col¬ 
legiate  course  may  be  offered  the  gradu¬ 
ates  of  its  present  schools  in  Malaysia. 
Care  is  being  taken  in  the  preparation  for 
this  advance,  so  that  the  enterprise  will 
not  be  launched  until  its  pedagogical  as 
well  as  its  financial  strength  is  assured. 
In  the  planning  for  this  development  the 
Chinese  community  in  Singapore  is  taking 
a  deep  interest. 

All  present  educational  work  is  to  be 
continued  at  high  efficiency.  The  time  has 
come,  however,  for  stressing  of  the  evan- 


68 


WORLD  SERVICE 


gelistic  side  of  the  work.  To  this  end  two 
or  three  outstanding  projects  must  be 
carried  through. 

The  first  of  these  is  the  Telok  Ayre  in¬ 
stitutional  church,  where  a  modern  plant 
is  required  in  place  of  the  present  20x30 
foot  bake-oven  in  which  congregations 
swelter  under  the  vertical  rays  of  the 
equatorial  sun.  The  site  provided  lies  in 
the  heart  of  Singapore,  where  an  institu¬ 
tional  program  will  at  once  appeal  to  the 
Chinese  and  grapple  with  many  of  the 
peculiar  problems  of  the  city. 

The  second  large  enterprise  is  the  pro¬ 
vision  of  a  proper  church  for  the  Straits- 
born  or  baba  congregation.  This  group, 
which  will  in  large  measure  supply  the 
backbone  for  the  future  church  of  Singa¬ 
pore,  has  itself  paid  more  than  $10,000 
into  a  building  fund.  A  choice  site  has 
been  secured  and  with  a  little  help  from 
America  a  proper  edifice  can  be  erected. 

The  growth  of  a  flourishing  church  in 
Singapore  is  almost  entirely  conditioned 
by  the  provision  of  proper  quarters  for 
the  work  and  by  the  preparation  of  native 
leaders.  In  large  part  the  church  has  in 
the  past  relied  upon  ministers  from  other 
countries.  The  Jean  Hamilton  Theologi¬ 
cal  Seminary  has,  however,  been  reorgan¬ 
ized  and  will  provide  a  thorough  training 
for  local  candidates  for  the  ministry.  By 
giving  this  school  necessary  equipment 
and  faculty  the  foundations  of  a  perma¬ 
nent  church  should  be  guaranteed. 


Students  from  the  Jean  Hamilton  Theological 
Seminary,  Singapore 


Penang,  Malacca,  Sarawak 
New  Doors  of  Opportunity 

Going  forward  in  Penang. — The  second 
city  in  importance  in  the  Straits  Settle¬ 
ments  is  Penang,  lying  on  the  island  of 
that  name  at  the  northern  end  of  the 
Straits  of  Malacca.  Here  under  circum¬ 
stances  very  similar  to  those  in  Singa¬ 
pore,  a  strong  school  has  been  developed 
enrolling  1,500  students,  with  several  out- 
station  schools  bringing  the  total  enrol¬ 
ment  to  about  2,000. 

At  present,  however,  the  evangelistic 
opportunity  is  commanding.  Among  Chi¬ 
nese  and  Indians  (Tamils),  large  congre¬ 
gations  that  can  not  be  accommodated  in 
present  quarters  have  been  gathered. 
Local  support  is  increasing  rapidly,  even 
in  the  face  of  unfavorable  economic  condi¬ 
tions. 

With  proper  equipment  it  should  be  pos¬ 
sible  to  maintain  the  present  position  of 
the  Anglo-Chinese  School.  It  is  the  only 
Protestant  school  in  this  settlement  doing 
secondary  work.  The  schools  of  the 
Woman’s  Foreign  Missionary  Society  oc¬ 
cupy  a  similar  position  in  the  education 
of  girls.  Likewise,  a  large  increase  in  the 
Christian  community  is  in  sight  as  soon 
as  suitable  quarters  can  be  provided.  As 
in  Singapore,  increasing  emphasis  is  to 
be  put  upon  evangelistic  work  in  Penang. 

Advance  in  Malacca. — Nothing  more  re¬ 
markable  has  occurred  in  Southeastern 
Asia  in  the  period  since  the  Centenary  was 
launched  than  the  opening  up  of  Malacca 
to  the  gospel  message.  Here  in  the  oldest 
colony  on  the  Malay  Peninsula,  where  for 
years  missionary  work  has  brought  little 
response,  there  has  suddenly  come  a 
growth  in  interest  leading  to  the  founding 
of  a  large  number  of  churches. 

Since  1921,  the  work  in  Malacca  has  ad¬ 
vanced  from  two  preachers  and  three 
churches  to  eight  preachers  and  ten 
churches,  while  the  amount  raised  for  self- 
support  has  increased  four  times.  The 
mission  is  besieged  by  deputations  from 
various  centers  pleading  for  the  opening 
of  new  churches.  Business  conditions 
have  been  no  better  in  Malacca  than  else- 


SOUTHEASTERN  ASIA 


69 


where  in  Malaysia,  yet  congregations  are 
showing  a  devotion  that  provides  support 
for  the  church  even  when  they  themselves 
are  almost  without  support.  One  of  the 
largest  evangelistic  opportunities  in  Meth¬ 
odist  missionary  history  seems  to  lie  here. 

A  remarkable  feature  of  the  developing 
church  and  school  in  Malacca  is  the  un¬ 
usual  amount  of  interest  among  Malays. 
Although  these  are  Mohammedans,  many 
are  progressive.  They  are  eager  to  place 
their  children  in  Methodist  schools  and 
there  is  every  promise  that  a  large  num¬ 
ber  will  ultimately  find  their  way  into  the 
Christian  community. 

At  present  the  bulk  of  the  church  mem¬ 
bership,  which  is  increasing  so  rapidly,  is 
found  among  the  Chinese  and  Indians. 
By  placing  the  educational  work  upon  a 
permanent  basis,  we  shall  do  much  to 
conserve  the  results  of  this  rapid  expan¬ 
sion.  Surely  when  whole  villages  peti¬ 
tion  for  gospel  attention,  and  the  Metho¬ 
dists  with  the  exception  of  Roman 
Catholics  and  Anglicans  are  solely  respon¬ 
sible,  we  shall  not  turn  away. 

Progress  in  Sarawak. — Although  not  in 
the  Straits  Settlements,  reference  must 
be  made  to  the  success  of  the  Christian 
community  developed  under  the  auspices 
of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  at 
Sibu  in  Sarawak,  the  independent  state 
in  North  Borneo  ruled  by  a  British  rajah. 

Here,  since  1902,  surrounded  by  dyak 
head  hunters  and  other  perils  of  the  jungle, 
a  colony  of  Chinese  Christians  has  been 
seeking  by  the  cultivation  of  rubber  to 
attain  independence.  So  far  they  have 
been  successful.  Despite  a  period  in 
which  the  community  faced  actual  starva¬ 
tion,  it  has  come  through  triumphantly. 
Its  church  development  is  going  ahead 
asking  almost  nothing  from  America  for 
support. 

In  the  Malay  States 

Intensification. — Between  Siam  on  the 
north  and  Singapore  on  the  south  lie  nine 
Malay  States.  Four  of  these  are  included 
in  a  formal  federation,  the  Federated 
Malay  States.  The  other  five  seem  likely 
to  enter  this  agreement  within  a  short 


A  model  school-teacher! 


time.  All  are  under  British  control,  exer¬ 
cised  generally  through  Residents  who  act 
as  the  power  behind  the  native  sultans. 

The  centers  of  Methodist  occupation  are 
in  the  cities  of  Kuala  Lumpur,  the  capital 
of  the  Federated  Malay  States,  Ipoh,  Siti- 
awan,  Taiping,  Seremban,  Kampar,  Klang. 
From  these  cities,  schools  and  congrega¬ 
tions  radiate  out  through  the  territory. 

The  occupation  of  this  field  may  be  said 
to  be  fairly  complete.  Churches  already 
established  have  reached  a  high  degree 
of  self-support,  despite  the  recent  slump 
in  the  tin  and  rubber  markets.  Future 
emphasis  will  be  placed  under  the  full  de¬ 
velopment  of  the  centers  already  entered 
rather  than  on  extension  of  the  work. 

As  in  the  Straits  Settlements,  the  most 
successful  work  at  the  present  time  is  that 
among  the  Chinese,  of  whom  there  are 
almost  as  many  as  there  are  native 
Malays.  The  response  on  the  part  of  the 
Tamils  has  also  been  marked.  There  has 
as  yet  been  little  impression  made  upon 
the  Malay  population,  which  is  Moham¬ 
medan,  but  perfect  freedom  for  work  is 
guaranteed  not  only  by  the  progressive 
Mohammedan  sultans  but  also  by  the  Brit¬ 
ish  administration. 

Methodist  work,  as  in  other  parts  of 
Malaysia,  has  been  chiefly  noted  for  its 
success  in  education.  The  high  reputation 
won  by  the  schools  throughout  the  Malay 
States  must  be  maintained.  It  is  how- 


70 


WORLD  SERVICE 


ever,  the  purpose  of  the  mission  in  the 
future  to  place  first  emphasis  upon  the 
evangelistic  enterprise. 

An  opening  state. — At  the  southern  tip 
of  the  Malay  Peninsula  lies  the  native 
state  of  Johore.  For  a  good  many  years, 
the  sultan  has  been  petitioning  for  the 
opening  of  Methodist  educational  work  in 
his  realm  but  it  has  been  impossible  to. 
make  this  advance.  At  the  present  time, 
however,  mainly  on  account  of  the  re¬ 
markable  growth  of  interest  among  the 
Malays  in  Malacca,  one  congregation  has 
been  actually  formed  in  Johore  on  native 
initiative.  Others  will  follow  as  soon  as 
any  encouragement  is  given.  For  the 
present,  therefore,  the  one  piece  of  ex¬ 
pansion  before  Methodism  in  the  Malay 
Peninsula  is  the  proper  occupation  of 
Johore. 

The  Call  in  Malaysia 
The  immediate  need. — The  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church  is  carrying  forward  a 
conservative  program  in  Malaysia,  which 
includes,  during  1925,  these  features : 


Missionary  Staff  is  required  on  these  lines: 
Evangelistic  Work.... 14  Couples  6  Single 

Educational  Work . 11  Couples  15  Single 

Medical  Work .  1  Couple  0  Single 

Other  Work .  1  Couple  1  Single 


27 

22 

$  60,200 

Church  Work  on  115  Circuits. 

38,448 

39  Day  Schools  . 

2  Boarding  Schools  . 

1  Training  School  . 

1  College  . . 

. $12,751 

.  5,700 

.  3,595 

.  1,500 

23,546 

2  Dispensaries  . 

2,800 

For  Other  Work  . . 

6,600 

Total  for  Work  Operation . 

$  71,394 

Property  Projects  to  make 
following : 

4  City  Churches  . 

5  Smaller  Churches  . 

4  Workers’  Quarters  . 

possible  the 

. $42,000 

.  8,585 

.  13,500 

64,085 

3  Day  School  Buildings . 

6  Boarding  School  Buildings. 
1  Training  School  Building... 

.  5,650 

. 123,000 

.  7,000 

135,650 

4  Miscellaneous  Residences 
cellaneous  . 

and  Mis- 

21,125 

Total  for  Property  Projects . $220,860 

Total  Program  (Malaysia) . $352,454 


DUTCH  EAST  INDIES 

(Java,  Dutch  Borneo,  Banka,  Sumatra) 


An  Island  Empire 
What  do  we  know  about  the  Netherlands 
Indies? — Where  are  the  Dutch  East  In¬ 
dies?  What  are  they?  Are  they  of  any 
importance? 

The  answer  of  the  average  American 
to  these  questions  would  probably  reveal 


The  Dutch  East  Indies  look  like  this  when  placed 
on  the  United  States 


a  large  ignorance.  To  be  sure,  he  has 
heard  of  Java.  That’s  the  place  colfee 
comes  from.  No?  Well,  it  used  to, 
anyway.  And  Borneo.  That’s  the  home 
of  the  wild  men.  Not  now?  Well,  Borneo 
will  always  mean  wild  men  to  him.  What 
is  there  about  the  Dutch  East  Indies  worth 
knowing? 

Mineralogists  know  that  a  large  part  of 
the  world’s  supply  of  tin  comes  from  the 
little  islands  of  Banka  and  Billiton.  To¬ 
bacco  dealers  know  the  Sumatra  leaf. 
Biologists  know  the  pithecanthropus,  and 
now  Mr.  H.  G.  Wells  is  making  a  lot  of 
people  beside  scientists  acquainted  with 
their  kinsmen  who  walked  about  Java 
half  a  million  years  ago. 

A  comparative  map  will  show  that,  in 
size,  this  archipelago,  is  wider  from  east 
to  west  than  the  United  States,  and  longer 


SOUTHEASTERN  ASIA 


71 


from  north  to  south  than  the  distance 
from  the  Canadian  border  to  the  Gulf  of 
Mexico.  Comparative  statistics  will  show 
that  it  has  a  population  almost  equal  to 
half  that  of  the  continental  United  States, 
while  the  total  land  area  is  less  than  five 
times  that  of  California.  Eight  hundred 
thousand  of  the  people  are  Chinese. 

Life  in  the  Dutch  Indies. — The  Dutch 
Indies  are  like  all  countries  on  the  equator, 
only  more  so.  It  is  always  hot  and  always 
wet.  Sometimes,  however,  it  is  hotter  and 
sometimes  wetter. 

To  adapt  himself  to  this  climate  the 
native  Malay  has  perforce  become  a  lei¬ 
surely  sort  of  person.  Hence  he  has 
proved  a  poor  competitor  for  the  immi¬ 
grant  Chinese,  who  has  largely  taken  away 
from  him  the  business  of  the  archipelago. 
But  this  business  is  still  of  restricted 
scope,  for  there  are  few  cities.  The  over¬ 
whelming  majority  of  the  forty  million  in¬ 
habitants  live  rural  lives. 

Most  of  the  native  inhabitants  of  these 
islands  are  Moslems — those  fierce  Malays 


This  Chinese  maiden  was  saved  by  mission¬ 
aries  in  Sumatra 


Methodist  Episcopal  centers  in  the  Dutch  East 
Indies  (Malay  states  shown  also) 


who,  as  pirates,  left  a  name  for  ferocity 
in  the  world’s  literature.  Interior  tribes 
still  practice  crude  forms  of  animism.  But 
the  rule  of  the  Dutch  government  insures 
a  hearing  everywhere  for  the  Christian 
message. 

Where  Protestantism  has  flourished. — 
The  first  white  men  to  reach  the  East 
Indies  in  that  search  for  spices  that 
brought  Columbus  to  the  New  World  were 
Portuguese.  With  them  went  their  friars, 
and  Catholic  missionary  work,  such  as  it 
was,  brought  thousands  into  the  church’s 
fold. 

When  the  Portuguese  passed  the  Dutch 
followed.  Fresh  from  their  fight  for  lib¬ 
erty  in  Europe,  the  Dutch  proved  as  intol¬ 
erant  as  their  predecessors.  Protestantism 
became  the  only  form  of  recognized  reli¬ 
gion,  supported  by  the  state,  and  still  sub¬ 
sidized  by  the  government.  There  is  now 
a  strong  movement  afoot,  supported  by 
the  government,  to  separate  state  and 
church. 

In  point  of  numbers,  there  have  been 
more  accessions  to  the  Protestant  churches 
in  the  Netherlands  Indies  than  in  any 
other  non-Christian  field,  taking  into  con¬ 
sideration  the  total  population  involved. 
The  state  church  contains  the  largest  uni¬ 
fied  body  of  Protestant  members  to  be 
found  in  any  non-Christian  land.  Al¬ 
together  there  are  about  735,000  Prot- 


72 


WORLD  SERVICE 


Boat  at  pier,  Rejang  river  Hing  Hua— The  Chinese  are  the  business 
men  of  the  Malay  archipelago 


estant  church  members  in  this  group  of 
islands. 

Methodism’s  Opportunity 

Where  the  church  is  established. — Al¬ 
though  not  large  numerically,  when  com¬ 
pared  with  some  of  the  Dutch  and  German 
bodies,  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church 
occupies  a  significant  place  in  the  Chris¬ 
tian  enterprise  in  the  Dutch  Indies. 

In  the  first  place,  it  is  an  American  mis¬ 
sion,  and  is  therefore  not  identified  in  the 
Malay  mind  with  the  ruling  power.  It  is 
the  only  American  mission,  save  the  Sev¬ 
enth  Day  Adventist,  and  that  plays  no 
large  part. 

In  the  second  place,  the  Methodist  Epis¬ 
copal  Church  occupies  many  centers  of 
population,  particularly  on  the  Island  of 
Java,  although  there  is  no  overlapping 
with  the  work  of  the  other  societies.  It 
is  peculiar  that  the  four  largest  Prot¬ 
estant  communities,  containing  more  than 
two-thirds  of  the  total,  are  in  out-of-the- 
way  sections  or  on  very  small  islands.  The 
Christian  people  of  Java  form  only  one- 
tenth  of  one  per  cent  of  the  entire  popula¬ 
tion. 

A  glance  at  the  map  on  page  71  will 
show  the  present  centers  of  Methodist  oc¬ 
cupation. 

Work  among  the  Chinese. — Of  peculiar 
importance,  up  to  this  time,  has  been  the 
work  conducted  by  the  Methodist  Epis¬ 
copal  Church  among  the  Chinese  in  the 
Dutch  East  Indies. 


The  Chinese  is  the  busi¬ 
ness  man  of  the  Malay 
Archipelago.  Sometimes 
he  has  had  touch  with 
Christianity  before  leav¬ 
ing  South  China.  Always 
he  seems  open  to  its  ap¬ 
proach.  After  he  has 
made  a  fortune — and  he 
frequently  does  —  he  de¬ 
sires  the  best  education 
possible  for  his  children, 
and  that  education  he 
holds  to  be  of  the  type 
offered  by  Christian 
teachers. 

The  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  has 
been  almost  alone  in  approaching  the  Chi¬ 
nese  of  the  Netherlands  Indies.  As  a  re¬ 
sult,  the  congregations  gathered  have  been 
largely  Chinese;  the  enrolment  in  the 
schools  has  been  largely  Chinese;  and  a 
large  share  of  the  financial  support  has 
been  carried  by  these  Chinese. 

As  this  group  is  bound  to  have  so  im¬ 
portant  a  part  in  the  future  of  Java  and 
its  sister  islands,  the  development  of  this 
work  among  the  Chinese,  until  they  are 
thoroughly  evangelized,  must  be  carried 
on. 

At  present  the  work  can  not  be  said 
to  have  more  than  started,  although  the 
start  has  been  auspicious.  There  are 
thirteen  churches,  with  1,153  members; 
eighteen  Sunday  schools  with  1,474  mem¬ 
bers;  and  twenty-four  day  schools,  with 
1,665  pupils. 

Approaching  the  Moslems. — The  great 
field  in  the  Dutch  East  Indies  is  the  con¬ 
version  of  the  Malays.  More  than  in  any 
othei  pait  of  Islam  these  have  shown 
themselves  open  to  the  gospel.  The  Meth¬ 
odist  Episcopal  Church  cannot  escape  its 
responsibility  in  this  field. 

The  approach  to  the  Malays  is  to  be  two¬ 
fold..  There  is  to  be  a  highly  developed 
medical  work,  which  has  proved  the  most 
effective  means  of  winning  confidence. 
Malay  preachers  are  to  be  trained  who 
can  carry  the  truth  to  their  own  people. 

Neither  of  these  lines  of  advance  has 
progressed  beyond  a  beginning.  The  train- 


SOUTHEASTERN  ASIA 


73 


ing  school  for  preachers, 
located  in  Batavia,  has 
gathered  a  promising 
group  of  students  who 
are  being  prepared  by 
well-equipped  missiona¬ 
ries.  There  has  not  yet 
been  time,  however,  to 
register  evangelistic  re¬ 
sults. 


Hospital 

Assistance  has  been 
promised  by  the  Dutch 
government  for  the  found¬ 
ing  of  a  system  of  nine 
hospitals  which  is  even¬ 
tually  to  cover  the  field  of 
the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church.  The  government  has  offered  to 
provide  a  large  part  of  the  cost  of  erection 
of  the  necessary  buildings  and  grant  a 
small  annual  subsidy.  At  present,  how¬ 
ever,  the  government  is  financially  em¬ 
barrassed,  due  to  the  condition  of  the 
tin  and  rubber  trade. 

Only  one  of  the  projected  hospitals,  that 
at  Tjisaroea,  has  been  put  into  commis- 


A  Chinese  Bible  woman  at  Batavia,  Java 


The  immediate  need. — In  the  Nether¬ 
lands  Indies  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church  finds  itself  almost  solely  responsi¬ 
ble  for  the  evangelization  of  the  commer¬ 
cial  leaders,  who  have  already  responded, 
and  for  millions  of  Moslems,  who  are  more 
open  to  Christian  effort  than  anywhere 
else  in  the  world.  The  program  that  has 
therefore  been  approved  for  1925  repre- 


sion.  This,  however,  has  more  than  proved 
the  wisdom  of  the  whole  plan. 

In  North  Sumatra.  —  Since  1906  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church  has  been  at 
work  in  the  northern  part  of  Sumatra. 
Some  of  the  results  have  been  remarkable. 
During  the  Centenary  period  the  work 
was  extended  to  the  country  of  the  Bat- 
taks — an  animistic  tribe  in  the  interior 
that  killed  and  ate  the  first  American 
missionaries  to  reach  them,  and  stead¬ 
fastly  withstood  all  advances  for  years. 

Schools  are  crowded  in  this  region,  and 
the  medical  approach  is  winning  results. 
The  most  recent  report  shows  the  church 
membership  increasing  by  thirty-four  per 
cent  annually,  with  a  constant  rise,  in  the 
face  of  unfavorable  business  conditions, 
in  self-support.  The  large  Centenary 
church  at  Medan  had  about  a  fourth  of  its 
cost  given  by  converts.  Since  1920  the 
contributions  of  the  church  in  North  Su¬ 
matra  have  increased  by  twenty-three  per 
cent. 


The  Tjisaroea  Hospital 


74 


WORLD  SERVICE 


sents  an  attempt  to  measure  up  to  the 
present  demands  of  this  situation: 

Missionary  Staff  is  required  on  these  lines: 
Evangelistic  Work,  10  Couples  2  Single 
Educational  Work.. 10  Couples  2  Single 

Medical  Work .  7  Couples  8  Single 

Other  Work  .  2  Couples  0  Single 


29  12  $  77,500 

Work  Operations : 

Church  Work  on  59  Circuits - - -  17,639 

36  Day  Schools  . — . $  2,430 

6  Boarding  Schools  . . .  2,500 

2  Training  Schools  .  4,150  9,080 


2  Hospitals  . 

2  Dispensaries  . . .  1.000 

Other  Work  . .  6,850  7,850 


Total  for  Work  Operations .  $  34,569 


Property  Projects  to  make  possible  the 
following : 


City  Churches  . 

Smaller  Churches  . 

Workers’  Ouarters  . . 

Miscellaneous  . 

.$20,500 
.  11,700 
.  4,000 
.  2,000 

$  38,200 

Day  School  Buildings . 

Boarding  School  Building . 

Training  School  Building . 

Miscellaneous  . 

.  6,000 
.  6,000 
.  20,000 
.  400 

32,400 

Hospital  . 

Missionary  Residences  . . 

.  10,300 
.  7,600 

17,900 

Total  for  Property  Projects 

$  88,500 

Total  Program  (Dutch  Indies) . 

$200,569 

SOUTHERN  ASIA 


jiiiiiiimmmiiiiiiiiiiiimiitiiii 


INDIA 


BURMA 


E-9 


<CflSuaIUUDO3C0<C0 


CQZxLQl 


Distribution  of  Methodist  \  /  Episcopal  churches  in  India  and  Burma 


f  ifl 

MASS  MOVEMENT  CONGREGATION  IN  INDIA  p- 

fl  Ifl 

1,  111 

1  When  India  does  dearly  and  openly  touch  the  Christ  - 

and  acknowledge  the  healing,  let  the  world  listen ,  for 

m  nr 

never  did  the  Christ  move  amid  a  people  more  gifted 

with  a  capacity  for  spiritual  things. 

V 

Y  E.  Stanley  Jones.  \ 

(y 

SOUTHERN  ASIA 


The  work  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church  is  spread  more  widely  throughout 
Southern  Asia  than  any  other  of  its  major 
mission  divisions.  In  the  eight  annual 
conferences  and  two  mission  conferences 
in  India  and  Burma,  more  than  9,000 
Christian  workers  care  for  a  Methodist 
community  of  more  than  400,000  baptized 
converts. 

Some  sense  of  the  extent  of  Methodist 
occupation  in  Southern  Asia  can  be  ob¬ 
tained  from  the  list  of  district  headquar¬ 
ters,  which  includes:  Bangalore, 
Belgaum,  Bidar,  Gulbarga,  Hyder¬ 
abad,  Madras,  Raichur,  Vikarabad, 
Yellandu,  Ahmedabad,  Baroda, 
Bombay,  Godhra,  Kathiawar, 

Poona,  Sind,  Balaghat,  Basim, 
Jubbulpore,  Khandwa,  Nagpur, 


Raipur,  Sironcha,  Asansol,  Calcutta,  Pa- 
kaur,  Allahabad,  Arrah,  Ballia,  Cawnpore, 
Gonda,  Lucknow,  Rae-Bareli,  Tirhut, 
Bareilly,  Bijnor,  Budaun,  Chandausi, 
Garhwal,  Nardoi,  Kumaun,  Morad- 
abad,  Sitapur,  Ajmer,  Aligarh,  Batala, 
Bikanir,  Bulandshahr,  Delhi,  Hissar,  La¬ 
hore,  Meerut,  Muttra,  Roorkee,  Rangoon, 
Pegu,  Syriam,  Thandaung,  and  Thongwa. 

Episcopal  residences  are  located  at  Ban¬ 
galore,  Bombay,  Calcutta,  and  Lucknow. 

Problems  common  to  all  Southern  Asia 
are  considered  quadrennially  in 
the  Southern  Asia  Central  Con¬ 
ference. 

The  church  throughout  this  en¬ 
tire  region  is  growing  at  an  un¬ 
precedented  rate,  both  in  member¬ 
ship  and  in  self-support. 


78 


WORLD  SERVICE 


INDIA 


A  Land  in  Ferment 
India  holds  a  larger  share  of  interna¬ 
tional  attention  today  than  at  any  time 
since  the  Mutiny  of  1857.  Her  people  are 
struggling  with  more  new  ideas  than  at 
any  time  since  the  Moslem  invasions  began 
more  than  a  thousand  years  ago. 

Given  318,000,000  people,  with  elements 
of  Dravidian,  Aryan,  Hun,  Turk,  and 
Mongol  blood;  make  them  speak  at  least 
hfteen  major  languages  with  more  than 
two  hundred  dialects;  crowd  them  into  an 
area  only  half  the  size  of  Brazil;  inocu¬ 
late  them  with  new  ideas,  and  the  result¬ 
ing  ferment  is  inevitable. 

India  grapples  with  the  problems  of 
democracy  and  self-determination  in  gov¬ 
ernment;  and  she  seeks  reconstruction  in 
her  economic,  social,  and  religious  life. 
In  her  long  past  there  have  been  many 
periods  of  remarkable  development,  when 
she  has  made  great  contributions  to  the 
world  in  art,  literature,  philosophy,  and 
religion.  But  there  has  never  been  a  day 
of  more  meaning,  both  for  India  and  the 
rest  of  the  world,  than  this. 

The  Home  oe  Religions 
The  faiths  of  India. — India  is  a  land  of 


religions.  Her  people  are  known  above 
all  others  for  their  mystical  character. 
This  is  one  of  the  reasons  for  the  world’s 
undying  interest  in  that  land. 

Jainism,  Buddhism,  Hinduism,  Sikhism 
are  native  to  India;  while  Mohamme¬ 
danism  and  Zoroastrianism  have  made 
their  home  there.  Today  Christianity  is 
in  India,  trying  to  make  a  supreme  con¬ 
tribution  to  the  reconstruction  of  all  In¬ 
dian  life. 

The  minor  religions,  those  of  the  Jains, 
the  Sikhs,  and  the  Parsees,  while  of  inter¬ 
est,  are  not  of  great  importance  to  us  in 
this  study.  Buddhism  has  ceased  to  be  a 
religion  of  any  proportions  in  the  land  of 
its  birth.  Christianity,  in  its  larger  pro¬ 
gram,  has  to  do  particularly  with  Moham¬ 
medanism  and  Hinduism. 

Mohammedanism.  —  There  are  about 
70,000,000  Moslems  in  India  today.  They 
constitute  nearly  one-fifth  of  the  popula¬ 
tion,  and,  as  a  body,  are  more  numerous 
than  the  inhabitants  of  any  strictly  Mo¬ 
hammedan  country  in  the  world.  They 
comprise  a  compact,  aggressive  group, 
at  present  justly  aroused  over  the  ques¬ 
tion  of  the  future  of  the  Turkish  empire 
and  the  Khilafat. 

For  the  first  time  in 
Indian  history  the  Mo¬ 
hammedans  are  making 
common  cause  with  the 
Hindus,  particularly  in  re¬ 
gard  to  this  question  or 
the  spiritual  leadership  of 
Islam.  They  are  also 
deeply  interested  in  the 
movement  for  a  great 
Moslem  federation  em¬ 
bracing  all  western  and 
southern  Asia  and  the  ad¬ 
joining  regions. 

One  fact  that  makes  for 
the  increasing  number  and 

Acknowledgment  is  hereby  made 
to  the  Rev.  George  W.  Briggs,  of 
Lucknow,  India,  for  the  extensive 
service  he  has  rendered  in  the  prepa¬ 
ration  of  this  section. 


A  land  in  ferment — Street  scene,  India 


SOUTHERN  ASIA 


79 


influence  of  Mohammedanism  in  India  is 
that  they  are  not  hampered  by  caste  dis¬ 
tinctions.  They  mingle  with  all  classes. 
Their  religion  is  characterized  by  an  ag¬ 
gressive  spirit.  They  are  eager  to  enlist 
converts.  Islam  in  India  is  more  vigorous 
today  than  at  any  time  since  the  great 


Chart  of  relative  number  of  adherents  to 
each  of  India’s  religions 


Hinduism. — Hinduism  is  the  general, 
indefinite  term  which  attempts  to  denote 
the  religion  of  the  mass  of  India’s  mil¬ 
lions.  There  is  no  more  difficult  word  to 
define  than  Hinduism.  Professor  Soper 
says :  “Almost  anything  can  be  said  of  it 
with  the  assurance  that  it  is  true,  and 
at  the  same  time  almost  anything  which 
is  said  may  be  denied  and  that  with  good 
reason ...  What  is  it,  then,  which  makes 
a  man  a  Hindu?. ..  .The  only  correct 
answer  is  that  it  is  neither  belief  nor  yet 
the  acceptance  of  a  moral  code  which 
makes  a  man  an  acceptable  Hindu.  He 
may  believe  what  he  likes.  .  .and  yet  have 
no  question  raised  as  to  his  standing  as 
a  Hindu... To  be  a  Hindu  means  to  be¬ 
long  to  one  of  the  castes  and  obey  the 
caste  regulations.”  ( The  Religions  of 
Mankind,  p.  164.) 

The  outstanding  elements  in  Hinduism 
are  thus  seen  to  be  the  observance  of 
caste  rules,  which  impose  a  rigid  system 
of  social  behavior  and  a  restricted  circle 


Wounded  Sikh  soldiers  back  from  the 
World  War 


of  social  intercourse ;  reverence  for  the 
cow  and  the  Brahman ;  veneration  for  the 
ancient  scriptures;  worship  of  certain 
great  gods,  such  as  Vishnu  and  Siva;  pil¬ 
grimage  to  holy  places  and  the  cult  of 
rivers. 

But  Hinduism  is  more  than  all  this.  It 
is  a  vast,  complex  system  of  customs, 
philosophies,  religious  cults,  and  social 
regulations. 

Christianity’s  task.  —  Christianity  has 
for  its  task  the  re-interpretation  of  life 
for  all  classes,  the  establishment  of  dis¬ 
tinctive  religious  conceptions,  and  the 
development  of  a  new  economic,  political, 
and  social  order  in  India. 


Relative  growth  of  principal  religious  groups 
in  India,  1881-1921  (1891=100) 


80 


WORLD  SERVICE 


India’s  Political  Upheaval 

Democracy  versus  autocracy. — A  great 
student  of  India’s  history  has  said,  “Au¬ 
tocracy  is  substantially  the  only  form  of 
government  with  which  the  historian  of 
India  is  concerned.”  Yet,  the  whole  In¬ 
dian  political  horizon  today  is  marked  by 
a  struggle  for  democracy. 

Political  discontent  is  no  new  thing  in 
India.  But  never  has  unrest  been  so  wide¬ 
spread  and  so  open 
as  in  the  years  since 
the  World  War.  That 
war  must  be  ac¬ 
counted  one  of  the 
greatest  agencies  of 
change  in  all  India’s 
history. 

India  and  the  World 
War.  — -  When  Great 
Britain  entered  the 
World  War  grave 
doubts  were  ex¬ 
pressed  as  to  the  loy¬ 
alty  of  India.  Un¬ 
doubtedly  England’s 
foes  counted  upon  an 
uprising  in  the  coun¬ 
try,  the  signal  for 
which  was  given  when  the  Sultan  of  Tur¬ 
key,  as  caliph,  or  spiritual  head  of  Islam, 
proclaimed  the  Holy  War. 

A  revolt  on  the  part  of  nearly  70,000,000 
Moslems  in  India,  supported  by  even  a 
few  Hindus,  would  have  been  disastrous. 
But  India’s  loyalty  was  one  of  the  deter¬ 
mining  factors  in  the  struggle.  Indian 
troops  fought  on  the  western  front,  in 
Mesopotamia,  and  in  Palestine;  and  when 
they  were  not  fighting  they  released  for 
service  other  troops  in  Egypt  and  in  the 
Far  East. 

The  promise  of  responsible  government. 
— The  effects  of  the  wide  contacts  of  so 
many  Indians  in  so  many  parts  of  the 
world,  of  the  discussions  that  followed 
the  armistice,  and  of  England’s  apprecia¬ 
tion  of  India’s  loyalty  profoundly  affected 
Indian  politics.  His  Majesty  the  King- 
Emperor  pledged  a  liberal  measure  of 
self-government  for  India. 


The  future  policy  of  His  Majesty’s  gov¬ 
ernment  was  declared  to  be:  “The  in¬ 
creasing  association  of  Indians  in  every 
branch  of  administration  and  the  gradual 
development  of  self-governing  institu¬ 
tions  with  a  view  to  the  progressive  re¬ 
alization  of  responsible  government  in 
India  as  an  integral  part  of  the  British 
Empire.”  To  Mr.  Edwin  S.  Montagu,  a 
liberal  Secretary  of  State  for  India,  and 

Lord  Chelmsford,  a 
liberal  Viceroy,  went 
the  honor  and  the  re¬ 
sponsibility  of  draft¬ 
ing  the  laws  that 
were  to  make  these 
reforms  in  govern¬ 
ment  concrete. 

Unfortunately 
there  were  long  de¬ 
lays  in  carrying  out 
this  policy.  In  the 
meantime,  agitation 
increased  in  India. 
Some  charged  that 
Britain  did  not  mean 
to  redeem  its  pledges, 
now  that  the  war  had 
been  won.  Conserv¬ 
ative  opinion  in  England,  fearful  lest  the 
granting  of  any  measure  of  self-control 
should  weaken  British  authority,  forced 
the  government  to  proceed  with  excessive 
caution. 

Punjab  troubles  and  “Khilafat.” — The 
unrest  made  some  officials  nervous.  They 
felt  that  strenuous  efforts  should  be 
made  to  suppress  dangerous  agitation. 
The  obnoxious  Rowlatt  Act  was  passed — 
a  sort  of  Lusk  Lav/  for  India.  This  led 
to  the  launching  of  the  movement  led  by 
Mr.  Mohandas  Gandhi. 

Feeling  ran  high.  There  were  violent 
disturbances,  especially  in  the  Punjab. 
These  culminated  in  the  “Amritsar  out¬ 
rage,”  and  the  regime  of  martial  law  in 
the  Punjab.  This  was  followed  by  a  long 
imperial  investigation.  There  was,  and 
there  still  is,  profound  dissatisfaction 
with  the  way  in  which  the  whole  matter 
of  the  Punjab  troubles  was  handled. 


SOUTHERN  ASIA 


81 


In  the  meantime,  the 
settlement  of  the  fate  of 
Turkey  had  dragged  on. 
In  May,  1920,  the  terms  of 
the  treaty  with  Turkey 
were  published.  They 
were  unsatisfactory  to  In¬ 
dian  Moslems,  who  held 
that  in  the  settlement  the 
pledge  made  during  the 
war  by  the  Prime  Minis¬ 
ter  had  been  broken.  Mr. 
Gandhi  immediately  sup¬ 
ported  the  Mohammedan 
demands  for  Turkey  and 
launched  his  non-coopera¬ 
tive  movement,  swinging 
his  whole  Hindu  following 
to  the  “Khilafat”  cause. 


A  procession  in  Moradabad  in  honor  of  Gandhi 


Gandhi’s  proposals. — 

Mr.  Gandhi  is  a  lawyer  of 
great  ability,  a  member  of  the  Vaisyo 
or  trading  caste  of  Hindus.  He  has 
already  distinguished  himself  as  an  ad¬ 
vocate  of  the  rights  of  his  fellow  coun¬ 
trymen  in  South  Africa.  Denouncing  the 
British  rule  as  “Satanic,”  Mr.  Gandhi 
moved  the  millions  of  India  to  attempt  to 
bring  the  present  government  to  an  end 
by  the  application  of  passive  non-resist¬ 
ance. 

Mr.  Gandhi  was  not  in  favor  of  violence. 
He  proposed  peace  and  “non-cooperation” 


as  his  method.  His  program  included  six 
points :  The  surrender  of  all  titles  and  of¬ 
fices  held  under  the  British  government ;  a 
refusal  to  attend  any  government  func¬ 
tions;  the  gradual  withdrawal  of  pupils 
from  schools  conducted,  supported,  or 
aided  by  the  government ;  a  boycott  of  the 
British  courts;  a  refusal  to  participate  in 
elections;  and  a  boycott  of  foreign  goods, 
with  the  use  of  country-made  cloth.  This 
would  necessitate  the  extension  on  a  large 
scale  of  hand-spinning  and  hand-weaving. 


There  were  attempts  to 
carry  out  this  program, 
but  in  most  instances  the 
efforts  failed.  Few  na¬ 
tional  schools  were  estab¬ 
lished  and  the  withdrawal 
of  children  from  govern¬ 
ment  schools  was  not  re¬ 
ceived  with  favor.  Few 
renounced  titles  or  boy¬ 
cotted  the  courts.  Seats 
in  the  new  Legislative 
Councils  were  filled.  Even 
the  attitude  toward  the 
boycott  of  British  goods 
has  changed,  for  India 
■  must  import  cloth  from 
somewhere. 


Indian  troopers  in  the  Mesopotamian  campaign 


82 


WORLD  SERVICE 


Mohammedans  at  prayer,  Naini  Tal 


The  breakdown  of  the  non-cooperation 
movement  has  not,  however,  affected  Mr. 
Gandhi’s  position  as  a  leader. 

After  the  meeting  of  the  Indian  Na¬ 
tional  Congress  in  1921  there  followed  a 
period  of  violent  agitation  in  spite  of  Mr. 
Gandhi’s  position.  And  early  in  1922  there 
were  serious  local  outbreaks,  which  led 
Mr.  Gandhi  and  his  followers  temporarily 
to  abandon  his  program  of  non-coopera¬ 
tion. 

On  March  18,  1922,  Mr.  Gandhi,  after 
pleading  guilty  to  conspiracy  to  overthrow 
the  government,  was  sentenced  to  six 
years’  imprisonment.  Before  entering 
prison  he  warned  his  followers  against 
any  resort  to  violence,  which  he  termed 
“barbarous,  impracticable,  utterly  futile, 
unclean.”  At  this  writing,  that  injunc¬ 
tion  is  being  obeyed,  and,  on  the  surface, 
India  is  quieter  than  for  some  months. 

No  one  expects  this  calm  to  continue  in¬ 
definitely,  but,  in  the  meantime,  the  mod¬ 
erates  who  favor  co-operating  under  the 
Montagu  reforms,  seem  to  be  gaining 
some  ground.  All  depends  upon  the  spirit 
and  the  speed  with  which  Great  Britain 
enlarges  her  grants  of  self-government  to 
India. 

An  Indian  estimate  of  Gandhi. — Even  in 
prison  Mr.  Gandhi  remains  one  of  the 
world’s  great  figures.  An  editorial  in  the 
Indian  Social  Reformer  in  May,  1922,  is 
very  illuminating : 

Ecce  Homo:  We  reprint  today  the  comments  of 
the  Vedic  Magazine,  the  monthly  organ  of  the  Guru- 
kula  section  of  the  Arya  Samaj,  on  the  persecution 


and  imprisonment  of  Mahatma  Gandhi.  It  is  curious 
that,  while  it  has  shaken  the  faith  of  some  people  like 
the  Maharashtra  Sub-Committee  of  Nagpur  in  the 
efficacy  of  morality  and  non-violence  as  a  political 
method,  it  has  prompted  a  much  larger  number,  in¬ 
cluding  several  who  had  set  themselves  for  years  to 
counteract  the  work  of  Christian  missions,  to  turn 
to  the  figure  of  Christ  on  the  Cross  in  reverent  con¬ 
templation.  Orthodox  Hindus,  militant  Arya  Sama- 
jists,  devout  Mohammedans,  and  of  course  Brahmos 
have  had  their  minds  turned  to  Calvary  in  comment¬ 
ing  upon  the  event.  It  may  be  said  without  exagger¬ 
ation  that  the  Mahatma  in  jail  has  achieved  in  a 
short  while  what  Christian  missions  had  not  done  in 
a  hundred  years  with  all  their  resources  of  men  and 
money — he  has  turned  India’s  face  to  Christ  upon  the 
Cross.  Some  missionaries  who  understand  this  re¬ 
joice  in  their  hearts,  while  some,  we  fear,  are  rather 
jealous  that  God  has  blessed  the  Mahatma’s  sacrifice 
more  than  their  own  devotion.  Strange,  too,  is  it  not, 
that  this  should  happen  under  a  Viceroy  of  the  an¬ 
cient  race  which,  though  it  gave  Christ  to  humanity, 
has  since  then  withstood  Christianity  more  zealously 
than  any  other.  Reflections  such  as  these  may  seem 
irrelevant  or  out  of  taste  to  politicians  whose  business 
lies  on  the  surface  of  things,  but  they  furnish  a  clue 
to  the  unfolding  of  the  deep  purpose  of  history. 

Gandhi’s  fundamental  aims. — Mr.  Gandhi 
is  a  patriot.  But  he  is  not  committed  to 
a  program  of  political  separation  from 
the  British  Empire.  He  declared  early  in 
1922: 

“If  British  rule  were  replaced  tomor¬ 
row  by  Indian  rule  based  on  modern 
methods,  India  would  be  no  better,  except 
that  then  she  would  be  able  to  retain  some 
of  the  money  that  is  now  drained  away 
to  England.”  He  opposed  successfully,  in 
December,  1921,  the  effort  in  the  Indian 
National  Congress  to  declare  for  self- 
government  outside  the  British  Empire. 
This  position  is  qhite  generally  supported 
in  India  today. 

Fundamentally,  Gandhi  is  leading 
India  in  revolt  against  the  rule  of  a  civili¬ 
zation  that  he  believes  to  be  hopelessly  ma¬ 
terialistic,  in  the  hope  that  the  future 
India  may  be  controlled  by  spiritual 
forces.  He  sees  the  dangers  that  are  com¬ 
ing  to  India  in  the  factory  system  from 
the  West,  in  economic  and  political  insti¬ 
tutions.  From  these  he  would  protect  and 
deliver  his  country. 

“India  is  now  suffering  from  reaction 
against  the  more  materialistic  manifesta¬ 
tions  of  western  civilization.  In  addition 
to  this,  the  events  of  the  Punjab  disturb¬ 
ances  of  1919,  which  only  became  fully 
known  during  the  period  under  review, 


SOUTHERN  ASIA 


83 


gave  rise  among  educated  Indians  to  feel¬ 
ings  of  intense  and  bitter  humiliation. 
Against  the  all-dominant  tide  of  western 
materialism,  western  might,  and  wes¬ 
tern  achievement,  Mr.  Gandhi,  with 
his  explicit  scorn  for  that  which  we 
call  modern  civilization,  stands  before 
the  injured  national  pride  of  many 
of  his  countrymen 
like  a  rock  of  salva¬ 
tion.  He  embodies 
an  other-worldliness 
essentially  Indian,  a 
spirit  the  West  does 
not  possess,  a  plane 
of  detachment  to 
which  it  cannot  hope 
to  aspire.  Hence  it 
is  that  his  behests 
have  the  influence  of 
semi-divine  com¬ 
mands;  and  even 
those  whose  intel¬ 
lects  are  too  keen  to 
be  dominated  by  his 
sway  can  rarely  be 
found  to  resist  the 
appeal  which  he 
makes  to  their  inner¬ 
most  hearts.”  ( India 
during  1920,  p.  39.) 

First  steps  toward 
self  -  government.  — 

The  reform  acts  have 
been  put  into  opera¬ 
tion.  The  first  elections  were  held  in 
1920,  and,  while  not  participated  in  by 
Mr.  Gandhi’s  followers,  elected  Indians  to 
positions  where  they  have  to  administer 
education,  public  works,  forests,  agricul¬ 
ture,  sanitation,  and  direct  industrial  de¬ 
velopment.  The  administration  of  the 
army,  navy,  police,  telegraph,  railway, 
other  revenue  departments,  and  courts  re¬ 
mains  in  British  hands. 

Already  there  is  insistence  upon  the  ex¬ 
tension  of  self-government  and  political 
agitation  continues.  This  is  supported  by 
the  measure  of  success  which  has  attended 
the  new  governments.  Of  the  initial  ef¬ 
forts  of  Indians  in  government,  it  is  said 


that  “the  non-official  members  of  the 
Legislative  Assembly  and  Council  of 
State,  which  now  control  an  absolute  ma¬ 
jority  over  any  number  of  votes  which 
Government  can  possibly  command,  have 
throughout  revealed  a  sense  of  responsi¬ 
bility,  of  sobriety,  and  of  statesmanship, 
which  has  surpassed  the  most  sanguine 

expectations  even  of 
those  who  believed 
most  firmly  in  India’s 
capacity  for  respon¬ 
sible  government .  .  . 
The  first  session  of 
the  Reformed  Parlia¬ 
ment  of  India  has 
more  than  justified 
the  faith  displayed  in 
the  capacity  of  Indi¬ 
ans  by  Mr.  Montagu 
and  Lord  Chelms¬ 
ford.  It  has  shown 
that  the  process  of 
entrusting  responsi¬ 
bility  to  Indian 
statesmen  calls  out  in 
return  a  rare  degree 
of  capacity  for  dis¬ 
charging  the  obliga¬ 
tions  which  that  re¬ 
sponsibility  entails.” 
( India  during  1920, 
PP-  71,  74.) 

The  indications, 
from  reports  from 
India  in  the  early  months  of  this  year 
(1923),  are  that,  to  secure  self-govern¬ 
ment  with  the  least  possible  delay,  an 
increasing  number  of  leaders  of  the  In¬ 
dian  National  Congress  are  abandoning 
non-cooperation  and  are  advocating  en¬ 
tering  the  elections.  With  seats  gained 
in  the  Councils  it  is  their  hope  there  to 
advocate  and  secure  further  constitutional 
reforms. 

The  call  to  Christianity. — The  whole  out¬ 
look  and  program  of  patriotic  India  has 
changed  in  the  last  four  years.  There  is 
a  greater  difference  between  the  India  of 
today  and  the  India  of  the  days  when  the 
Centenary  program  was  being  formu- 


Mohandas  K.  Gandhi — Seer 


84 


WORLD  SERVICE 


lated,  than  between  the  India  of  that  day 
(1916)  and  the  India  of  the  Mutiny 
(1857.)  It  is  this  profound  change  that 
makes  imperative  an  immediate  reap¬ 
praisal  of  the  policy  and  program  of  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church  in  India. 
Christian  leadership,  with  its  experience 
in  democratic  government  and  its  social 
ideals,  has  a  great  responsibility  in  the 
shaping  of  coming  events. 

India  as  She  is  Today 

India’s  health. — There  are  certain  great 
changes  that  must  be  wrought  in  India 
before  the  political  evolution  can  be  com¬ 
pleted.  These  changes  can  best  be  stated 
in  terms  of  present-day  conditions. 

One  of  India’s  greatest  obstacles  to 
progress  is  physical.  The  average  life  of  an 
Indian  is  only  24.7  years.  The  death  rate  is 
high  (31.8  per  1,000)  as  compared  with 
Japan  (21.9),  and  still  higher  as  com¬ 
pared  with  countries  of  the  West.  (Amer¬ 
ica’s  is  14.1.) 

The  death  rate  of  infants  is  exceed¬ 
ingly  high.  “Official  statistics  show  that 
there  is  scarcely  a  large  town  in  India 
in  which  the  rate  is  not  above  200,  and  in 
many  of  the  largest  towns  it  is  more  than 
400.”  (Fleming,  Building  with  India, 
p.  32.)  “It  has  been  calculated  that  every 
year  no  fewer  than  2,000,000  Indian 
babies  die,  while  many  others  survive  only 
to  grow  up  w'eak  and  feeble,  from  un¬ 
hygienic  surroundings  during  infancy... 


No  less  than  fifty  per  cent  of  all  the  chil¬ 
dren  in  Bombay  die  before  reaching  the 
age  of  eighteen  months;  while  in  Delhi, 
one  infant  out  of  every  four  born  in  1919 
was  doomed  to  die  within  the  first  year.” 
( India  during  1920,  pp.  151,  153.) 

Plague,  cholera,  and  other  scourges 
reap  a  large  harvest.  Investigations  so 
far  completed  show  from  forty  to  eighty 
per  cent  of  the  people  infected  with  hook¬ 
worm.  Tuberculosis  is  on  the  increase. 

A  change  in  these  conditions  depends 
upon  the  spread  of  knowledge,  the  re¬ 
moval  of  poverty,  and  a  change  in  certain 
customs. 

India’s  poverty. — India’s  poverty  is  ap¬ 
palling.  Says  Dr.  Fleming:  “If  per  cap¬ 
ita  wealth  of  India  be  taken  as  1,  that  of 
Japan  would  be  3.7;  Canada,  18.5;  the 
United  Kingdom,  22.8;  and  the  United 
States,  27.9 ....  In  some  areas  people 
speak  of  poverty  as  their  ‘mother.’ 

“....That  there  is  a  terrible  amount 
of  actual  hunger  in  Indian  villages  during 
certain  months  before  the  harvest  is  a 
fact  beyond  dispute.  Some  low-caste  vil¬ 
lagers  near  Benares  said  that  they  ate 
only  once  in  two  days  for  a  month  or  two 
in  the  cold  weather  before  the  Rabi  (win¬ 
ter)  harvest  when  they  get  the  pulses  and 
barley. 

“An  extended  tour  among  the  villages 
leaves  one  with  the  impression  of  poor¬ 
ness,  of  life  reduced  to  the  barest  necessi¬ 
ties  of  existence,  of  men, 
women,  and  children  es¬ 
caping  starvation  but  liv¬ 
ing  below  a  level  of  most 
meager  comfort.  .  .  The 
supreme  concern  of  the 
people  during  nine-tenths 
of  the  villager’s  waking 
hours  is  to  meet  the  de¬ 
mand  of  his  stomach  and 
his  children’s  stomach.” 
( Building  ivith  India,  pp. 
42-43.) 

The  average  income  of 
the  entire  population  of 
India  is  less  than  twenty 
dollars  per  year.  Govern- 


SOUTHERN  ASIA 


85 


ment  tax  collectors  have  discovered  that 
only  one  person  in  1,000  has  an  income  of 
more  than  $330  a  year. 

Poverty  drives  many  to  mortgage  them¬ 
selves  to  the  money-lenders.  For  two  or 
four  rupees  a  year  (three  rupees  approxi¬ 
mately  equal  one  American  dollar)  and 
two  pieces  of  cloth,  these  unfortunates  re¬ 
main  in  servitude  until  the  debt,  com¬ 
pounded  by  outrageous  rates  of  interest, 
is  discharged.  This  may  keep  the  family 
in  virtual  slavery  for  generations. 

While  this  is  not  a  general  condition 
it  suggests  the  almost  universal  condition 
of  debt  and  of  high  interest  payments. 
Rates  on  small  loans  run  as  high  as  sev¬ 
enty-two  per  cent  a  year.  Rates  below 
twenty-five  per  cent  for  loans  in  rural 
areas  are  rare. 

One  of  the  greatest  problems  confront¬ 
ing  Christianity  in  India  today  is  the 
relief  of  the  poor.  This  includes  the  solu¬ 
tion  of  agricultural  and  industrial  prob¬ 
lems. 

India’s  industry. — More  than  eighty-five 
per  cent  of  the  people  of  India  devote 
their  lives  to  agriculture,  as  landlords,  as 
cultivators,  or  as  day  laborers.  It  is 
primitive  farming  —  plowing  with  a 
wooden  plow  with  an  iron  point,  while 
the  ox  treads  out  the  grain  and  the  fan¬ 
ning  is  done  by  the  passing  breeze.  In 
countless  homes  two  women  still  grind 
the  day’s  meal,  sitting  at  the  family  hand- 
mill. 

Primitive  methods  do  not  allow  suffi¬ 
cient  diversity  in  crop  nor  do  they  pro¬ 
duce  by  any  means  as  much  as  the  soil 
might  yield.  The  great  poverty  of  India 
is  connected  with  its  soil.  Low  wages, 
often  in  kind,  are  insufficient  to  meet  ad¬ 
equately  the  needs  of  the  rural  population. 

But  India  is  experiencing  an  industrial 
development.  Particular  attention  is 
being  given  textile  manufactures,  and  at¬ 
tempts  are  being  made  to  revive  that 
ancient  industry. 

When  Europeans  first  entered  India 
they  found  it  a  land  producing  such  fine 
prints,  embroideries,  linens  and  jewels 
that  for  eighty  years  the  British  East 


Primitive  plow  and  seeder  still  used  in  India 


India  Company  was  able  to  pay  its  bond¬ 
holders  profits  averaging  annually  117 
per  cent.  But  when,  after  the  invention 
of  the  power  loom  and  the  establishment 
of  the  factory  system,  the  manufacturers 
of  Great  Britain  demanded  protection  for 
their  infant  industries,  such  tariffs  were 
placed  on  the  exportation  of  India’s  goods 
that  her  looms  were  silenced. 

In  1823  a  director  of  the  British  East 
India  Company  testified  that  “the  cot¬ 
ton  fabrics  of  India,  hitherto  her  staple 
product,  have  not  only  been  displaced,  but 
we  are  exporting  cotton  into  India.  India 
is  thus  reduced  from  the  state  of  manu¬ 
facturing  to  that  of  an  agricultural 
country.” 

In  1840  a  House  of  Commons  investiga¬ 
tion  showed  that,  “In  1814  India  exported 
1,250,000  pieces  of  cotton  goods  to  Eng¬ 
land;  in  1835  only  360,000  pieces.”  Dur¬ 
ing  the  same  period  British  exports  of 
machine-made  cottons  into  India  had 
risen  from  818,000  yards  to  51,000,000. 

Since  the  beginning  of  this  century  the 
determination  of  many  Indians  to  restore 
the  ancient  glories  of  India’s  loom  crafts 
has  brought  about  the  Swadeshi  move¬ 
ment.  This  is  a  campaign  for  the  use  by 
Indians  of  home-made  goods,  and  the  boy¬ 
cott  of  those  made  in  foreign  countries, 
especially  those  made  in  England.  Op¬ 
posed  at  first  by  the  government,  the  exi¬ 
gencies  of  war-time  induced  the  authori¬ 
ties  to  give  it  support.  As  a  result,  not 
only  have  native  manufacturers  increased 
rapidly  in  the  last  few  years,  but  there  are 


86 


WORLD  SERVICE 


These  cotton  mills  at  Gokak  Falls  supply  the 
Orient,  particularly  China,  with  yarn 


now  factories  capable  of  supplying  part 
of  the  needs  of  the  people. 

India’s  labor  problem. — With  the  devel¬ 
opment  of  India’s  industries  goes  the 
problem  of  labor.  As  the  people  come 
from  the  land  to  work  at  the  machines 
they  too  often  find  themselves  at  the 
mercy  of  an  industrial  system  of  the  most 
unenlightened  order. 

Wages  are  low.  In  eight  industries,  cot¬ 
ton,  wool,  paper,  rice,  brewing,  jute,  coal, 
and  tea,  workers  in  1919  were  earning  an 
average  of  seventeen  cents  per  day.  Gov¬ 
ernment  investigation  has  shown  that 
mills  without  electric  lights  run  a  thirteen 
and  one  half  hour  day  in  summer  and 
eleven  hour  day  in  winter.  Mills  in  Cal¬ 
cutta  lighted  by  electricity  run  from 
4  :30  in  the  morning  to  8  : 30  at  night.  Cot- 
ton-ginning  mills  were  found  to  run  from 
twelve  to  eighteen  hours  a  day  during  the 
rush  season,  and  rice  and  flour  mills  some¬ 
times  as  high  as  from  twenty  to  twenty-two 
hours.  Operatives  were  required  to  spend 
a  large  part  of  each  Sunday  at  the  mills 
cleaning  their  machines. 

Child  labor  is  common.  The  laws  to 
restrict  it  have  been  lax,  and  even  these 
frequently  flouted.  Children  over  nine 
may  be  employed  on  “half-time,”  that  ip 
from  seven  and  one  half  to  eight 
hours  a  day.  It  is  generally  admitted  that 
a  large  proportion  of  the  “half-timers”  em¬ 
ployed  are  less  than  nine  years  old. 

The  rise  of  this  sort  of  conscienceless  in¬ 
dustrialism,  with  its  starvation  wages,  long 


hours  and  child  labor,  is  resulting  in  pro¬ 
ducing  industrial  unrest.  The  government 
blue  book  reports:  “The  year  1920  has 
been  one  of  unprecedented  economic  rest¬ 
lessness  in  India — restlessness  which  has 
afforded  a  great  stimulus  to  the  organiza¬ 
tion  of  labor. . .  .During  the  period  under 
view  nearly  five  hundred  strikes,  some  of 
them  of  considerable  importance,  have 
taken  place  up  and  down  India.  Not  a 
few  protracted  strikes,  accompanied  in 
some  cases  with  disorder,  occurred  in  most 
of  the  important  industrial  centers  cf 
India,  particularly  Madras,  Calcutta,  and 
Bombay ....  Many  strikes  throughout 
the  year  have  been  followed  almost  imme¬ 
diately  by  an  increase  of  wages  ranging 
from  ten  to  thirty  per  cent,  and  a  reduc¬ 
tion  of  working  hours.  It  is  probable  that 
a  certain  number  of  strikes  in  1920,  more 
particularly  those*  in  the  coal  fields  as  well 
as  in  the  railway  and  postal  services,  were 
not  unconnected  with  the  non-cooperative 
movement ....  But  in  general  it  may  be 
said  that  the  strikes  throughout  the  year 
have  been  predominately  economic  in 
origin,  and  in  most  cases  directly  caused 
by  the  fact  that  wages  have  lagged  seri¬ 
ously  behind  prices  in  their  upward 
course.”  ( India  during  1920 ,  pp.  140, 
142.) 

There  are  yet  not  more  than  1,500,000 
employees  in  the  factories  of  India,  but 
the  number  is  increasing  every  year. 
There  is  need  for  an  entirely  different 
basis  for  the  developing  industrial  life. 

Mr.  Gandhi’s  advocacy  of  home  indus¬ 
try  represents  but  one  phase  of  the  prob- 


Woman  labor  in  the  jute  industry — Calcutta 


SOUTHERN  ASIA 


87 


lem  which  is  as  wide  as  industrial  life. 
The  factory  system  is  increasing  rapidly 
in  India.  The  whole  range  of  its  activi¬ 
ties  requires  Christian  treatment. 

India’s  castes. — Poverty  is  one  of  the 
causes  of  the  appalling  brevity  of  life  in 
India.  Another  is  infant  marriage.  This 
custom  suggests  in  turn  the  whole  sys¬ 
tem  of  caste. 

Caste  is  the  outstanding  social  institu¬ 
tion  of  India.  Its  roots  run  far  back.  It 
is  the  most  vital  principle  of  Hinduism, 
dominating  Indian  social  life,  manners, 
morals,  and  thought.  Hindu  society  is 
divided  into  about  3,000  mutually  exclu¬ 
sive  groups  and  these  in  turn  are  com¬ 
posed  of  about  19,000  sub-castes  or  caste 
divisions.  These  groups  are  separated 
from  each  other  by  rules  of  diet  and  of 
marriage.  Transition  from  one  caste  to 
another  is,  except  in  some  cases  among  the 
lowest  groups,  impossible.  Each  individ¬ 
ual  is  born  in  the  stratum  of  society  in 
which  he  belongs.  There  he  should  re¬ 
main. 

The  caste  system  includes  a  whole  group 
of  untouchables,  outcastes.  It  is  estimated 
that  these  number  nearly  55,000,000.  The 
very  names,  “outcaste,”  “pariah,”  “un¬ 
touchable,”  suggest  the  contempt  in 
which  these  people  have  been  held  and  in 
which  they  have  been  condemned  to  live. 
Gathered  in  mud  huts  on  the  outskirts  of 
the  villages,  or  sometimes  in  little  settle¬ 
ments  of  their  own,  these  wretches  live 
in  a  squalor  that  has  no  likeness  in  the 
West,  forbidden  to  walk  on  certain  streets 


The  village  well  where  the  outcaste  is  not 
allowed  to  drinh 


A  sign  of  caste 


or  to  send  their  children  to  the  village 
school,  and  forbidden  the  use  of  the  vil¬ 
lage  wells. 

The  orthodox  Hindu  attitude  toward 
these  miserables  has  been  one  of  entire 
complacency,  because,  according  to  the 
doctrine  of  transmigration,  these  people 
are  merely  suffering  their  just  punishment 
for  sins  committed  in  a  previous  incarna¬ 
tion,  and  must  work  out  the  penalty,  if, 
in  their  next  cycle  of  life,  they  are  to  find 
their  way  into  caste.  Many  castes  be¬ 
lieve  themselves  defiled  if  waited  upon  by 
servants  of  a  lower  caste.  “In  Southern 
India,  where  caste  has  been  most  strictly 
enforced,  even  the  shadow  of  a  lower  caste 
man  defiles,  and  there  is  a  graduated 
scale  of  distances  which  the  lower  caste 
must  observe.  The  Kammalan  group,  in¬ 
cluding  masons,  blacksmiths,  carpenters 
and  leather  workers,  pollute  at  twenty- 
four  feet,  toddy-drawers  at  thirty-nine 
feet,  Pulayan  or  Chernman  cultivators  at 
forty-eight  feet,  and  pariahs,  beef-eaters, 
at  sixty-four  feet.”  ( India's  Silent  Revo¬ 
lution,  p.  62.) 

“The  idea  that  all  men  are  alike  in  the 
sight  of  God,”  says  E.  C.  Moore,  “is  one 
which  seems  to  us  near  the  heart  of  the 
gospel.  It  is  almost  the  last  conviction 
possible  to  the  mind  of  a  Hindu.”  ( The 
Spread  of  Christianity  in  the  Modern 
World,  p.  125.)  Still,  there  is  a  growing 
self-consciousness  on  the  part  of  Hindu 
society  with  regard  to  the  untouchable 
mass. 


88 


WORLD  SERVICE 


One  of  the  55,000,000  “lowest  of  the  low” — 
Member  of  the  sweeper  caste 


A  noted  Indian  has  thus  described  the 
situation :  “The  curse  of  untouchability 
prevails  to  this  day  in  all  parts  of  India. 
It  is  not  mere  untouchability.  It  is  worse 
than  that.  While  all  of  the  depressed 
classes  have  been  for  centuries  untouch¬ 
able,  some  have  been  unshadowable,  some 
unapproachable  and  some  even  unseeable 
by  the  higher  castes,  and  this  degradation 
has  been  impressed  by  these  castes  of 
Hindu  society  upon  one  fifth  of  the  total 
population  of  their  own  country,  race  and 
creed — on  thirty  per  cent  of  the  Hindu 
population  of  India.  Out  of  every  ten 
Hindus  three  are  treated  as  beyond  the 
pale  of  decent  humanity.”  ( India  during 
1920,  quoting  Sir  Naravan  Chandavarkar, 
p.  155.) 


There  is  a  growing  concern  for  these 
depressed  people.  Mr.  Gandhi  is  lending 
all  the  support  of  his  leadership  to  the 
forwarding  of  the  movement  for  the  re¬ 
moval  of  the  stigma  of  untouchability. 
Practically  all  the  reform  societies  in 
India  have  declared  against  the  worst  fea¬ 
tures  of  the  caste  system. 

Untouchability  is  not  the  only  evil  of 
caste,  for  it  is  a  disintegrating  influence 
tending  to  social  division  and  intense 
class  pride  even  in  its  higher  levels. 

The  main  attack  of  Christianity  on  caste 
has  been  upon  its  attitude  toward  the 
outcaste.  Protestant  Christianity  has 
been  telling  India  now  for  more  than  a 
hundred  years  that  there  are  no  people 
outside  of  the  pale  of  humanity.  In  in¬ 
creasing  numbers  the  outcastes  have  been 
listening  to  the  message  until,  in  the  last 
decade,  they  have  come  by  the  hundreds 
of  thousands  to  knock  at  the  door  of  the 
church.  Thus  the  “Mass  Movement”  is 
seen  to  be  social  as  well  as  religious  in  sig¬ 
nificance. 

This  sight  of  thousands  turning  to  what 
has  been  contemptuously  branded  as  “for¬ 
eign  religion”  has  awakened  progressive 
Hindus.  “The  possibility  of  losing  the  un¬ 
touchables  has  shaken  the  intelligent  sec¬ 
tion  of  the  Hindu  community  to  its  very 
depths,  and  were  it  not  for  long-estab¬ 
lished  prejudices  and  deep-rooted  habits, 
untouchableness  would  soon  be  a  thing  of 
the  past,”  says  Lajpat  Rai. 

The  message  of  brotherhood  preached 
by  the  Christian  missionary  has  effected 
this  change  in  caste  attitude.  It  can  be 
only  through  the  intensification  of  Chris¬ 
tian  emphasis  upon  the  need  for  equality 
and  brotherhood  that  the  tyranny  of  caste 
can  be  abolished. 

The  'problem  of  caste  in  India,  affect¬ 
ing  as  it  does  one-fifth  of  the  world’s  pop¬ 
ulation,  stands  as  one  of  the  greatest  pres¬ 
ent  challenges  to  Christianity. 

India’s  illiteracy. — Questions  of  health, 
poverty  and  caste  are  all  inter-related,  and 
at  the  same  time  relate  themselves  with 
that  of  illiteracy  as  contributing  problems 
yet  to  be  brought  to  complete  solution  by 
Christian  forces. 


SOUTHERN  ASIA 


89 


Illiteracy  is  an  outstanding  fact  in 
India.  India  now  thrills  with  the  longing 
for  popular  government.  But  “in  respon¬ 
sible  government  everything  depends 
upon  the  electorate.  It  can  succeed  only 
when  the  citizens  have  an  understanding 
of  public  affairs. ..  .Thoughtful  minds 
may  well  hesitate  to  embark  on  the  experi¬ 
ment  of  responsible  government  in  a  coun¬ 
try  far  larger  than  any  in  which  democracy 
has  yet  been  tried,  where  the  differ¬ 
ences  of  race  and  language  and  religion 
are  wider  and  deeper  than  among  any 
other  people,  and  where,  out  of  a  popula¬ 
tion  of  318,000,000  only  18,000.000  are 
able  to  read  and  write.”  ( Our  Christian 
Debt  to  India,  by  J.  H.  Oldham,  pp,  3,  4.) 

It  is  impossible  to  overstate  the  diffi¬ 
culty  of  the  task  confronting  any  govern¬ 
ment  that  seeks  to  educate  the  masses  of 
India.  Poverty  makes  it  impossible  for 
many  of  the  hard-driven  families  to  keep 
their  children  long  enough  in  school,  for 
unless  the  child  works,  howshall  he  be  fed? 
Social  custom  and  religion  keep  unnum¬ 
bered  thousands  of  girls  out  of  the  class¬ 
room.  The  task  of  recruiting  teachers  for 
so  many  millions,  especially  in  a  land 
where  the  schoolmaster  does  not  receive 
much  pay  or  a  high  place  in  social  regard, 
is  tremendous. 

Havingbeen  aroused  to  its  responsibility 
largely  by  the  schools  founded  by  the  great 
Scotch  missionary,  Alexander  Duff,  the 
British  have  been  working  since  early  in 
the  eighteenth  century  to  lift  the  curse  of 
illiteracy  that  still  handicaps  eighty-nine 
per  cent  of  men  and  ninety-nine  per  cent 
of  the  women  of  India.  The  sincerity  of 
this  effort  must  be  acknowledged. 


The  new  Senate  building,  Allahabad  University 


The  makings  of  a  new  India,  if  led  into 
the  abundant  life 


India’s  present  educational  system  is 
largely  the  result  of  the  policy  adopted  in 
1835,  when  Macaulay  said,  “Our  efforts 
ought  to  be  directed  to  make  natives  of 
this  country  thoroughly  good  English 
scholars.”  Macaulay  believed  that  there 
was  no  native  culture  in  India  worth 
using  as  the  base  for  a  modern  system  of 
education,  and  so  indorsed  an  ideal  that 
has  planted  in  India  schools,  from  pri¬ 
mary  grade  to  university,  as  nearly  as 
possible  identical  with  those  in  England. 

The  result  has  been  that  the  upper 
castes,  the  Brahmans,  and  the  wealthy  of 
all  castes,  seeing  in  the  schools  the  only 
road  to  official  position  or  membership 
in  one  of  the  honored  professions,  have 
filled  them  with  their  children.  The  poor 
and  the  depressed  have  been  practically 
excluded  from  the  schools. 

The  whole  educational  system  is  under 
discussion.  Not  only  what  ought  to  be 
taught,  but  also  the  question  of  the  right 
of  all,  of  whatever  caste  or  outcaste  group, 
to  the  opportunities  of  the  general  schools 
is  being  agitated. 

The  time  has  come  for  revision  of  pri¬ 
mary  education,  as  well  as  higher  educa¬ 
tion  ;  for  the  introduction  of  vocational 
training;  for  a  complete  reconstruction 
along  modern  lines.  A  new  demand  for 
education  is  arousing.  The  effect  of  the 
war  upon  the  much  traveled  Indian  sol¬ 
dier  has  been  that  he  sees  the  significance 


J 


90 


WORLD  SERVICE 


An  out-of-door  class  in  session 


of  education  for  his  boy  and  also  for  his 
women  folk. 

The  condition  of  illiteracy  is  sufficiently 
startling.  Saint  Nihal  Singh  says  that 
four  out  of  every  five  villages  in  India  are 
without  educational  facilities  of  any  kind, 
and  that  eighty  per  cent  of  the  children  of 
school  age  are  receiving  no  instruction. 

Christianity ,  with  a  growing  church  in 
India,  is  here  confronted  with  one  of  its 
greatest  problems,  education. 

The  Church  of  Christ  in  India 

How  Christianity  came  to  India. — Tradi¬ 
tion,  which  cannot  be  traced  further  back 
than  the  fourth  century,  holds  that  India 
proved  the  final  goal  for  the  labors  of  St. 
Thomas,  one  of  the  twelve  apostles.  Chris¬ 
tian  missionaries  certainly  reached  India 
before  the  end  of  the  second  century. 

But  India  did  not  begin  to  play  an  im¬ 
portant  part  in  Christian  history  until  the 
opening  of  the  sixteenth  century,  when 
Francis  Xavier  went  out  to  evangelize  the 
Portuguese  colonies  established  there. 
Protestant  Christianity  made  its  appear¬ 
ance  in  India  in  the  eighteenth  century. 

To  William  Carey,  the  translator,  and 
to  Alexander  Duff,  the  educator,  we  owe 
the  leadership  which  has  resulted  in  the 
great  Protestant  efforts  of  the  last  hun¬ 
dred  years. 

The  Mutiny  of  1857  was  a  turning  point 
in  missionary  advance.  Since  then  prog¬ 
ress  has  been  rapid,  and  the  increase  of 
missionary  agencies  remarkable. 


How  the  church  has  grown. — The  growth 
of  the  Christian  church  in  India,  as 
the  chart  on  page  79  shows,  has  been 
almost  unbelievable,  especially  since  the 
beginning  of  the  mass  movements.  The 
Protestant  population  has  increased  from 
198,100  to  more  than  3,000,000  in  the  sixty 
years  between  1860  and  1920.  When  the 
census  of  1911  was  made  public  it  was 
discovered  that  the  number  of  Protestant 
Christians  in  India  was  increasing  almost 
six  times  as  fast  as  the  population ! 

“Roughly  speaking,  it  may  be  stated 
that  the  Indian  Christians  in  the  Indian 
Empire  numbered  one  in  143  in  1890,  one 
in  111  in  1901,  and  one  in  86  in  1911.” 

Today  Christianity  is  growing  faster 
than  any  other  religion  in  India.  During 
the  decade  that  closed  in  1911,  while  the 
population  of  India  increased  by  only  6.5 
per  cent,  and  the  Hindus  by  only  5.1  per 
cent,  the  Moslems  8.1  per  cent,  and  the 
Buddhists  11  per  cent,  the  Christians  in¬ 
creased  by  32.9  per  cent,  and  Protestant 
Christians  by  49.6  per  cent ! 

The  church  in  India  has  grown,  during 
the  second  half  of  its  course,  at  thirty 
times  the  rate  during  the  first  half !  And 
the  calls  today  come  from  hundreds  of 
thousands  of  seekers  who  cannot  be  an¬ 
swered,  because  the  church  at  large  has 
not  yet  taken  to  heart  the  challenge  of  the 
opportunity  God  is  holding  before  it  in 
India. 

The  church  coming  of  age. — The  surest 
evidence  of  the  success  of  this  century  of 
effort,  however,  is  not  to  be  found  in  any 
tabulation  of  accessions,  but  in  the  chang- 


Old  church  on  Mount  St.  Thomas,  Madras 


SOUTHERN  ASIA 


91 


ing  spirit  within  the  Indian  church  itself. 
The  days  of  infancy,  when  leadership 
rested  almost  entirely  in  the  hands  of  the 
“missionary  sahib,”  are  gone.  Even  such 
phrases  as  “native  helpers,”  used  freely 
a  generation  ago,  are  heard  no  longer.  The 
Church  of  Christ  in  India,  of,  by,  and  for 
Indians,  is  coming  of  age. 

It  is  well  that  this  is  so.  Because  we 
have  become  so  accustomed  to  dealing  with 
Christianity  under  Western  forms,  we 
have  been  tempted  to  think  that  those  are 
the  only  forms  in  which  it  can  reveal 
itself.  But  it  is  safe  to  say  that  the  prin¬ 
cipal  opposition  to  Christianity  in  India 
today  comes  from  its  Western  associa¬ 
tions.  India  is  full  of  men  who  read  the 
Christian  scriptures,  who  reverence 
Christ,  who  seek  to  live  in  accordance  with 
the  principles  taught  by  Jesus,  yet  who 
hold  themselves  aloof  from  the  Christian 
church. 

This  puts  plainly  before  Christianity  in 
India  the  necessity  of  showing  that  the 
church  in  that  country  is  to  be  free  to 
mold  its  own  life  and  thought.  In  leader¬ 
ship,  as  well  as  in  membership,  it  must  be 
Indian.  And  in  pointing  the  way  toward 
the  future  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church 
has  an  honorable  part. 

Methodism  in  India 

The  founders. — The  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church  sent  its  first  missionaries  to  India 
in  1856,  in  the  person  of  Dr.  and  Mrs. 
William  Butler.  Since  no  Indian  pastors 
were  ready  immediately  to  carry  the  work 


A  Sunday  school  on  the  Delhi  district 


Angel  monument  at  Cawnpore — Reminder 
of  the  Mutiny 


to  the  people,  the  American  Presbyterian 
mission  offered  the  services  of  the  Rev. 
Joel  T.  Janvier,  who  thus  heads  the  long 
line  of  Indian  Methodist  preachers,  as  Dr. 
Butler’s  name  leads  the  missionaries. 

During  the  Mutiny  of  1857,  the  work 
was  broken  up,  as  was  that  of  all  missions. 
But  as  soon  as  the  storm  passed  Dr.  Butler 
took  possession  of  strategic  points  in  the 
territory  which  Methodism  designed  to 
work.  In  this  he  had  the  support  of  the 
great  pioneers,  James  M.  Thoburn,  E.  W. 
Parker,  J.  W.  Waugh,  and  J.  H.  Messmore. 

The  spread.  —  Dr.  Thoburn  invited 
William  Taylor — Taylor  of  California — to 
come  to  India  to  hold  services  for  the  spir¬ 
itual  uplift  of  the  Indians  in  the  Metho¬ 
dist  territory.  Taylor  came.  Nothing 
much  happened.  Then  the  evangelist  be¬ 
came  convinced  that  he  had  been  called  to 
preach  to  the  English-speaking  communi¬ 
ties  in  the  great  cities  all  over  the  Indian 
empire.  He  went.  In  the  main  his  mes¬ 
sage  was  confined  to  the  Anglo-Indians. 
Nominally  these  were  included  in  the 
Anglican  community.  Actually,  they  were 
almost  entirely  neglected  spiritually.  A 
great  revival  broke  out.  Churches  were 
established  for  the  conservation  of  its 
results.  These  churches  felt  the  responsi¬ 
bility  toward  the  masses  at  their  doors. 


92 


WORLD  SERVICE 


That  is  the  history  of  the  expansion  of 
Methodism  from  the  provinces  of  Oudh 
and  Rohikland  to  borders  of  the  empire 
of  India.  Trace  the  march  of  William 
Taylor,  from  Oudh  to  Bombay,  Hydera¬ 
bad,  Madras,  Calcutta,  Poona,  Bangalore, 
Jubbulpore,  Allahabad,  Asansol,  Cawn- 
pore,  Agra,  A j mere,  Karachi,  Quetta  and 
other  places,  and  you  can  trace  the  outline 
of  the  Methodist  map. 

The  Methodist  community. — The  Metho¬ 
dist  Episcopal  Church  now  has  in  India  a 
Christian  community  embracing  405,562 
persons.  This  is  more  than  is  reported 
from  all  the  other  foreign  mission  fields  of 
the  church  combined ! 

The  increasing  power  of  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church  in  India  can  be  some¬ 
what  gauged  from  reflection  that,  in  its 


first  thirty-three  years,  it  enrolled  approx¬ 
imately  13,000  adherents;  in  the  second 
thirty-three  years  it  won  392,000  others! 


SOUTHERN  ASIA 


93 


Varieties  of  missionary  work. — The  work 
has  been  as  varied  as  any  missionary  work 
in  the  world.  There  has  been  'preaching, 
such  as  must  always  constitute  the  back¬ 
bone  of  missionary  effort.  When  preach¬ 
ing  has  led  to  interest,  as  in  the  case  of 
the  outcastes,  training  classes  for  village 
leaders  (chaudris)  have  been  formed,  in 
which,  by  intensive  instruction,  the  prin¬ 
ciple  of  geometrical  progression  might 
be  employed,  namely,  one  missionary  in¬ 
structs  one  chaudri ;  one  chaudri  instructs 
a  hundred  villagers! 

From  the  beginning  education  has  been 
featured.  The  Methodist  Episcopal  Church 
has  today  in  India  1,513  schools  of  all 
grades,  with  43,140  pupils.  Lord  Reading, 
viceroy,  sent  a  message  in  1922  to  be  read 
at  the  annual  meeting  of  the  executive 
board  of  our  church,  in  which  he  said: 
“Every  administrator  in  India  must  ac¬ 
knowledge  that  the  educational  system 
of  India  was  created  and  developed  by 


A  wayside  sermon 


missionaries;  that  many  of  the  reform 
movements  in  society  and  government 
today  have  been  brought  to  pass  by  mis¬ 
sionaries;  that  the  human  contacts  of  one 
color  and  race  to  another  color  and  race 
which  are  creating  a  new  India  were  the 
direct  result  of  the  preaching  and  practice 
of  the  brotherhood  of  man  by  the  mission¬ 
aries.” 

High  on  the  list  of  the  great  achieve¬ 
ments  must  be  put  the  opening  of  higher 
education  to  the  ivomen  of  India  by  the 
Woman’s  Foreign  Missionary  Society  of 


These  three  patriarchs,  members  of  the  North 
India  Conference,  retired  in  1916  after 
serving  an  aggregate  of  150  years 


the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  working 
through  Isabella  Thoburn. 

The  first  press,  set  to  work  in  1860,  was 
no  more  than  a  child’s  toy,  but  it  started 
that  stream  of  literature  in  twelve  lan¬ 
guages  that  now  pour  out  in  an  unceasing 
flood  from  the  publishing  houses  in 
Madras  and  Lucknow. 


Indian  delegates  to  General  Conference  of  1920 


94 


WORLD  SERVICE 


Colporteur  selling  Bibles  at  railway 
station,  India 


The  medical  missionary,  although  handi¬ 
capped  by  lack  of  adequate  equipment, 
has  always  been  a  “missionary  and  half,” 
able  to  establish  contacts  in  the  face  of 
prejudice  and  often  to  penetrate  where  no 
other  type  of  Christian  worker  can  go. 
Particularly  has  this  been  true  in  the  case 
of  women  physicians. 

There  have  been  missionaries  who  have 
sought  to  improve  agricultural  methods, 
and  lift  the  people  from  their  poverty. 
Others  have  introduced  new  industrial 
processes.  Others  have  conducted  co¬ 
operative  loan  associations,  to  rescue  the 
villagers  from  the  rapacity  of  the  native 
money  lender.  Men  have  never  hesitated 
to  undertake  any  kind  of  work  that  of¬ 
fered  hope  of  breaking  the  power  of 
superstition,  ignorance,  disease. 

So  the  work  has  grown.  The  mass 
movements  have  come  among  the  untouch¬ 
ables  and  given  the  Methodist  Church  an 
additional  responsibility  for  the  spiritual 
care  of  6,000,000  people. 

Work  among  the  outcastes.  —  It  was 
almost  the  last  decade  of  the  nineteenth 
century  before  unusual  results  began  to 
attend  this  increased  work.  But  during 
the  ’80s  the  Protestant  missions  began 
to  make  their  first  determined  approach 
to  the  submerged  outcastes.  A  fear  of 
losing  touch  with  the  majority  in  the  castes 


had,  before  that,  deterred  most  of  the  mis¬ 
sions  from  work  among  the  pariahs. 

That  fear  has  proved  unfounded.  Not 
only  have  the  outcastes  responded  in  enor¬ 
mous  masses  to  a  message  which  offers 
them  a  right  to  stand  on  their  feet  as 
equals  of  all  the  other  sons  of  the  Heav¬ 
enly  Father,  but  even  the  Hindu  recog¬ 
nizes  as  valid  the  obligation  which  the 
gospel  lays  upon  us  to  preach  to  the  out- 
caste  and  honors  the  ideals  of  the  Chris¬ 
tian  faith.  Practically  every  reform 
movement  within  Hinduism  today,  and 
they  are  numerous,  places  the  overthrow 
of  the  rigid  caste  system  within  its  pro¬ 
gram. 

The  movement  toward  Christianity  has 
affected  several  million  of  the  55,000,000 
outcastes.  It  might  have  reached  the 
whole  group  had  not  the  missions,  from 
the  beginning,  feared  that  disaster  might 
come  from  receiving  into  Christian  mem¬ 
bership  more  seekers  than  could  be  ad¬ 
equately  instructed.  Roman  Catholicism 
has  had  much  experience  with  so-called 
mass  conversions,  not  always  happy.  Prot¬ 
estantism  has  stood  for  the  necessity  of 
each  soul  winning  a  spiritual  experience 
of  its  own.  The  effort  to  satisfy  the  de¬ 
sires  of  these  millions  of  Indians,  awak¬ 
ened  by  Christian  preaching,  yet  to  safe¬ 
guard  the  church  from  illiteracy,  religious 
unpreparedness,  or  wrong  motives,  has 
taxed  the  highest  wisdom  of  the  missions. 

In  the  footsteps  of  Isabella  Thoburn. — 
India  will  always  hold  a  treasured  place 
in  the  hearts  of  all  members  of  the  Wom¬ 
an’s  Foreign  Missionary  Society,  for  it 


Methodist  Publishing  House,  Lucknow 


SOUTHERN  ASIA 


95 


was  there  that  Methodism’s  great  pioneer 
in  educational  missions  for  women, 
Isabella  Thoburn,  set  up  that  magnificent 
school  which,  as  the  Isabella  Thoburn  Col¬ 
lege,  is  now  in  effect  the  women’s  college 
of  Lucknow  University.  Mrs.  Parker,  the 
widow  of  Bishop  Parker,  is  today  one  of 
the  few  surviving  founders  of  the  Wom¬ 
an’s  Foreign  Missionary  Society,  and  lives 
in  the  midst  of  the  work  whose  marvelous 
growth  has  come  before  her  eyes. 

In  this  volume  there  is  not  room  to  de¬ 
scribe  the  work  of  the  Woman’s  Foreign 
Missionary  Society  in  India  as  distinct 
from  that  of  the  E^ard  of  Foreign  Mis¬ 
sions.  Nor,  in  thinking  of  Indian  Meth¬ 
odism,  should  there  be  any  distinction 
made.  Missionaries  of  the  two  societies 
work  side  by  side,  bearing  their  appropri¬ 
ate  parts  in  a  single  program. 

The  efforts  of  the  Woman’s  Foreign 
Missionary  Society  have  been  of  particu¬ 
lar  importance  in  India  because  of  the 
rigid  seclusion  in  which  many  of  India’s 
women  have  lived.  Women  have  gone 
with  the  gospel  where  no  man  could  ever 
have  penetrated.  Women  educators  have 
broken  down  prejudice  to  the  point  where 
large  student  bodies  of  girls  have  been 
gathered.  Women  physicians  have  brought 
healing  and  given  birth  to  confidence 
within  many  a  rigidly  guarded  zenana. 

No  picture  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church  in  India  is  complete  that  does  not 


Isabella  Thoburn  College,  Lucknow 


A  student  in  Isabella  Thoburn  College 

give  large  place  to  this  work  conducted  by 
the  Woman’s  Foreign  Missionary  Society. 

India  and  the  Centenary 
What  the  Centenary  proposed. — In  1916, 
the  church,  about  to  celebrate  its  Mis¬ 
sionary  Centenary,  asked  India  what  it 
needed  to  carry  its  work  to  the  goals  then 
in  view.  It  will  be  remembered  that  India, 
estimating  for  five  years,  on  the  basis  of 
conditions  as  they  were  in  1916,  asked: 

For  the  maintenance  of  the 
work  then  in  existence,  in¬ 
cluding  the  support  of  the 
235  missionaries  and  the  6,435 
Indian  workers  . $2,552,000 

For  the  building  of  275  new 
churches,  100  new  schools, 

450  houses  for  pastors,  1,000 
houses  for  teachers,  45  houses 
for  missionaries  . $2,800,682 

For  the  endowment  of  insti¬ 
tutions  . $1,183,500 

For  the  support  of  98  new  mis¬ 
sionaries  and  2,364  new  In¬ 
dian  workers  . $1,594,140 


A  total  of  .  $8,130,322 


96 


WORLD  SERVICE 


Of  this,  of  course,  only  the  last  three 
items  (totaling  $5,578,322)  could  be  re¬ 
garded  as  carrying  out  the  purposes  of 
advance  that  underlay  the  Centenary. 

It  was  a  critical  moment  when  the  Cen¬ 
tenary  laid  out  this  program  for  India. 
Methodism  entered  that  land  just  as  the 
storm  of  the  Mutiny  broke.  It  planned 
this  advance  just  as  the  storm  of  the 
World  War,  with  its  ensuing  storm  of 
nationalistic  agitation,  swept  the  country 
into  a  new  age. 

No  man  will  contend  that  the  Cente¬ 
nary  program,  as  outlined  above,  was  ad¬ 
equate  to  the  need,  even  in  1916.  But  it 
surely  was  providential  in  saving  the  work 
of  the  church  to  an  effort  equal  to  that  of 
the  past.  All  the  factors  of  increasing 
cost  that  were  felt  in  other  lands  operated 
in  India.  The  budget  that  was  expected  to 
keep  the  work  begun  prior  to  1916  in 
operation  would,  unincreased,  hardly  have 
sufficed  to  keep  half  the  work  going.  Fear¬ 
ful  retreat  must  have  occurred,  had  it  not 
been  for  the  enlarged  support  made  possi¬ 
ble  by  the  Centenary. 

What  the  Centenary  Has  Accom¬ 
plished 

New  missionaries. — Since  the  beginning 
of  the  Centenary  period,  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church  has  sent  ninety-one  new 
missionaries  to  India  and  Burma.  Eleven 
of  these  went  to  Burma ;  one  to  India  as 
an  agricultural  missionary,  three  were 
nurses. 

The  estimated  need  for  new  mission¬ 
aries  for  India  from  1918  to  1922,  as  an- 


An  Indian  congregation  at  worship 


nounced  in  the  Centenary  surveys  was 
ninety-eight.  Additional  vacancies  have 
of  course  occurred  from  deaths  and  re¬ 
tirements,  and  later  estimates  of  require¬ 
ments  indicate  greater  need  of  workers 
than  appeared  in  1918,  but  the  fact  re¬ 
mains  that  the  ninety-one  new  missiona¬ 
ries  have  gone  a  long  way  toward  meeting 
the  estimated  personnel  needs  of  India  and 
Burma. 

Increasing  the  Indian  staff. — The  original 
Centenary  surveys  estimated  that  2,364 


THOUSANDS 


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01 _ 1 — :Slies^"atic — t _ i - 

1850  1880  1870  1880  1890  1900  1910  1920  1930 

Chart  showing  increase  in  membership  in  India 


additions  to  the  Indian  staff  would  be  re¬ 
quired  by  the  end  of  1922.  Statistics  com¬ 
piled  by  the  Board  of  Foreign  Missions 
show  that  the  number  of  Indian  workers — 
pastors,  teachers  and  hospital  aids — in 
1922  was  8,542,  an  increase  of  2,107  over 
the  1918  figures.  This  figure  shows  an  in¬ 
crease  of  thirty-three  per  cent  in  the  In¬ 
dian  staff  in  four  years,  the  greatest 
advance  made  in  Methodist  activity  in 
India  in  any  four  years  of  our  mission 
work. 

An  increase  in  support. — In  1918  the 
total  amount  available  for  Methodist  mis¬ 
sionary  work  in  India  (exclusive  of  the 
Woman’s  Foreign  Missionary  Society) 
was  $508,581.  The  amount  for  1922,  due 
to  the  Centenary  campaign,  increased  to 
$873,774 — a  gain  of  seventy-three  per 
cent. 


SOUTHERN  ASIA 


9  7 


This  is  the  first  building  put  up  in  India 
with  Centenary  money 


New  buildings. — While  Centenary  ask¬ 
ings  have  almost  been  reached  in  the  mat¬ 
ter  of  staff,  the  building  program  has  not 
been  so  fortunate.  But,  despite  all,  a 
great  advance  in  the  number  of  new 
schools  and  churches  is  registered.  Every 
district  of  every  conference  has  new 
buildings  made  possible  in  part  by  Cen¬ 
tenary  funds.  Many  are  fine  brick  and 
stone  structures;  others  are  not  so  pre¬ 
tentious. 

In  the  Calcutta  Area. — Reports  reaching 
the  Board  of  Foreign  Missions  show  new 
church  buildings  or  new  properties  built 
or  acquired  during  the  years  1919,  1920 
and  1921,  at  the  following  centers  of  mis¬ 
sionary  work  in  the  Indian  portion  of  the 
Calcutta  Area:  Sarakdihi  and  Jhanjra; 
while  Hindustani  churches  have  been  or¬ 
ganized  in  Calcutta  and  Gomoh,  and  new 
circuits  have  been  organized  at  Barakar, 
Hirapur,  Murulia,  Rampur,  and  Badilpur. 

In  the  Bombay  Area. — There  are  new 
churches  built  or  properties  purchased  at : 
Umerkhed,  Tentukhora,  Barman,  Katangi, 
Khirala,  Emidpur,  Golkhera,  Jeswara, 
Roshnai,  Harsood,  Purina,  Dabi,  Ran¬ 
goon,  Mokalgaon,  Kandri  Camp,  Kar- 
wari,  Balaghat,  Warraseoni,  Lamta,  Lanji, 
Jubbulpore,  Sadar  Church  (Jubbulpore) , 
Pachmari,  Gaulkera,  Mundi,  Gandar, 
Patan,  Gundardehi — all  in  the  Central 
Provinces  Conference;  and  at  Purma, 
Bombay,  and  Colaba  in  the  Bombay  Con¬ 
ference.  Property  has  been  purchased 
in  the  heart  of  the  city  of  Bombay  for 


twin  churches  which  are  planned  to  ac¬ 
commodate  congregations  holding  services 
in  four  separate  languages. 

Bombay  Conference  reports  also  forty 
new  Sunday  schools  opened,  with  a  new 
“Mission  to  Servants”  among  the  Gujera- 
tis  at  Colaba.  In  the  newly  organized 
Gujarat  Conference  mission  work  has 
been  extended  into  the  Bheel  country  with 
a  station  in  Bari,  capital  city  of  Bari 
State,  and  also  in  Shera  and  Lunawada. 
New  mission  stations  have  been  opened  at 
Risol,  Kalmanuri,  Doripuri,  Ichapur,  and 
Pavar. 

In  the  Lucknow  Area.  —  From  Tirhut 
District,  North  India  Conference,  comes 
word  of  new  work  opened  up  among  the 
Mallah,  Koori,  Dusadh,  Dom,  Sweeper, 
Chamar,  Murwari,  Khatri,  Baniya,  and 
Brahman  castes,  and  among  the  Moham¬ 
medans.  The  Northwest  India  Confer¬ 
ence  reported  23,800  baptisms  in  a  single 
year  of  the  Centenary  period.  A  church 
and  school  have  been  taken  over  from  a 
British  society  at  Ahrura.  Mission  sta¬ 
tions,  including  church  and  school  build¬ 
ings,  have  been  taken  over  from  German 
societies  now  forbidden  to  operate  in 
India,  at  Baxar,  Dehri-on  Sone,  Dare- 
hanga,  Muriaro,  and  Samastipur.  Eleven 
new  circuits  have  been  organized  in  Luck¬ 
now  Area  and  four  circuit  center  build¬ 
ings  have  been  erected. 

New  church  buildings  have  been  erected 
on  properties  purchased  at  the  follow¬ 
ing  centers  in  Lucknow  Area :  Delhi, 


Products  of  the  Blackstone  Missionary 
Institute  and  Training  School,  Muttra 


98 


WORLD  SERVICE 


One  of  the  buildings  of  Lucknow  Christian  College 


Pagain,  Sassaram,  Jagdishpur,  Nurpur, 
Bijnor,  Gonda,  Pali,  Bhim  Tal,  Bairagnia, 
Muzzaffarnagar,  Ahraura,  Cawnpore, 
Nanpara,  Samastipur,  Sitamarhki,  Hiya- 
Ghat,  Sonepat,  Purwa,  and  Fursatgunj ; 
while  Ramni,  Nandpryag,  and  Lands- 
downe  have  been  reoccupied,  and  new  sta¬ 
tions  have  been  opened  at  Rountella, 
Panani,  Karnpryag,  Pitagarh,  Ranikshet, 
and  Katiyari. 

There  are  more  than  1,000,000  people 
living  in  the  native  state  of  Bhawalpore, 
adjoining  the  Northwest  India  Confer¬ 
ence.  In  1920  the  Methodist  Church  was 
enabled  to  enter  this  territory  with  the 
Christian  message;  it  promises  to  be  a 
fruitful  field. 

The  report  of  the  Board  of  Foreign 
Missions  for  1921  shows  ownership  of  176 
more  parsonages  and  missionary  homes 
than  in  1918.  Some  of  these  have  been 
built,  others  have  been  purchased ;  some 
are  modern  homes,  others  are  little  more 
than  mud  houses. 

Training  Christian  workers. — One  of  the 
important  features  of  the  advance  made 
possible  in  Methodist  missionary  endeavor 
in  India  by  the  Centenary  is  the  organiza¬ 
tion  of  a  number  of  new  training  schools 
for  district  workers,  and  the  erection  of 
several  buildings  for  such  schools.  A 


training  school  has  been  opened  in  Jag- 
dalpur  for  young  men  speaking  the  Oriya 
language — the  first  school  of  its  kind  in 
that  tongue;  there  are  twenty  men  en¬ 
rolled.  The  Bible  Training  School  at 
Kolar  has  been  reopened. 

From  1919  to  1921  the  new  buildings 
were  erected  for  the  training  schools  at 
Narsingpet,  Bidar,  Pani,  Sonepat,  and 
Lahore;  while  new  training  schools  have 
been  organized  at  Quetta,  Sambhal,  Ali¬ 
garh  and  Gonda. 

Lucknow  Christian  College. — Fifty  thou¬ 
sand  dollars  of  Centenary  money  appro¬ 
priated  by  the  Board  of  Foreign  Missions, 
has  made  it  possible  for  Lucknow  Chris¬ 
tian  College  to  accept  a  grant  of  $103,000 
from  the  British  government,  and  pur¬ 
chase  new  property,  erect  four  new  build¬ 
ings  and  develop  the  institution  as  the 
highest  ranking  Methodist  college  in  India. 
Lucknow  Christian  College  is  now  an  out¬ 
standing  memorial  to  Methodist  missions; 
it  enrols  700  of  the  most  promising  boys 
and  young  men  of  the  land. 

Other  schools. — New  buildings  have  also 
been  erected  in  connection  with  the  Phil¬ 
ander  Smith  College  at  Naini  Tal,  the 
Anglo-Vernacular  School  in  Trwante,  Col¬ 
lins  Institute  in  Calcutta,  the  Godhra 
Boys’  School,  the  Poona  Marathani  High 


SOUTHERN  ASIA 


99 


School,  the  Narsinghpur  High  School,  the 
Boys’  School  at  Bidar,  the  Pauri  High 
School,  the  Parker  Memorial  High  School 
at  Moradabad,  the  Hardoi  Boys’  School, 
the  Lahore  Boys’  School. 

New  sites  have  been  secured  or  build¬ 
ings  purchased  or  erected  for  schools  in 
Gomak,  Suri,  Asansol,  Baroda  (high 
school),  Barman,  Baihar,  Katangi,  Ten- 
chukhera,  Burgi,  Jubbulpore,  Sitapur, 
Than,  Paidol,  Ramni,  Muzaffarpur,  Bom¬ 
bay  (high  school),  Hagain,  Rudrapryag, 
Pipli  and  Kotdwara,  Cawnpore. 

A  demonstration  farm  and  school  is 
now  in  operation  in  Pakaur,  one  among 
the  families  of  the  fireclay  and  brick  work¬ 
ers  at  Rumarduli  and  Chauch,  a  Boys’ 
Boarding  School  in  Tamluk,  a  boarding 
school  at  Wari  Bunder  for  boys  speaking 
the  Gujerati  tongue,  an  Anglo-Vernacular 
School  at  Ranikhet,  and  other  new  schools 
in  Umerkhad  and  Hyderabad. 

The  old  thatched  bungalow  that  for¬ 
merly  served  the  Thoburn  Biblical  Insti¬ 
tute  has  been  replaced  by  a  brick  structure, 
and  additional  land  has  been  purchased 
for  the  compound.  At  the  boarding  school 
in  Bidar  departments  in  the  Telegu  and  in 
the  Urdu  tongues  were  organized  in  1920. 

In  addition  to  these  schools — which  do 
not  include  those  opened  or  built  during 
1922 — a  large  number  of  primary  schools 
and  kindergarten  classes  have  been  or¬ 
ganized  in  every  district  of  every  confer¬ 
ence.  No  adequate  statistics  of  these 
schools  are  available,  but  partial  reports 


Children’s  ward  in  the  Mrs.  William  Butler 
Hospital,  Baroda 


Teaching  Indian  lads  how  to  use  modern  farm 
implements — Industrial  Farm,  Pakaur 


for  single  years  show  such  increases  as 
nine  on  Ahmedabad  District,  twelve  on 
Baroda  District,  twelve  on  Gokak  Dis¬ 
trict,  two  on  Madras  District,  twelve  on 
Roorkee  district. 

A  broadening  medical  ministry. — Near 
Ajmere,  in  the  Indus  River  Conference, 
forty-five  acres  of  land  have  been  pur¬ 
chased  for  a  tuberculosis  sanitarium, 
which  is  being  rapidly  developed.  Thirty- 
three  suites  of  rooms  have  been  added  to 
the  Thoburn  Memorial  Hospital,  Nadiad. 
The  sanitarium  at  Pachmari  has  been  en¬ 
larged;  two  buildings  have  been  added  to 
the  sanitarium  at  Kalow.  The  hospital  at 
Bidar  has  been  reopened,  and  a  doctor  ap¬ 
pointed  to  conduct  it.  The  first  of  a  series 
of  dispensaries  has  been  opened  in  Cal¬ 
cutta.  On  the  Lucknow  Area,  the  Leper 
Asylum  formerly  conducted  by  the  Ger¬ 
man  Mission  at  Muzaffarpur  has  been 
taken  over,  and  the  Leper  Home  at  Roor¬ 
kee.  A  small  hospital  building  has  been 
erected  at  Bijnor  and  a  new  orphanage 
opened  at  Hissar. 

Total  property  increases. — Due  in  part  to 
new  buildings  and  improved  properties 
made  possible  by  the  Centenary  and  in 
part  to  normal  increases  in  value,  it  is  es¬ 
timated  that  property  owned  by  the  Meth- 


100 


WORLD  SERVICE 


odist  Episcopal  Church  in  India  is  worth 
$1,153,717  more  today  than  it  was  in  1918. 

India’s  Response  to  the  Centenary 
Even  more  important  has  been  the  re¬ 
flex  action  of  the  Centenary  on  the  church 
in  India.  The  church  was  alive  before 
1916  in  that  country;  now  it  is  aflame.  A 
great  Centenary  movement  burst  out 


Indigenous  leadership  must  win  India  to  Christ 


among  Indian  Christians,  which  has  been 
carried  down  to  every  charge  and  resulted 
in  the  adoption  of  a  church-wide  program 
having  as  its  goals: 

Evangelistic. — Doubling  the  number  of 
full  members. 

Reaching  a  Sunday  school  enrolment  of 
a  quarter  of  a  million. 

Doubling  the  number  of  workers  receiv¬ 
ing  instruction  in  theological  and  Bible- 
training  schools. 

Reaching  a  baptized  Methodist  commu¬ 
nity  of  half  a  million. 


Pinning  a  Centenary  badge  on  a  contributor 


Enrolling  5,000  chaudris  to  give  Chris¬ 
tian  instruction  to  their  villages. 

Enrolling  a  time  legion  of  10,000  per¬ 
sons,  each  pledged  to  give  a  minimum  of 
two  hours  of  voluntary  evangelistic  service 
every  week. 

Educational. — Making  the  entire  teach¬ 
ing  staff  of  all  mission  schools  Christian. 

Tripling  the  number  of  Christian  stu¬ 
dents  studying  in  mission  colleges  and  high 
schools. 

Establishing  500  additional  village  pri¬ 
mary  schools,  and  doubling  the  attendance 
of  Christian  children. 

Making  each  middle  school  a  recruiting 
ground  for  higher  education. 

Making  each  high  school  and  college  a 
recruiting  ground  for  Christian  service. 

A  growing  church. — While  definite  re¬ 
ports  for  only  three  years  of  the  Cen¬ 
tenary  period  are  now  available,  it  is 
shown  that  already  there  has  been  an  addi¬ 
tion  of  34,232  members  to  the  church  roll, 


The  missionary  talking  in  a  mohulla,  Agr? 


SOUTHERN  ASIA 


101 


44,629  to  the  number  of  Sunday-school 
pupils,  and  2,000  to  the  enrolment  in 
schools  of  all  grades.  The  number  of 
Sunday  schools  has  already  increased  by 
697  over  that  at  the  opening  of  the  Cen¬ 
tenary  period. 

An  indigenous  power. — Under  the  inspi¬ 
ration  of  the  Centenary  the  Methodist 
Conferences  of  India 
have  organized  a 
Board  of  Home  and 
Foreign  Missions 
which  is  laying  plans 
for  the  evangeliza¬ 
tion  of  a  hitherto  un¬ 
touched  field  lying 
between  Allahabad 
and  Jubbulpore.  This 
work  will  be  entirely 
supported  by  the 
church  in  India. 

Great  devotion  has 
also  been  shown  in 
the  increase  in  con¬ 
tributions  f  r  o  m 
$159,699  in  1918  to 
$257,679  in  1921. 

This  increase  is  equal 
to  93,940  rupees. 

Since  one  rupee  is  a 
day’s  wage  for  the 
average  Indian  Chris-  ,  , , 

, .  ,  i  •  .  bong  service  led  by  an 

tian,  this  increase  in 

giving  represents  on  the  part  of  Indian 
Methodists  about  what  would  be  repre¬ 
sented  by  an  advance  of  $1,469,700  by  a 
similar  number  of  American  workmen,  "fig¬ 
uring  the  average  wage  of  the  American 
at  five  dollars  per  day. 

This  showing  is  the  more  remarkable  in 
view  of  the  fact  that  it  has  taken  place 
during  a  period  marked  by  great  unrest, 
and  while  an  epidemic  that  carried  off 
thousands  of  church  members  held  the  in¬ 
crease  in  the  total  population  of  India  to 
one  and  two-tenths  per  cent  during  the 
decade  closing  in  1921. 


thought  are  in  flux,  and  in  every  depart¬ 
ment  of  effort  we  are  passing  through  a 
period  of  transition.  All  are  thinking,  not 
of  the  India  that  is,  but  of  the  India  to  be. 
What  is  to  be  is  not  yet  evident.  One  thing 
is  clear  and  sure — she  is  not  what  she 
always  has  been.  India’s  greater  future 
has  already  begun.  She  has  taken  a  new 

direction,  but  her 
goal  is  not  yet  in 
view. 

“The  coming  of 
new  inventions  and 
progressive  ideas  will 
not  of  itself  help 
India  in  its  search 
for  spiritual  truth. 
One  may  move  on¬ 
ward  without  going 
upward.  A  nation 
may  easily  take  on 
the  veneer  of  civili¬ 
zation  and  yet  re¬ 
main  pagan  or  be¬ 
come  agnostic  and 
atheistic  at  heart. 
Modern  civilization 
has  desperate  wick¬ 
edness,  as  well  as 
vital  truths,  bound 
up  with  it,  and  unless 
India  gets  the  truth 
and  light,  plus  the 
source  of  all  truth,  she  will  not  have  life. 
Automobiles  and  linotypes  cannot  save 
India.  Christ  can.  For  him  India  is 
hungry. 

“Christ  alone  avails  for  India.  India’s 
destiny  demands  him.  It  is  not  a  question 
of  Krishna  or  Christ ;  it  is  not  a  question 
of  Mohammed  or  Christ.  It  is  just  Christ. 
He  fills  the  horizon.”  ( India,  Making  and 
Forsaking  Gods,  pp.  1,  2,  9.) 

India’s  call. — Here,  then,  is  the  situation 
the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  faces  in 
India : 


old  pastor,  Allahabad 


India  and  Christ — Now! 

Hark  to  the  words  that  come  from  In¬ 
dia  today.  “The  future  of  India  was 
never  so  uncertain  as  today.  Life  and 


A  land  torn  by  conflicting  forces  of  such 
power  that  a  new  destiny  is  inevitable; 
with  old  faiths,  old  customs,  old  stand¬ 
ards  losing  their  authority;  with  multi¬ 
tudes  looking  for  new  light,  new  leaders ; 


102 


WORLD  SERVICE 


with  an  issue  that  cannot  remain  un- 

The  immediate  need. — In  view  of  this  sit- 

settled  longer;  with  forces  inadequate, 

uation  the 

Methodist  Episcopal  Church 

equipment  inadequate;  yet  with  determi- 

has  stated  ; 

as  its  program 

in  India  for 

nation  and  faith. 

1925: 

Missionary  Staff  is  required  on  these  lines: 

Evangelistic  Work  . . . 

. 80  Couples 

1  Single 

Educational  Work  . . 

. .89  Couples 

8  Single 

Medical  Work  . . . . 

. . 14  Couples 

4  Single 

Other  Work  . 

. 20  Couples 

0  Single 

203 

13 

$500,100 

Work  Operations  will  be  conducted  on  the  following  lines: 
Church  Work  from  2,447  Centers . 

349,528 

685  Village  Schools  . . . 

. . . ..$  50,915 

63  Boarding  Schools  . - . 

.  151,074 

19  High  Schools  . 

. .  50,314 

34  Training  and  Theol.  Schools . 

.  66,901 

1  College  . 

.  20,500 

17  Other  Educational  Operations . . 

 61,670 

401,374 

9  Hospitals  . 

. $  21,301 

8  Dispensaries  . - . . . . .. 

.  4,668 

25,969 

Other  and  General  Operations  in  10  Con 

ferences . 

96,730 

Property  Projects  to  make  possible  the  following : 

5  City  Churches  . . . 

. . . $117,856 

$873,601 

4  Smaller  Churches  . 

. .  11,450 

36  Workers’  Quarters  . 

.  55,016 

28  Circuit  Centers  . . . 

. . .  42,245 

Other  Projects  . 

17,145 

$243,714 

5  Village  School  Buildings  . 

. . .  3,300 

25  Boarding  School  Buildings  . 

. . .  92,937 

10  High  School  Buildings  . 

. . .  81,000 

2  Colleges  . 

. . .  83,200 

13  Theological  or  Training  School...... . 

. . . .  143,300 

5  Other  Projects  . 

. .  33,200 

435,937 

4  Hospital  Projects  . - . - . 

70,075 

36  Missionary  Bungalows  . . . 

280,650 

Other  and  General  Projects . 

61,100 

Total  Program  (India) . 

$1,091,476 

$2,465,177 

I 


SOUTHERN  ASIA 


103 


BURMA 


On  the  Road  to  Mandalay 

Another  melting  pot.— Although  a  part 
of  the  Indian  Empire,  Burma  is  so  dis¬ 
tinct  a  land,  racially,  religiously,  and  so¬ 
cially,  that  it  seems  wise  to  treat  it  by 
itself.  But  Burma’s  distinctiveness  is  grad¬ 
ually  disappearing  before  a  rush  of 
immigration  much  like  that  into  Malaysia. 

Burma  is  larger  than  Japan  or  Texas. 
Its  population  is  about  twice  'that  of  Illi¬ 
nois.  The  native  population  is  made  up 
of  7,600,000  Burmans,  996,000  Shans, 
919,000  Karens,  with  Talaings,  Chins  and 
Kachins  in  lesser  number.  To  these,  how¬ 
ever,  must  now  be  added  600,000  Indians, 
108,000  Chinese,  and  24,000  Europeans. 
And  the  flow  of  immigration  has  just 
started. 

Burma’s  wealth.  —  Such  immigration 
suggests  wealth.  Burma  offers  easy  for¬ 
tune  to  many.  Famines  are  unknown. 
Crops  are  plentiful,  with  a  rice  surplus 
that  makes  possible  an  export  to  India  and 
Europe  of  2,750,000  tons  a  year.  The 
forester  finds  wealth  in  teak.  The  mining 
engineer  is  beginning  to  develop  the  silver, 
copper,  lead,  iron,  antimony,  bismuth,  tin, 
nitrates,  salt  and  coal  de¬ 
posits. 

Oil  is  becoming  an  im¬ 
portant  factor  in  Burmese 
affairs.  Wells  have  already 
been  drilled  that  produce 
275,000,000  gallons  a 
year.  American  drillers 
and  production  men  are 
employed  in  large  num¬ 
bers  in  the  development 
of  this  industry.  The  pres¬ 
ence  of  their  families  adds 
an  unusual  factor  to  the 
complicated  racial  prob¬ 
lem  presented  by  Burma. 

Religion  in  Burma. — To 
some  extent  Burma  is 
being  stirred  by  the  same 
political  unrest  that  marks 
the  rest  of  British  India. 


There  is  the  same  revolt  against  a  rule 
that  leaves  slight  room  for  native  respon¬ 
sibility.  This  has  been  most  manifest  in 
the  agitation  against  government-con¬ 
trolled  schools. 

But  it  is  as  a  religious  problem  that 
Burma  challenges  the  Christian  church. 
A  field  for  Protestant  effort  ever  since  the 
advent  of  Adoniram  Judsop  in  1813,  and 
for  Catholic  workers  for  200  years  be¬ 
fore  that,  Burma  remains  a  land  in  which 
but  slight  impression  has  been  made. 

To  be  sure,  the  census  of  1921  shows 
that,  out  of  a  population  of  13,169,099, 
there  are  257,107  Christians.  But  of  these 
178,225  are  Karens,  a  primitive  tribe  with 
Mongolian  antecedents.  Only  15,381  are 
Burmans. 

The  Burman  is  still  securely  held  by 
Buddhism.  And  although  Buddhism  in 
Burma  has  its  shortcomings,  it  must  be 
admitted  that  it  has  resulted  in  a  higher 
degree  of  literacy  than  in  any  other  part 
of  the  Buddhist  world,  with  a  greater  free¬ 
dom  for  women. 

“When  Christianity  faces  Burmese 
Buddhism,  it  faces  one  of  the  best  speci- 


Burma  is  pagoda-land 


104 


WORLD  SERVICE 


mens  of  non-Christian  religion  that  the 
world  affords.  The  more  significant, 
therefore,  is  the  increasing  response  to  the 
Christian  message.” 

Burmese  Methodism 

Centers  of  occupation.  —  Theoretically, 
the  field  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church  covers  all  Burma.  Actually,  the 
centers  from  which  Methodist  work  is 
being  conducted  can  be  seen  by  reference 
to  the  map  on  page  76. 

James  M.  Thoburn,  as  presiding  elder, 
and  John  E.  Robinson,  as  a  pastor,  began 
the  Methodist  work  in  Burma  in  Rangoon 
forty-three  years  ago.  Their  first  inter¬ 
est  was  in  the  welfare  of  the  Methodists 
who  had  come  into  the  new  British  colony 
from  India.  Gradually,  however,  the  work 
broadened  until  it  touched  many  groups. 

Rangoon  is  still  the  center  in  which  the 
largest  congregations  and  Methodist  insti¬ 
tutions  are  to  be  found.  As  the  capital 
and  leading  city,  this  is  inevitable.  Fifty- 
five  miles  north  of  Rangoon,  on  the  (rail¬ 
road  to  Mandalay,  is  Pegu,  a  center  for  a 
village  work  among  at  least  half  a  million 
people. 

At  Thongwa  it  is  proposed  to  develop 
the  center  in  which  Christian  workers, 
both  men  and  women,  shall  be  trained. 
Another  village  population  can  be  reached 
from  this  city.  Syriam  is  an  oil  center, 
with  the  industrial  challenge  that  Chris¬ 
tianity  is  having  to  meet  in  so  many  parts 
of  the  world  today. 


Boy  Scouts,  Methodist  Boys’  High  School, 
Rangoon 


The  farthest  station  north  of  Rangoon 
is  Thandaung,  where  the  Woman’s  For¬ 
eign  Missionary  Society  has  one  of  its 
best  schools.  And  350  miles  south  of 
Rangoon  is  the  newest  station,  the  seaport 
of  Mergui,  where  a  Chinese  congregation 
has  already  been  gathered.  The  city  is 
100  miles  from  the  nearest  mission  sta¬ 
tion  of  any  Protestant  denomination. 

Working  by  races. — The  Burma  Mission 
Conference  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church  is  organized  not  geographically, 
but  racially.  That  fact  in  itself  gives  an 
insight  into  the  religious  problem  of 
Burma. 

The  Burmese  district  deals  with  the 
work  among  Burmans.  This  work  is  grow¬ 
ing  as  never  in  the  past.  The  annual  in¬ 
crease  in  church  membership  is  now 
about  fifteen  per  cent,  while  the  school 
enrolment,  despite  political  disorders,  is 
1,200.  With  provision  for  adequate  train¬ 
ing  for  Christian  workers,  this  feature  of 
the  work  in  Burma  is  bound  to  assume  in¬ 
creasing  importance. 

The  Indian  work  finds  its  support 
largely  from  Christians  who  come  into  the 
country  as  immigrants.  Most  of  these  are 
manual  laborers.  The  Centenary  has  made 
possible  the  setting  aside  of  workers  es¬ 
pecially  for  this  field,  and  the  results  have 
justified  the  move. 

The  Chinese  work  has  seemed  pecu¬ 
liarly  the  portion  of  the  Methodist  mis¬ 
sion.  Especially  has  this  been  true  in 
Rangoon.  As  elsewhere,  the  Chinese  in 
Burma  are  proving  the  strongest  elements 
in  the  business  community,  and  their 
evangelization  is  of  great  importance  for 
the  future.  During  the  Centenary  there 
has  been  a  large  development  in  this  fea¬ 
ture  of  the  work. 

The  English  work  has  been  among  the 
considerable  communities  of  English, 
Americans  and  Anglo-Indians.  It  is  self- 
supporting. 

Key  schools. — In  Rangoon,  the  Meth¬ 
odist  Boys’  High  School  and  the  Burmese 
Girls’  High  School  rank  as  the  peers  of 
any  schools  for  Burmese  and  Chinese 
children.  The  boys’  school  has  enrolled 


SOUTHERN  ASIA 


105 


Pupils  of  the  Methodist  Anglo-Chinese  School  at  Pegu,  in  front  of 
a  new  building  erected  with  Centenary  funds 


more  than  four  thousand 
students,  with  627  at  pres¬ 
ent  in  school.  Since  the 
student  body  in  both 
schools  is  largely  non- 
Christian,  the  work  of  the 
two  hostels,  with  about 
one  hundred  students  in 
each,  is  of  great  import¬ 
ance. 

There  are  other  schools 
in  Rangoon,  including  a 
night  school  for  Chinese 
that  has  proved  its  value 
over  a  long  period  of 
years.  In  Pegu,  Syriam, 

Thandaung,  and  Thongwa 
the  schools  of  elementary  and  middle 
grade  have  experienced  great  success. 

The  Women’s  Bible  Training  School  at 
Thongwa  rejoices  in  a  new  plant,  from 
which  it  is  expected  to  send  out  an  in¬ 
creasing  number  of  workers.  In  the  same 


The  school  for  the  training  of  preachers 
has  been  founded.  The  work  among  In¬ 
dians  has  been  placed  upon  a  permanent 
basis.  The  station  at  Mergui  has  been 
opened. 

In  addition,  the  Burmese  Methodist 
Church  in  Rangoon  is  one  of  the  finest 
gifts  that  the  Centenary  has  made  to  the 
work  in  Southern  Asia.  And  the  purchase 
of  property  in  the  same  city  provides  a 
future  center  for  the  work  among  Chi¬ 
nese. 


The  immediate  need. — For  the  work  in 
Burma  during  1925  the  Methodist  Epis¬ 
copal  Church  has  approved  this  program: 


Evangelistic  Work....  9  Couples  1  Single 
Educational  Work..  6  Couples  1  Single 


15  2  $  46,400 


center  the  Methodist  School  of  Theology 
is  to  be  developed. 

Advance  during  the  Centenary. — Practi¬ 
cally  all  the  schools  mentioned  have  been 
strengthened  during  the  Centenary  period. 


Property  Projects  to  make  possible  the 


following : 

2  City  Churches  . $37,000 

1  Boarding  School  .  4,000 

1  Missionary  Residence  .  8,000  $  49,000 


Total  Program  (Burma) .  $118,569 


The  “Daily  Paper”  on  the  bulletin  board  in 
Chinese — Anglo-Chinese  School  Pegu 


Work  Operations  will  be  conducted  on 


the  following  lines : 

Church  Work  from  66  Centers .  $  11,150 

9  Village  Schools  . $  2,835 

Medical  Work  .  '  270 

Other  Projects  .  8,914  12,019 


Total  for  Work  Projects . .  $  23,169 


8 


AFRICA 


LIBERIA 

ANGOLA 

THE  BELGIAN  CONGO 
RHODESIA 
MOZAMBIQUE 

THE  UNION  OF  SOUTH  AFRICA 


Methodist  Episcopal  churches  in  Africa 


MISSION  FARM  AT  OLD  UMTALI 

Long  before  A.  D.  2100,  there  will  be  no  such  thing  as 
a  subject  race  in  all  the  world. 

H.  G.  Wells 

If 


AFRICA 


Methodism’s  first  foreign  field.  —  The 
first  missionary  of  the  Methodist  Episco¬ 
pal  Church  to  work  outside  the  borders 
of  the  United  States  went  to  Liberia. 
Melville  Cox  did  not  have  long  to  labor, 
but  before  a  treacherous  climate  cut  him 
down  he  had  cried,  “Let  a  thousand  fall 
before  Africa  be  given  up !”  That  chal¬ 
lenge  Methodism  can  never  escape. 

Some  mighty  men  have  followed  in 
Cox’s  footsteps. 

There  was  Francis  Burns,  the  first  mis¬ 
sionary  bishop,  who  also  gave  his  life  for 
Liberia. 

There  was  Bishop  William  Taylor, 
whose  seven-league  boots  car¬ 
ried  him  through  hundreds  of 
miles  of  trackless  jungle  and 
planted  the  work  of  the  church 
across  Central  Africa. 

There  was  Bishop  Joseph  C. 

Hartzell,  whose  twenty  years  of 
leadership  revived  the  work 
throughout  Central  Africa  and 


inspired  the  church  to  the  occupation  of 
North  Africa. 

There  were  many  others,  and  there  are 
men  on  the  field  today  who  are  the  equals 
of  those  who  have  gone  before. 

The  field  today. — The  work  of  the  Meth¬ 
odist  Episcopal  Church  in  Africa  is  car¬ 
ried  on  under  the  French,  Portuguese, 
Belgian,  British,  and  Liberian  flags. 
Although,  for  purposes  of  administration, 
the  work  in  North  Africa  has  been  linked 
with  that  in  Southern  Europe,  and  is  so 
presented  in  this  volume,  it  must  be  kept 
in  mind  as  an  integral  part  of  the  African 
campaign.  In  fact,  it  is  an  immensely 
important  part,  for  it  represents 
the  attempt  to  check  Islam  at  the 
base  whence  the  Moslem  drive 
on  Central  Africa  is  launched. 

The  Methodist  field  is  thus 
seen  to  be,  in  North  Africa : 
Morocco,  Algeria,  Tunisia, 
Tripoli,  and  the  island  of  Ma¬ 
deira;  in  West  Africa:  Liberia, 


109 


110 


WORLD  SERVICE 


and  Angola ;  in  Central  Africa :  Rhodesia, 
and  the  Belgian  Congo ;  in  Southeast 
Africa :  Mozambique  and  the  Union  of 
South  Africa. 

The  best  account  of  this  work  is  to  be 
found  in  Methodist  Trails  in  the  African 
Jungle,  by  Marjorie  Barstow.  Anyone 
familiar  with  that  will  recognize  in  this 
volume  material  from  that  source. 

Common  problems  and  methods. — Much 
of  the  work  in  Central  Africa  deals  with 
problems  common  to  all  primitive  commu¬ 
nities,  without  reference  to  boundary 
lines.  A  description  of  general  methods 
in  Angola,  the  Congo,  Rhodesia,  and  Mo¬ 
zambique  would  show  slight  variations  be¬ 
tween  any  of  the  missions. 

For  this  reason  it  has  seemed  best  to 
include,  under  the  description  of  the  work 
in  Angola,  a  general  section  entitled, 
“Christian  Missions  in  Africa.”  Readers 
of  the  portions  assigned  to  the  Congo, 
Rhodesia,  and  Mozambique  are  asked  to 
keep  this  section  of  the  Angola  write-up 
in  mind. 

A  continental  program. — With  the  com¬ 
ing  of  the  railway  and  the  automobile 
road,  a  Christian  campaign  can  be  pro¬ 
jected  into  Africa  upon  a  scale  that  would 
have  been  impossible  a  few  years  ago.  For 
this  reason,  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church  secures  episcopal  supervision  for 


this  enormous  field  south  of  the  Sahara 
with  only  two  episcopal  residences,  one  in 
Monrovia  and  one  in  Capetown. 

It  is  felt  that  the  immediate  need  calls 
for  a  program  of  religious  education  that 
will  also  be  continental  in  scope.  For 
this  purpose  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church,  in  addition  to  the  budgets  for  the 
several  missions,  has  approved  the  fol¬ 
lowing  program  for  Africa  as  a  whole,  to 
be  carried  out  during  1925: 

Missionary  Staff  is  required  for: 

Evangelistic  Work  ...  3  Couples  0  Single 
Educational  Work....  1  Couple  1  Single 

Medical  Work .  1  Couple  0  Single 

Other  Work  .  0  Couple  0  Single 


5  1  $13,750 


Work  Operations  will  be  conducted  on  these 
lines : 

Church  Work  from  13  Centers . $  3,500 

10  Village  Schools  .  2,000 

1  Hospital  . .  2,000 

Miscellaneous  .  3,500 


Total — Work  Operations  . $11,000 

Property  Projects: 

4  Missionary  Residences  . $20,000 

1  Small  Church  . 1,000 

3  Village  Schools  .  3,000 

3  Other  Projects  .  7,000 


Total — Property  Projects  . $31,000 


Total  Program  (Africa  General) . $55,750 


LIBERIA 


Methodism’s  First  Mission 
Another  Centenary.— The  Republic  of 
Liberia  has  just  been  celebrating  its  cen¬ 
tenary.  While  present  world  conditions 
cast  a  shadow  across  the  anniversary, 
still  there  has  been  sufficient  cause  for  re¬ 
joicing. 

Brought  by  the  American  Colonization 
Society  in  1820  to  the  west  coast  of  Africa, 
the  first  settlers  in  Liberia,  as  one  writer 
said,  “huddled  on  this  little  strip  _  of 
cleared  ground,  with  the  tangled,  dripping 
gloom  of  the  tropical  forest  rising  like  a 
wall  around  them,  and  in  front  of  them 
only  the  misty  void  where  the  gray  sheets 


of  rain  lashed  the  sea  into  steam,  and  the 
breakers  boomed  on  the  shore.  The  first 
Pilgrim  winter  on  the  rock-bound  coast  of 
New  England  was  not  so  heroic  an  experi¬ 
ence  as  the  first  rainy  season  which  the 
founders  of  this  free  state  faced  on  the 
edge  of  the  jungle.” 

When  the  forces  of  climate,  savagery, 
and  the  jungle  failed  to  wipe  out  the  politi¬ 
cal  experiment  launched  by  freed  slaves 
from  America,  the  government  of  Liberia, 
therefore,  considered  a  centenary  celebra¬ 
tion  in  order. 

Where  the  church  has  been  planted. — 
The  history  of  the  Republic  of  Liberia 


AFRICA 


111 


A  student  from  the  Cox  Memorial  Institute,  White  Plains, 
Liberia,  sketched  this  bird’s-eye  view  of  his  alma 
mater  on  a  towel 


has  been  closely  bound  up 
with  that  of  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church.  The 
first  Methodist  congrega¬ 
tion  was  formed  among 
the  emigrants  on  the  first 
boat  to  land  at  what  is 
now  Monrovia.  The  first 
missionary  of  the  Metho¬ 
dist  Episcopal  Church  to 
leave  the  United  States 
sailed  for  Liberia.  Mel¬ 
ville  Cox  was  the  first 
Methodist  missionary  to 
die  in  a  foreign  land.  His 
challenge,  “Let  thousands 
fall  before  Africa  be  given 
up,”  remains  as  one  of  the 
watchwords  of  Christian 
missions. 

The  government  of  Li¬ 
beria  has  never  proved 
strong  enough  to  do  more 
than  colonize  a  thin  strip 
of  territory  along  its  coast,  nor  has  the 
church  yet  penetrated  to  regions  where 
the  authority  of  the  Republic  has  not  been 
recognized.  Mission  stations  have  been 
located  in  Monrovia,  Grand  Bassa,  Nanah 
Kru,  Jacktown,  Garraway,  Harper,  Sinoe, 
and  Wissika.  Most  of  these,  it  will  be 
seen,  are  on  the  seashore,  the  others  being 
on  important  rivers. 


Methodist  Episcopal  centers  in  Liberia 


Fifty-nine  schools  of  various  grades  are 
located  in  these  central  stations  and 
scattered  through  villages  near  by,  with 
more  than  3,000  enrolled  students.  But 
ten  of  these  students,  in  the  College  of 
West  Africa,  are  doing  work  of  high- 
school  grade. 

Problems  and  opportunities. — A  great 
proportion  of  the  inhabitants  of  civilized 
Liberia  claim  to  be  Christians.  Among 
these  are  to  be  numbered  the  9,000  en¬ 
rolled  in  the  baptized  constituency  of  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church. 

But  the  isolation  of  this  community 
from  the  rest  of  the  Christian  world  has 
been  so  great  that  in  the  course  of  its  cen¬ 
tury  of  history  a  gradual  deterioration  has 
taken  place.  Today  ninety  per  cent  of  the 
church  membership  in  Liberia  is  unedu¬ 
cated.  The  tendency  on  the  part  of  many 
is  toward  a  lower  rather  than  a  higher 
standard  of  living. 

The  first  problem  that  confronts  the 
church  is,  therefore,  a  lifting  of  the  whole 
plane  of  life  of  the  present  community. 
This  is  closely  connected  with  the  restora¬ 
tion  of  political  vigor  to  Liberia.  Without 
a  higher  type  of  Christian  community  the 


112 


WORLD  SERVICE 


republic  cannot  command  the  sort  of  citi¬ 
zenship  that  a  successful  democracy  re¬ 
quires. 

A  second  need  is  found  in  the  call  from 
the  2,000,000  uncivilized  pagans  who  in¬ 
habit  four-fifths  of  the  territory  of  Liberia. 
Theoretically  these  are  subject  to  the  Li¬ 
berian  government,  and  their  chiefs  hold 
commissions  from  the  President  of  the  Re¬ 
public.  Actually,  they  and  their  chiefs  do 
as  they  please. 

The  stations  at  Jacktown  and  Wissika 
may  prove  centers  from  which  this  work 
can  be  undertaken.  Practically  all  indi¬ 
cations  point  to  it  as  the  most  promising 
field  for  future  service  in  Liberia. 

A  further  problem,  however,  is  raised 
when  once  the  savage  has  been  reached. 
Life  in  the  civilized  portions  of  Liberia  is 
so  primitive  that  there  is  almost  nothing 
for  the  native  to  do,  after  he  has  been 
given  a  modern  education.  The  church, 
therefore,  finds  itself  under  the  necessity 
of  developing  certain  industries  and  handi¬ 
crafts.  For  this  reason  much  of  the  edu¬ 
cational  work  must  be  in  the  nature  of  in¬ 
dustrial  training. 

Next  Steps  in  Liberia 

An  educated  constituency. — In  addition 
to  fifty-four  day  schools,  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church  conducts  an  academy 
at  Cape  Palmas,  an  industrial  school  at 
White  Plains  on  the  St.  Paul  River, 
another  industrial  school  at  Sinoe  on  the 
Sinoe  River,  a  school  for  the  training  oi 


The  building  at  the  right  is  that  of  the 
College  of  West  Africa,  Monrovia. 


preachers,  add  the  College  of  West  Afiica 
at  Monrovia. 

Monrovia  is  a  pT.etty  little  town  which 
looks  like  a  cross  between  a  metropolis 
and  a  pasture.  Here  Are  located  the  gov¬ 
ernment  buildings,  the  state  college  of 
Liberia,  the  College  of  West  Africa,  front¬ 
ing  lawn-like  streets  completely  coveied 
with  turf,  where  cattle  wander  up  and 
down  and  peacefully  graze  among  the 
passersby.  At  the  end  of  some  of  these 
streets  the  forest  rises  like  a  green  wall-  _ 
Among  the  buildings  of  Monrovia 
stands  the  College  of  West  Africa,  show¬ 
ing  the  signs  of  seventy-eight  years  of 
service.  The  ants  have  eaten  the  beams 
of  the  building  until,  in  every  tropical 
storm,  they  threaten  to  fall  upon  the 
heads  of  the  294  students  who  are  gath¬ 
ered  in  its  ancient  rooms.  These  rooms 
are  so  few  that  classes  must  meet  before 
breakfast,  at  noon,  and  after  school  hours. 
The  first  move  in  the  rehabilitation  of 
Liberia  must  be  the  provision  of  a  suit¬ 
able  plant  for  this  College  of  West  Africa. 

In  the  southeast  corner  of  the  Repub¬ 
lic,  at  Harper,  in  Cape  Palmas  county, 
there  is  another  old  school.  This,  likewise, 
is  in  sad  need  of  repair.  One  hundred  and 
ninety-four  students,  most  of  them  fiom 
jungle  kraals,  a  few  from  Liberian  Chiis- 
tian  homes,  are  studying  _  here.  More 
equipment  must  be  forthcoming  for  them. 

The  St.  Paul  River  Industrial  Institute, 
established  by  Bishop  Hartzell,  is  to  be 
provided  with  the  equipment  that  it  must 
have  in  order  to  do  the  work  for  which 
it  has  been  intended.  The  Sinoe  River  In¬ 
dustrial  Institute  is  likewise  to  have  its 
equipment  enlarged. 

A  dozen  new  village  day  schools  are  to 

be  opened. 

Penetrating  the  jungle.— The  policy  ol 
the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  is  _  to 
enter  immediately  upon  the  evangelization 
of  the  pagan  tribes  of  interior  Liberia. 
While  schools  and  churches  in  the  civilized 
coastal  region  must  be  brought  to  a  highei 
state  of  development,  the  occupation  of 
that  part  of  the  country  can  be  said  to  be 
fairly  complete.  It  remains  now  to  move 
into  the  jungle,  where  Methodism  must 


AFRICA 


113 


shoulder  the  responsibility  for  reaching 
practically  all  of  the  2,000,000  tribesmen. 
Thus  it  happens  that  the  World  Service 
program  calls  for  further  pioneer  ad¬ 
vance  in  the  Methodist  mission  field  that 
has  been  longest  occupied.  Negro 
churches  in  America  are  expected  to  have 
a  large  part  in  making  this  forward  move¬ 
ment  possible.  Missionary  recruits  from 
Negro  colleges  are  offering  themselves  as 
rapidly  as  opportunities  for  African  serv¬ 
ice  open. 

Help  toward  this  enterprise  is  being 
extended  by  the  American  Bible  Society, 
which  has  always  shown  a  deep  interest 
in  the  work  in  Liberia.  The  gospel  ac¬ 
cording  to  St.  Mark  has  already  been 
printed  in  K’Pelle,  one  of  the  native  lan¬ 
guages,  thus  providing  a  necessary  basis 
for  permanent  advance. 

The  immediate  need. — Facing  the  re¬ 
quirements  of  the  congregations  already 
planted  and  the  evangelization  of  the  un¬ 
touched  tribes  of  the  interior,  the  Meth¬ 
odist  Episcopal  Church  has  approved  the 
following  program  for  Liberia  in  1925 : 

Missionary  Staff  is  required  as  follows: 

Evangelistic  Work....  9  Couples  0  Single 
Educational  Work....  6  Couples  9  Single 

Medical  Work  .  2  Couples  0  Single 

Other  Work . 2  Couples  2  Single 

19  11  $47,250 


Sinoe  River  Industrial  Mission 


Work  Operation  will  be  conducted  on 


these  lines : 

Church  Work  from  87  Centers. .  16,590 

66  Village  Schools  . ...$  8,500 

3  Central  Schools  . .  4,230 

2  Training  Schools  . . . .  10,750 

3  Industrial  Schools  _ _ _  4,185  27,665 


Miscellaneous  .  5,110 


Total — Work  Operations  .  $  49,365 

Property  Projects: 

13  Missionary  Bungalows  . .  18,300 

1  Central  Boarding  School  Bldg.  $  5.000 

1  College  Building  .  10,000 

2  Industrial  School  Buildings. ...  6,220  21,220 


Total — Property  Projects  .  $  39.520 


Total  Program  (Liberia) .  $136,135 


ANGOLA 


The  Western  End  of  the  Methodist 
Line 

Bishop  Taylor’s  vision. — When  William 
Taylor  landed  in  Africa  as  a  bishop  of 
the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  he  saw 
the  same  Islamic  menace  that  immediately 
strikes  every  Christian  observer  who  visits 
that  continent.  By  every  caravan  route 
Moslem  traders  and  slave  dealers  were 
pressing  from  North  Africa  to  the  con¬ 
quest  of  the  pagan  jungle.  Ten  converts 
were  being  won  to  the  prophet  of  Mecca 


for  every  one  that  was  being  brought  into 
the  Christian  fold.  Bishop  Taylor’s  in¬ 
stant  decision  called  upon  the  church  to 
throw  a  line  of  mission  stations  across  the 
continent  to  help  in  holding  back  the  Mos¬ 
lem  invasion. 

Take  the  map  of  Africa  and  locate 
the  Methodist  stations  on  it.  It  will  be 
seen  that,  while  the  church  has  never  sup¬ 
ported  this  work  in  a  measure  sufficient  to 
make  the  Christian  rampart  strong,  there 
is  at  least  the  beginning  of  an  occupation 
stretching  from  Loanda  on  the  Atlantic 


114 


WORLD  SERVICE 


to  Inhambane  on  the  Pacific.  Angola  thus 
affords  the  western  anchor  of  the  Metho¬ 
dist  line  across  Africa. 

Liberia,  it  is  true,  is  farther  west,  but 
Liberia  is  a  problem  by  itself,  and  is 
hardly  to  be  considered  as  a  part  of  the 
campaign  for  the  Christian  conquest  of 
central  Africa.  It  is  in  Angola  that  the 
visitor,  penetrating 
the  country  from  the 
west  coast,  first  sees 
the  distinctive  work 
that  has  been  evolved 
for  the  Christianiza¬ 
tion  of  the  people  of 
the  jungle. 

Angola — a  land  of 
promise.  —  Angola, 
the  Portuguese  prov¬ 
ince  in  West  Africa, 
is  one  of  the  largest 
political  divisions  of 
Africa,  and  poten¬ 
tially  one  of  the 
richest.  From  the 
steaming  swamps 
and  foam-flecked 
sands  of  the  coast  the 
land  rises  through  a 
district  of  wooded 
mountains  and  flow¬ 
ery  valleys  with 
here  and  there  a 
sandy  stretch,  slime 
swamps,  and  aimless 
rivers  —  to  wide, 
wind-swept  plateaus, 
where  the  grass 
grows  higher  than  a 

man’s  head,  and  is  weighted  down  in  the 
morning  by  dews  as  heavy  as  rain. 

Despite  large  mineral  deposits  and  ara¬ 
ble  land,  Angola  remains  only  potentially 
rich.  The  Portuguese  government  has  not 
proved  equal  to  any  large  development  of 
natural  resources.  The  slave  trade,  until 
its  abolition  a  few  years  ago,  provided 
almost  the  only  source  of  wealth.  Almost 
no  provision  has  been  made  to  protect  the 
country  against  periodic  famine,  although 
it  would  be  comparatively  easy  by  irriga¬ 
tion  and  the  storing  of  foods  to  guard 


against  the  present  decrease  in  population. 

British  capital,  working  in  Southern 
Angola,  has  helped  to  bring  about  a  fairly 
rapid  development  but,  as  a  whole,  this 
great  province  with  its  480,000  square 
miles  of  territory  awaits  the  sort  of  de¬ 
velopment  that  will  make  it  comparable 
with  the  African  colonies  of  other  Euro¬ 
pean  powers. 

Under  Portuguese 
rule. — The  change 
from  a  monarchy  to 
a  republic  in  Portu¬ 
gal  has  brought  about 
some  improvement  in 
the  administration  of 
Angola.  A  railroad 
now  penetrates  from 
Loanda  as  far  inland 
as  Malange,  a  dis¬ 
tance  of  approxi¬ 
mately  218  miles.  It 
will  one  day  be 
pushed  across  the 
Belgian  Congo  until 
it  links  up  with  the 
Cape-to- Cairo  rail¬ 
way  and  its  subsidi¬ 
aries. 

Under  the  repub¬ 
lican  government 
slavery  has  been  abol¬ 
ished,  polygamy  dis¬ 
couraged,  and  dis¬ 
tilling  prohibited. 
Increase  is  to  be  seen 
in  the  wages  paid  na¬ 
tive  laborers  in  prac¬ 
tically  all  Portuguese 
centers  of  occupation,  although  this  in¬ 
crease  has  not  kept  pace  with  the  rise  in 
the  cost  of  living.  But  while  advance  must 
be  noted,  much  remains  to  be  done  before 
the  Portuguese  colonial  service  reaches 
the  standards  set  by  other  governments. 

Recently,  in  an  attempt  to  insure  the 
stability  of  Portuguese  rule,  it  has  been 
ordered  that  no  school  can  be  conducted 
in  any  other  than  the  Portuguese  lan¬ 
guage,  and  that  nothing  can  be  printed  in 
the  native  dialects  except  in  parallel  col¬ 
umns  with  Portuguese,  a  method  that  has 


The  trail  through  the  tall  grass 


AFRICA 


115 


been  followed  only  by  the  Roman  Catholic 
missions  previously.  Public  meetings, 
conducted  in  other  than  Portuguese,  have 
in  some  places  been  prohibited,  and  Chris¬ 
tian  preaching,  except  in  that  language, 
has  been  interfered  with. 

At  the  present  time,  according  to  some 
reports,  the  colonial  government  in  An¬ 
gola  is  seriously  hindering  the  spread  of 
the  gospel.  Protestant  missions  are  tak¬ 
ing  such  steps  as  are  possible  to  bring  their 
work  into  conformity  with  government  re¬ 
quirements. 

Christian  Missions  in  Africa1 

The  problem  of  Africa-' — The  circum¬ 
stances  with  which  the  missionary  must 
deal  in  Angola  do  not  differ  materially 
from  those  in  the  Congo,  Rhodesia,  or 
Portuguese  East  Africa.  It  is  possible, 
therefore,  in  this  connection  to  outline  in 
general  the  problems  that  must  be  solved 
in  all  this  region. 

There  is  first  of  all,  the  problem  of  sav¬ 
agery.  It  is  the  same  problem  that  has 
confronted  every  missionary  since  the 
time  of  Robert  Moffatt.  There  are,  in¬ 
cluding  the  Bantus,  about  120,000,000 
Negroes  in  Africa,  most  of  whom  still  live 
in  a  condition  of  primitive  savageness. 
The  primitive  Negro,  as  has  been  stated, 
has  never  founded  a  stone  city,  nor  built 
a  ship,  nor  produced  a  literature,  nor  sug¬ 
gested  a  creed.  The  social  order  in  the 
native  kraal  has  been  exceedingly  simple. 
Any  development  of  the  enormous  re¬ 
sources  of  Africa  carries  with  it  a  com¬ 
plete  overturning  of  all  this  life  of  the 
past. 

The  entrance  of  western  industry,  typi¬ 
fied  by  the  mine  or  the  railway,  is  being 
marked  by  an  almost  complete  disarrange¬ 
ment  of  indigenous  social  and  political 
structures.  It  is  the  task  of  the  Christian 
to  see  that  this  does  not  finally  land  the 
native  in  a  condition  worse  than  was  his 
in  the  jungle  days. 

The  advent  of  the  white  man  and  Mos¬ 
lem  has  produced  a  second  problem  in  the 
form  of  slavery.  The  work  of  such  Chris¬ 
tian  pioneers  as  Livingstone  moved  the 

1  See  “Common  Problems  and  Methods,”  p.  110. 


Women  water-carriers,  Angola 


European  powers  to  declare  against  the 
African  slave  traffic,  and  great  credit  must 
be  given  them  for  the  resolute  way  in 
which  they  have  attempted  the  healing  of 
“Africa’s  open  sore.”  But,  while  formal  sla¬ 
very  has  largely  been  abolished,  there  have 
been  types  of  forced  labor  that  have  been 
little  better  than  slavery.  In  a  colony  like 
Angola  this  persists.  Its  presence  makes 
exceedingly  difficult  the  work  of  any 
evangelist  who  would  attempt  to  tell  men 
to  hold  up  their  heads  as  the  equals  of 
all  other  sons  of  God. 

The  whole  life  of  Africa  is  scourged  by 
ignorance  and  disease.  The  one  leads 
naturally  to  the  other.  The  population  of 
equatorial  Africa  is  smaller  today  than  it 
was  fifty  years  ago.  Observers  have 
pointed  out  that  one  result  of  the  estab¬ 
lishment  of  an  enlightened  colonial  ad¬ 
ministration  by  European  powers  is  a 
rapid  increase  in  black  population,  mak¬ 
ing  the  racial  question  more  difficult  of 
solution.  Ignorance  has  driven  the  Afri¬ 
can  to  employ  the  witch  doctor  who,  with 
his  incantations  and  atrocious  physical 
practices,  has  increased  the  sorrows  of 
Africa  many  fold.  Every  epidemic  known 
to  other  parts  of  the  world,  with  some 
peculiar  to  Africa,  flourishes  in  this  con¬ 
tinent.  Until  the  understanding  of  the 
natives  is  enlarged,  hope  can  not  be  held 
either  for  their  physical  well  being  or 
their  power  to  grapple  with  the  new  con- 


116 


WORLD  SERVICE 


ditions  iliat  are  growing  up  in  their  con¬ 
tinent. 

Finally,  the  missionary  faces  an  ap¬ 
palling  religious  problem.  The  paganism 
of  the  African  native  is  of  as  brutalizing 
a  type  as  is  to  be  found.  It  is  a  question 
whether  the  African  pre¬ 
sents  to  the  Christian 
worker  a  more  difficult 
problem  as  a  pagan  or 
as  a  converted  Moham¬ 
medan.  With  Mohamme¬ 
danism  increasing  at  its 
present  rate,  many  Chris¬ 
tians  have  come  to  feel  that 
the  ultimate  struggle  is 
hardly  to  be  between  Chris¬ 
tianity  and  paganism.  Afri¬ 
can  paganism  has  shown 
little  power  to  maintain 
itself  in  the  face  of  Chris¬ 
tian  effort  and  the  ultimate 
struggle  must,  therefore, 
be  between  Christianity  and  Islam. 

Methods  of  mission  work.  —  Facing 
conditions  such  as  these,  it  will  be  clear 
why  the  effort  of  Protestant  forces  in 
Africa  is  largely  devoted  to  these  types  of 
work : 

Industrial  missions,  in  which  natives 
receive  training  in  modern  agricultural 
and  other  industrial  processes  This 
means  that  they  are  prepared  to  take 
their  places  as  self-supporting  members 
of  the  new  African  communities.  When 


to  the  industrial  training  is  added  a  Chris¬ 
tian  experience,  these  leaders  bring  to 
their  responsible  positions  in  society  a 
Christian  testimony  that  is  of  incalcula¬ 
ble  value. 

Medical  missions  form  an  unequalled 
mode  of  approach  to  the 
confidence  of  the  native. 
By  superseding  the  power 
of  the  witch  doctor  they 
strike  at  the  heart  of  pa¬ 
ganism,  and  by  ministering 
to  the  suffering  of  all  who 
come,  they  show  Christian¬ 
ity  to  possess  a  care  for 
others  such  as  Mohamme¬ 
danism  gives  no  indication 
of  having. 

Educational  missions  are 
necessary,  not  only  to 
open  the  minds  of  the  com¬ 
paratively  few  students 
who  can  be  gathered  in  the 
schools,  but  to  send  them  back  as  teach¬ 
ers  and  preachers  among  their  own 
people.  Missionary  work  over  all  of 
Africa  is  marked  by  the  number  of  out- 
stations  opened  by  these  trained  native 
workers.  No  permanent  Christian  com¬ 

munities  can  be  obtained  without  giving 
large  scope  to  the  work  of  educational 
missions. 

The  use  of  literature  is  recognized  as 
of  increasing  importance.  The  mission¬ 
aries  have  been  largely  responsible  for 
the  reduction  of  scores 
of  native  languages  to 
writing.  Now  the  new 
generation  is  being  taught 
to  read,  it  is  possible  to 
make  practically  the  whole 
literature  of  Africa  for  a 
century  Christian  litera¬ 
ture.  The  influence  of  this 
upon  the  future  of  the 
continent  can  be  seen  to 
be  beyond  calculation. 

Finally,  there  must  be 
preaching  of  the  gospel 
by  missionaries  and  con¬ 
verts  who  have  been  pro- 


Modern  farm  methods  penetrate  Africa 


Islam  vs.  Christianity  in  Africa 


AFRICA 


vided  with  Christian  education.  This  is 
the  foundation  upon  which  all  else  rests. 
Whether  the  worker,  missionary  or  Afri¬ 
can,  is  appointed  to  educational,  medical, 
or  industrial  work,  he  feels  his  responsi¬ 
bility  as  an  evangelist,  and  adds  his  effort 
wherever  possible  to 
that  of  those  imme¬ 
diately  commissioned 
to  that  task. 

The  Methodist 
Occupation  of 
Angola 

That  hilltop  at  Lo- 
anda. — On  a  plateau 
overlooking  the  At¬ 
lantic  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church 
has  built  one  of  its 
most  complete  mis¬ 
sion  stations  in  the 
city  of  Loanda,  the 
capital  of  Angola. 

Here  is  a  school  for  boys  and  girls,  a  dis¬ 
pensary  and  hospital  for  children  of  both 
sexes — blacks,  whites,  and  mulattoes — 
and  from  it  go  out  graduates  to  conduct 
work  in  the  interior. 

A  few  years  ago  there  was  sent  out 
from  Loanda  a  young  convert  to  open 
work  on  the  banks  of  the  Aranga  River. 
He  cleared  the  land,  planted  trees,  built 
a  native  house  and  then  a  native  church 
and  soon  had  a  prosper¬ 
ous  work  under  way. 

After  a  time  he  married 
an  assistant  teacher  in  the 
Loanda  school.  The  two 
have  developed  a  village 
church  and  school  of  such 
a  high  grade  that  the  High 
Commissioner  of  Angola 
has  written  in  praise  of 
their  services. 


open  plateau.  Here,  south  of  the  railroad 
another  two  days’  journey,  is  Quiongua. 
The  mission  here  has  timber  land  and  a 
well-equipped  farm,  totaling  about  10,000 
acres.  An  extensive  industrial  work  fur¬ 
nishes  the  foundation  for  a  future  Chris¬ 
tian  community  of 
large  influence. 

At  the  inland  ter¬ 
minus  of  the  railroad 
is  Malanje,  a  govern¬ 
ment  post  of  consid¬ 
erable  importance. 
From  here  the  trails 
strike  out  in  all  di¬ 
rections  to  the  inte¬ 
rior.  Like  the  work 
in  Loanda,  that  in 
Malanje  was  closed 
for  years  but  was  re¬ 
opened  under  the  in¬ 
spiration  of  Bishop 
Hartzell  and  is  today 
being  developed  as  a 
station  in  such  a  center  should  be. 

Six  miles  away,  at  Quessua,  is  a  farm 
of  8,900  acres  which  is  destined  to  be  the 
outstanding  example  of  Christian  agri¬ 
cultural  missions  in  Angola.  While  this 
work  is  scarcely  under  way  yet,  under 
the  direction  of  a  trained  agriculturalist 
and  with  the  proper  implements  it  is 
hoped  to  bring  this  station  quickly  to  a 
position  approximating  self-support.  A 


Translating  the  New  Testament— The 
Kimbundu  New  Testament 
Committee 


Other  stations. — Inland 
from  Loanda  by  railroad, 
beyond  the  arid  and  hot 
belt  and  again  beyond  the 
densely  forested  hills  and 
valleys,  lies  the  high 


The  first  of  the  three  R’s  as  taught  out  of  doors 


118 


WORLD  SERVICE 


well-developed  work  for  the  Woman’s 
Foreign  Missionary  Society,  including  a 
boarding  school,  medical  clinic,  and  vil¬ 
lage  evangelization,  is  also  located  here. 

The  immediate  need. — For  the  conduct¬ 
ing  of  the  work  in  Angola,  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church  has  approved  the  fol¬ 
lowing  program  for  1925: 

Missionary  Staff  is  required  for: 

Evangelistic  Work  ....  6  Couples  0  Single 

Educational  Work  . 11  Couples  0  Single 

Medical  Work  .  0  Couple  3  Single 

17  3  $  51,250 

Work  Operations  will  be  conducted  on 
these  lines : 

Church  Work  from  39  Centers .  $  2,915 

4  Village  Schools  . $  2,275 


1  Central  School  . $  430 

1  Training  School  .  1,500 

5  Industrial  Schools  .  7.765  $  11,970 


2  Dispensaries  .  .  425 

Other  and  General  Opera. ioiij .  3,510 


Total  for  Work  Operations. . .  $  18,820 

Property  Projects 

4  Missionary  Bungalows  . $10,750 

1  Village  School  Building  .  150 

1  Training  School  Building  .  6,000 

1  Agricultural  School  Bldg .  7,250 

3  Industrial  School  Bldgs .  8,800 

Miscellaneous  .  1.3C0  $  34,250 


Other  Projects  . 5,500 

Total  for  Property  Projects .  $  39,750 

Total  Program  (Angola  Confer¬ 
ence)  .  $109,820 


THE  BELGIAN  CONGO 


The  Center  of  the  Line 
The  wealth  of  the  Congo. — One  of  Amer¬ 
ica’s  most  authoritative  writers  on  geo¬ 
graphical  subjects  has  said  that  the 
history  of  European  colonial  expansion  in 
Africa  is  the  history  of  a  struggle  for  raw 
materials — fibers,  oils,  hides,  minerals, 


rubber.  (Cf.  Isaiah  Bowman,  The  New 
World.)  Nowhere  has  this  struggle  been 
more  bitterly  carried  on  than  in  the  Congo 
and,  by  the  same  token,  nowhere  have  the 
native  tribes  had  greater  cause  to  bemoan 
the  coming  of  the  white  man  than  in  this 
portion  of  Central  Africa. 

The  initial  stages  of  ex¬ 
ploitation  have  passed  in 
the  Congo,  but  it  can  not 
be  said  that  more  than  the 
surface  deposits  of  cop¬ 
per,  gold,  tin,  diamonds, 
coal  and  uranium  have 
been  touched.  The  com¬ 
ing  of  a  modern  industri¬ 
alism  which  is  largely 
under  British  rule  has  had 
here  the  familiar  effect 
of  thoroughly  upsetting 
all  the  old  life  of  the 
natives. 

Into  this  district  Euro¬ 
peans,  Mohammedans, 
and  pagans  from  the  four 
corners  of  Africa  are  now 
entering.  Negro  labor  is 
being  exploited  on  a  grand 
scale.  The  result  is  some¬ 
thing  that  makes  a  native 


Huts  in  the  mine  district,  Elisabethville.  Walls  made  of  corrugated 
iron — Symbol  of  the  inroads  of  Western 
industrialism  upon  native  life 


AFRICA 


119 


kraal  look  like  paradise. 

Thus  the  problem  of  the 
missionary  in  the  Congo 
is  not  only  that  of  dealing 
with  the  ancient  pagan¬ 
ism  and  its  jungle  back¬ 
ground  but  also  that  of 
dealing  with  an  unpre¬ 
pared  horde  of  bewildered 
people  thrust  suddenly 
into  an  utterly  alien  en¬ 
vironment. 

Under  the  Belgian  flag- 
— The  history  of  the 
Congo  does  not  make  com¬ 
fortable  reading.  The 
scene  for  years  of  intrigue 
and  struggle  on  the  part 
of  western  powers,  it  was 
made  a  nominally  inde¬ 
pendent  state  in  1885  un¬ 
der  the  sovereignty  of 
Leopold  II,  king  of  the 
Belgians.  Leopold  proved 
to  be  a  business  man  in 
whose  eyes  profits  from 
the  production  of  rubber 
were  of  more  value  than 
many  natives. 

Conditions  in  the  Congo 
became  so  scandalous  that 
there  finally  burst  forth 
an  outcry  from  all  parts  of  the  Christian 
world.  In  bringing  these  conditions  to 
the  light,  the  Christian  missionaries 
played  a  leading  part.  In  fact  Richard 
Harding  Davis  testified  at  the  time:  “In 
the  Congo  almost  the  only  people  who  are 
working  in  behalf  of  the  natives  are  those 
attached  to  the  missions ...  It  is  due  to 
them  that.  Europe  and  the  United  States 
know  the  truth  about  the  Congo.  They 
were  the  first  to  bear  witness,  and  the 
hazardous  work  they  still  are  doing  for 
their  fellow  men  is  honest,  practical 
Christianity.” 

In  1908  the  Congo  was  finally  annexed 
to  Belgium.  Since  then  there  has  been 
rapid  improvement.  The  colonial  admin¬ 
istration  is  now  fit  to  be  considered  with 
that  in  any  other  part  of  Central  Africa. 
Representatives  of  British  and  American 


societies  working  in  the  Congo,  meeting 
in  1921,  sent  a  message  to  the  King  and 
Queen  of  the  Belgians  in  which  they  ren¬ 
dered  their  “grateful  acknowledgment  of 
the  progress  which  is  being  made  under 
the  Belgian  Colonial  Administration.  In 
the  measures  which  affect  the  well  being 
and  advancement  of  your  Majesties’ 
Congo  native  subjects,  the  deep  personal 
interest  which  it  is  well  known  your  Maj¬ 
esties  take  in  the  amelioration  of  the 
native  social  positions,  the  arrest  of  the 
ravages  of  disease  and  the  education  of 
the  people  is  an  inspiring  example.” 

The  problem  in  human  terms. — But  with 
all  that  the  colonial  administration  can 
do,  the  condition  of  the  Congo  today  pre¬ 
sents  an  appalling  human  problem.  With 
the  white  man’s  industry  have  come  the 
white  man’s  vices.  Social  diseases  are 


120 


WORLD  SERVICE 


putting  their  mark  deeply  into  the  bodies 
of  the  natives.  Intemperance  is  mount¬ 
ing  at  a  rapid  rate.  Nothing  seems  to 
avail  for  the  safeguarding  of  the  Negro 
under  these  conditions  save  that  intimate 
and  special  interest  in  the  souls  of  black 
men  which  only  the  missionary  is  pre¬ 
pared  to  practice. 

Yet,  when  one 
looks  at  the  map  and 
calculates  what  our 
so-called  missionary 
“occupation”  means 
in  terms  of  days  of 
travel  separating  the 
stations,  one  sees 
how  far  the  church 
is  still  from  anything 
like  an  adequate  re¬ 
sponse  to  the  needs 
of  the  two  and  a  half 
million  people  scat¬ 
tered  through  the  vil¬ 
lages  of  the  Belgian 
Congo.  In  all  con¬ 
science,  this  work 
has  hardly  begun. 

Methodist  Work  in  the  Congo 

Elisabethville — key  city. — The  main  mis¬ 
sion  stations  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church  in  the  Belgian  Congo  are  Elisa¬ 
bethville,  Kambove,  Kabongo,  and  Ka¬ 
tanga.  Recent  observers  have  named 
Elisabethville  as  one  of  the  three  strate¬ 
gic  centers  for  all  Africa.  Located 
2,300  miles  from  Cape  Town  on  the  Cape- 
to-Cairo  railway,  a  provincial  capital,  a 
divisional  railway  headquarters,  a  com¬ 
mercial  center,  the  site  of  a  great  copper 
smelting  plant,  the  city  has  grown  from 
an  uninhabited  spot  in  the  jungle  to  a 
modern  municipality  with  electric  lights, 
a  powerful  wireless  station  and  other 
western  improvements  since  1912. 

In  Elisabethville  the  church  faces  the 
many  problems  of  the  African  native  em¬ 
ployed  in  modern  industry.  Practically  all 
of  the  Negroes  in  the  city  work  in  the 
copper  smelter.  Here  they  receive  wages 
which  give  them  purchasing  power  far 
beyond  any  that  they  have  known  in  the 


past.  Likewise,  they  have  leisure.  A 
combination  of  the  two — money  and  time 
in  which  to  spend  it — frequently  brings 
moral  disaster. 

If  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  is 
adequately  to  deal  with  such  a  situation  as 
this  and  to  put  an  imprint  of  a  positive 

Protestantism  upon 
this  key  city  of  Cen¬ 
tral  Africa,  it  must 
develop  a  modern 
type  of  institutional 
evangelism.  It  has 
been  proven  again 
and  again  that  the 
natives  will  respond 
to  advance  of  this 
nature.  But  while  we 
are  content  to  main¬ 
tain  a  single  mission¬ 
ary  family  in  such  a 
strategic  point,  we 
can  hardly  persuade 
ourselves,  let  alone 
others,  that  we  are 
in  earnest  in  our  ex¬ 
pressed  determina¬ 
tion  to  evangelize  Africa. 

Other  stations. — A  hundred  miles  north¬ 
west  of  Elisabethville  on  the  railroad  is 
Kambove,  where  the  church  conducts  its 
Bible  training  school  and  the  Congo  Mis¬ 
sion  Press.  Both  are  indispensable  factors 
in  the  African  missionary  enterprise. 

Sixteen  miles  southeast  of  Kambove  is 
the  copper  mining  center  of  Likasi  with  a 
uranium  mine.  This  is  destined  to  be¬ 
come  the  greatest  industrial  center  of  the 
Congo  and  should  soon  be  entered. 

Mussoni,  a  gold,  copper  and  tin  mining 
center  on  the  Lualaba,  one  of  the  head 
waters  of  the  Congo  River,  also  invites 
entrance. 

The  scattered  nature  of  Methodist  work 
in  the  Congo  is  emphasized  when  one 
makes  the  twenty-eight  days’  journey  from 
Elisabethville  through  the  jungle  400 
miles  north  to  Kabongo.  Medical  work 
has,  during  the  Centenary  period,  been 
added  to  the  other  work  at  this  station,  the 
influence  of  which  is  constantly  spreading 
to  all  the  territory  near  by. 


The  raw  stuff  of  humanity 


AFRICA 


121 


An  out-door  service  in  the  compound,  Elisabethville 


Reaching  the  railway 
head  at  Kambove,  the 
Methodist  pioneers,  Rev. 
and  Mrs.  John  M. 

Springer,  pressed  450 
miles  northwest  to  Ka- 
panga  where  another  sta¬ 
tion  that  is  doing  a  well- 
rounded  type  of  work  has 
been  developed. 

It  is  expected  that  a 
further  station  will  be 
located  at  Sandoa  but, 
until  forces  are  available, 
this  advance  is  hardly 
practicable. 

The  student  of  mis¬ 
sions,  therefore,  who  studies  the  map  of 
the  Congo,  sees  that  the  Methodist  Episco¬ 
pal  Church,  while  undertaking  sole  Prot¬ 
estant  responsibility  for  a  territory  more 
than  four  hundred  miles  square,  has  so  far 
been  able  to  plant  only  three  or  four  iso¬ 
lated  stations  in  widely  separated  corners 
of  this  great  area.  It  must  now  move  for¬ 
ward  to  fill  in  the  unevangelized  regions  or 
it  must  give  up  all  pretext  of  dealing  with 
the  demands  of  the  situation. 

The  immediate  need.' — During  1925  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church  has  approved 
the  following  program  for  the  Belgian 
Congo : 


Missionary  Staff  is  required  for: 
Evangelistic  Work....  7  Couples  1  Single 
Educational  Work.... 10  Couples  5  Single 

Medical  Work  .  3  Couples  1  Single 

Other  Work  .  2  Couples  1  Single 


22  8  $  65,000 

W ork  Operations  will  be  conducted  on 
these  lines : 

Church  Work  from  31  Centers .  $  5,055 

22  Village  Schools  . $  2,353 

5  Central  Schools  . . .  1,265 

1  Training  School  . .  210 

3  Industrial  Schools  .  3.260  7,088 


2  Hospitals  . .  2,205 

1  Dispensary  .  550  2,845 


Miscellaneous  Work  . . . . .  1,458 


Total — Work  Operations  .  $  16,446 


The  first  Sunday  school  at  Kabonga 


Property  Projects: 

6  Missionary  Bungalows  . . . . .  14,250 

1  Large  Church  . $10,000 

4  Smaller  Churches  .  9,700  19,700 


11  Village  School  Buildings.. . $10,100 

5  Central  School  Buildings .  10,250 

1  Training  School  Building .  2,000 

2  Agricultural  School  Bldgs .  12,500  34,850 


1  Hospital  Building  .  4,000 

1  Dispensary  . . .  2,250  6,250 


3  Other  Projects  .  3,100 

Total— Property  Projects  .  $  78,150 

Total  Program  (Congo) . $159,596 


9 


122 


WORLD  SERVICE 


RHODESIA 


Under  the  British  Flag 

Part  of  Cecil  Rhodes’  legacy.— Passing 
south  and  east  from  the  Belgian  Congo, 
the  traveler  entering  southern  Rhodesia 
finds  himself  in  an  African  mission  of  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church  conducted 
under  the  British  flag.  The  center  of  the 
work  is  largely  in  Old  Umtali,  ten  miles 
from  the  city  of  Umtali,  near  the  border 
of  Portuguese  East  Africa. 

In  the  days  when  Cecil  Rhodes  was 
building  into  reality  his  dream  of  empire 
in  Africa,  there  came  a  time  when  he  de¬ 
termined  that  the  four  year  old  city  of 
Umtali  should  be  deserted  and  another 
with  the  same  name,  be  built  on  the  pres¬ 
ent  site.  To  many  it  seemed  mistaken 
policy  to  abandon  the  already  developed 
town.  “What  can  be  done  with  it?”  they 
asked.  “Make  a  mission  of  it,”  replied 
Rhodes.  So  a  mission  it  became. 

The  whole  town  was  turned  over  to 
Bishop  Hartzell.  The  jail  became  a 
school,  the  court  a  hospital,  stores  be¬ 
came  residences,  office  buildings  dormi¬ 
tories,  the  straight  unshaded  streets  gave 
place  to  winding  roads  and  trees  and 
flowers  were  encouraged  to  grow  in  pro¬ 
fusion. 

So  it  can  be  said  that  just  as  Cecil 
Rhodes’  dream  gave  Rhodesia  to  the  Brit¬ 
ish  Empire,  it  likewise  gave  Old  Umtali 
to  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church.  Here 
has  grown  the  most  highly  developed  in¬ 
stitutional  and  agricultural  mission  con¬ 
ducted  by  our  church  in  Africa. 


The  mission  campus  at  Old  Umtali 


Cross-currents  in  Rhodesia. — Rhodesia, 
which  for  administrative  purposes  is  di¬ 
vided  into  northern  and  southern  Rhode¬ 
sia,  is  under  the  administration  of  the 
British  South  Africa  Company,  which 
holds  a  charter  much  like  those  once  held 
by  the  companies  that  developed  India  and 
North  America  for  the  British  crown. 

The  region  south  of  the  Zambezi  River 
is  known  as  Southern  Rhodesia.  In  its 
149,000  square  miles  37,000  whites  seek  to 


Children  from  the  nursery,  Hartzell  Villa, 
Old  Umtali 


rule  770,000  Negroes.  Land  is  owned  by 
the  company.  Negroes  have  been  dis¬ 
possessed  and  gathered  into  native  re¬ 
serves,  much  as  the  Indians  of  the  United 
States  have  been  placed  upon  reservations. 
At  present  the  company  is  attempting  to 
bring  in  large  numbers  of  veterans  of  the 
World  War.  Because  of  its  high  elevation, 
Rhodesia  is  known  as  a  “white  man’s 
land”  and  agriculture  and  stock  raising 
have  proved  a  source  of  profit  for  many 
immigrants. 

There  is  much  agitation  concerning  the 
political  future  of  the  colony.  A  year  ago 
an  election  was  held  in  which  the  colonists 
voted  against  inclusion  in  the  Union  of 
South  Africa.  Many  of  the  business  in¬ 
terests  favor  a  retention  of  the  present 


AFRICA 


123 


School  room,  Mutambara 


status.  The  proposal  has 
been  made  that  the  colony 
be  erected  into  a  crown 
colony,  like  Nigeria,  or 
that  it  be  given  autonomy, 
like  Newfoundland.  Agi¬ 
tation  is  increasing  so 
that  some  solution  of  these 
political  problems  must  be 
achieved  within  a  few 
years. 

Supporting  the  mission¬ 
ary. — It  is  not  likely  that 
any  change  in  government 
will  bring  a  change  in  at¬ 
titude  toward  the  mission¬ 
ary.  From  the  days  of 
Cecil  Rhodes  the  intelligent  colonist  has 
recognized  in  the  missionary  the  most  suc¬ 
cessful  agent  in  accommodating  the  native 
to  changing  industrial  conditions.  The 
practical  result  of  this  support  can  be  seen 
in  the  fact  that  14,800  acres  of  land  in 
various  parts  of  Rhodesia  have  been  given 
to  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  as  a 
basis  for  its  work.  The  attitude  of  the 
political  and  educational  officials  is  almost 
uniformly  that  of  complete  support. 

Training  Hand  While  Changing  Heart 

The  romance  of  Old  Umtali. — “Make  a 
mission  of  it,”  cried  Cecil  Rhodes.  What 
a  mission  it  has  become ! 

Sixteen  missionaries  here  conduct 
schools,  a  theological  seminary,  a  mission 
press,  a  dispensary  and  maternity  hospi¬ 
tal,  as  well  as  an  agricultural  experiment 
station.  At  the  present  time  there  are 
thirty-five  embryo  teachers  in  training 
here,  forty  future  leaders  in  native  agri¬ 
culture,  twenty  preachers  in  the  making. 

Many  a  traveler,  appalled  at  the  lack 
of  development  in  most  of  Central  Africa, 
has  come  to  Old  Umtali  to  have  his  faith 
renewed  by  this  living  proof  of  what  con¬ 
secration  and  a  varied  application  of 
Christian  truth  can  do  in  bringing  trans¬ 
formation. 

Coupled  with  Old  Umtali  are  three  other 
large  stations  as  the  head  of  a  circuit 
spreading  out  over  many  miles.  One  of 


these  is  at  Nyakatsapa,  one  at  Headlands, 
and  one  at  Gandanzara. 

Other  work  in  Rhodesia. — In  Umtali 
there  is  a  work  among  the  large  European 
population  with  another  circuit  minister¬ 
ing  to  natives.  Umtali  is  the  present  gov¬ 
ernment  center,  located  on  a  branch  con¬ 
nected  with  the  Cape-to-Cairo  railroad, 
and  is  bound  to  be  of  increasing  influence. 
No  program  for  a  strong  work  in  the  part 
of  Rhodesia  that  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church  occupies  can  neglect  the  develop¬ 
ment  of  this  center. 

Fifty  miles  south  lies  Mutambara.  Here 
a  strong  industrial  and  educational  work 
is  being  developed.  The  government  in¬ 
spector  of  schools  reported  last  year :  “At 
no  mission  in  Rhodesia  have  I  seen  such 
rapid  and  sound  progress  as  has  taken 
place  at  this  mission  during  the  last  two 
years.  Not  long  ago  there  were  forty  to 
fifty  pupils  receiving  a  little  instruction  in 
reading  and  writing  with  practically  no 
industrial  training.  Now  there  are  283 
pupils  attending  fairly  regularly  and  the 
organization  throughout  is  sound.”  The 
work  at  Mutambara  represents  one  of  the 
largest  advances  in  Africa  during  the  Cen¬ 
tenary  period. 

Sixty  miles  from  Salisbury,  the  capital 
of  Rhodesia,  in  the  native  reserve  of 
Mrewa,  there  is  an  evangelistic  and  medi¬ 
cal  work  in  the  town  of  that  name.  Forty 
miles  farther  northeast  in  the  reserve  of 


124 


WORLD  SERVICE 


A  new  mission  residence  in  Old  Umtali 


Mtoko  there  is  also  work.  The  two  towns 
form  the  stations  for  the  Mrewa  district 
where,  in  an  area  of  6,000  square  miles,  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church  is  responsible 
for  the  evangelization  of  55,000  people. 

The  movement  toward  Christianity  has 
set  in  very  strongly  in  this  region  and  the 
latest  report  states  that  “it  is  not  too  much 
to  expect  a  Christian  following  of  from 
15,000  to  20,000  in  this  district  within  a 
few  years.” 

The  immediate  need. — When  compared 
with  some  other  African  fields,  such  as 
that  in  the  Belgian  Congo,  it  will  be  seen 
that  the  territory  for  which  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church  is  responsible  in  South¬ 


ern  Rhodesia  is  fairly  compact.  Despite 
this  fact  and  the  advances  made  during 
the  Centenary  period,  it  can  not  yet  be 
said  to  be  adequately  occupied.  For  this 
reason  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church 
has  authorized  the  following  program  for 
work  in  Rhodesia  during  1925 : 

Missionary  Staff  is  required  for: 

Evangelistic  Work....  7  Couples  1  Single 
Educational  Work....  8  Couples  2  Single 

Medical  Work .  4  Couples  7  Single 

Other  Work  .  7  Couples  1  Single 


26  11  $  78,500 

Work  Operations  will  be  conducted  on 
these  lines : 

Church  Work  from  131  Centers .  10,198 

75  Day  Schools  . $7,807 

2  Central  Schools  .  295  8,103 

1  Hospital  .  2,500 

2  Dispensaries  .  3,000  5,500 

Miscellaneous  .  6,172 


Total — Work  Operations  .  $  29,973 


Property  Projects: 

6  Missionary  Residences  .  25,150 

2  Small  Churches  . $7,000 

Miscellaneous  Work  .  1,320  8,320 

1  Industrial  School  .  13,240 

1  Hospital  .  5,000 

2  Other  Projects  .  8,600 


Total — Property  Projects  .  $  60,310 


Total  Program  (Rhodesia) .  $169,033 


MOZAMBIQUE 

(Portuguese  East  Africa) 


The  Eastern  End  of  the  Methodist 
Line 

Another  Portuguese  colony. — Columbus 
and  the  Spaniards  sailed  west,  but  before 
they  found  a  New  World  the  Portuguese 
by  sailing  south — down  past  Madeira, 
down  past  Cape  Verde,  around  the  Cape 
of  Good  Hope  and  then  up  the  east  coast 
of  Africa — planted  that  colony  that  sur¬ 
vives  to  this  day.  Mozambique  (more 
commonly  called  Portuguese  East  Africa) 
is  one  of  the  oldest  European  colonies  in 
the  world. 


Portuguese  rule  has  never  been  pro¬ 
gressive.  Nor,  it  must  be  admitted,  has 
this  colony  held  out  the  lures  that  have 
brought  development  to  other  parts  of 
Africa.  Much  of  the  land  is  low  and 
swampy.  There  are  few  mineral  deposits 
of  great  value.  The  people  are  not  of  a 
high  mental  type.  Good  harbors  are  few 
and  the  trade  routes  to  the  interior  infre¬ 
quent. 

A  region  economically  evangelized.  — 
“Africa,  south  of  the  Zambesi,”  said  an 
American  observer  recently,  “is  evangel- 


AFRICA 


125 


ized,  economically  speaking.”  By  that  he 
meant  that  the  word  has  been  taken  to 
every  kraal  and  village  of  the  coming  of 
the  white  man’s  industry  to  the  mines  of 
the  Transvaal,  and  of  the  high  wages  to 
be  earned  there.  As  a  result,  there  is 
scarcely  a  native  man  between  twenty  and 
thirty  years  of  age  to  be  found  in  this 
region  who  has  not 
at  some  time  worked 
in  or  near  Johannes¬ 
burg. 

The  way  in  which 
the  good  news  of  high 
wages  has  penetrated 
the  jungles  of  South¬ 
east  Africa  shows 
that  it  is  not  impos¬ 
sible  within  a  gener¬ 
ation,  to  carry  a 
message  to  these  peo¬ 
ple  sometimes  con¬ 
sidered  inaccessible. 

But  there  is  a  basis 
for  deep  thought  in 
the  fact  that  the  mes¬ 
sage  of  the  mines, 
with  its  inevitable 
danger,  has  made  so 
much  more  rapid 
progress  than  the 
message  of  the  gos¬ 
pel.  The  Christian 
church  needs  to  ask 
itself  whether  it  is 
actually  as  much  in 
earnest  about  reach¬ 
ing  these  people  as 
the  companies  who 
need  laborers  in  their 
mines. 

The  religious  prob¬ 
lem  in  Mozambique. — 

In  no  part  of  Africa  is  there  a  more  diffi¬ 
cult  and  varied  religious  problem  with 
which  to  cope.  “Here  the  traveler  may 
find  traces  of  various  religions,”  writes 
Miss  Barstow.  “There  are  the  altars 
erected  to  the  various  jungle  spirits.  The 
traveler  in  Chopi  land,  for  instance,  often 
comes  upon  as  many  as  eight  altars  within 
a  mile.  A  piece  of  cloth  has  been  tied  to 


a  tree;  the  brush  and  weeds  have  been 
cleared  away ;  and  upon  a  small  mound 
has  been  placed  a  piece  of  flesh,  some 
blood,  a  dish,  fruit,  beads,  and  the  like. 
There  are  also  Mohammedan  mosques,- 
and  here  and  there  a  Catholic  cross  or 
image  of  the  suffering  Jesus. 

“But  there  are  also  those  outdoor  meet¬ 
ings  of  the  native 
converts,  which  fill 
so  many  touching  and 
picturesque  para¬ 
graphs  in  our  mis¬ 
sionaries’  letters. 
All  the  storied  pomp 
of  stained  glass 
windows  and  old 
churches  cannot 
equal  the  impressive¬ 
ness  of  the  camp-fire 
meeting  in  Inham- 
bane  beneath  the 
white  African  moon. 
The  ruddy  glow  of 
the  camp-fire  lights 
up  the  white  teeth, 
brass  bangles  and 
eager  faces  of  the 
black  people  gath¬ 
ered  around  the  mis¬ 
sionary  to  hear  the 
new  message.  The 
solemn  words  seem 
more  solemn  against 
the  background  of 
the  silent  woods, 
whei’e  the  moonlight 
sifting  through  the 
trees,  turns  the 
palms  to  silver.  And 
then,  in  the  stillness, 
the  plaintive  voices 
of  the  black  Chris¬ 
tians  are  lifted  in  the  strains  of  ‘Abide 
with  Me,  Fast  Falls  the  Eventide,’  or  ‘Holy 
Night,  Silent  Night;’  hour  after  hour 
they  will  sing  till  the  music  seems  to  fill 
the  moonlit  space  and  ‘mount  up  beyond 
the  stars  to  the  very  throne  of  God.’  ” 
The  presence  of  Mohammedanism  in  Mo¬ 
zambique  is  not  to  be  connected  with  the 
present  grand  push  of  Islam  through  the 


The  strategy  of  advance  is  through  youth. 
Islam  knows  it  (above)  as  well  as 
Christianity  (below) 


126 


WORLD  SERVICE 


The  native  “medicine  doctor”  at  Inhambane 


heart  of  Central  Africa.  Moslem  traders 
came  to  the  ports  of  the  east  coast  of 
Africa  almost  as  soon  as  European  ad¬ 
venturers  opened  those  ports  and  con¬ 
nected  them  with  India.  The  mosques 
have  been  found  in  the  port  cities  ever 
since.  At  the  present  time  the  large  Mo¬ 
hammedan  population  is  not  increasing 
greatly. 

The  work  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church  is  confined  to  that  part  of  Mozam¬ 
bique  lying  between  the  Sabi  and  Limpopo 
rivers,  stretching  from  the  coast  inland 
to  the  border  of  the  Transvaal.  It  is  or¬ 
ganized  as  the  Inhambane  District  of  the 
Southeast  Africa  Mission  Conference. 

Healing  Bodies  and  Souls 

A  medical  ministry  to  millions. — Di 
rectly  across  the  bay  from  the  city  of  In¬ 
hambane,  on  a  high  bluff  in  the  town  of 


Gikuki,  stands  the  Inhambane  Hospital, 
an  institution  of  mercy  that  is  known 
throughout  all  Southeast  Africa.  With 
the  exception  of  the  dispensary  at  Kam- 
bini,  thirty  miles  inland,  and  a  govern¬ 
ment  hospital  at  Inhambane  that  does  not 
care  for  natives,  this  is  the  only  ministry 
of  its  kind  for  2,500,000  people. 

The  staff  consists  of  a  single  doctor,  two 
nurses  furnished  by  the  Methodist  Epis¬ 
copal  Church  and  one  by  the  Free  Metho¬ 
dist  Church,  five  native  assistants,  and 
twelve  nurses  in  training.  Although  the 
hospital  contains  but  ten  beds,  last  year 
it  cared  for  750  in-patients;  18,000  out¬ 
patients;  426  operations  were  performed; 
460  outside  calls  were  made ;  206  obstetri¬ 
cal  cases  were  handled.  An  analysis  shows 
a  varied  type  of  medical  work,  but  espe¬ 
cial  attention  has  to  be  given  to  tubercu¬ 
losis,  leprosy,  and  bilharzia,  all  of  which 
make  frightful  inroads  in  this  region. 

Evangelism  goes  hand  in  hand  with 
healing.  A  Christian  service  opens  every 
day’s  work  at  the  hospital,  and  the  Bible 
woman  labors  individually  with  the  pa¬ 
tients  throughout  the  day.  Bible  verses 
are  pasted  on  every  bottle  of  medicine 
dispensed.  And  when  some  member  of  a 


- - and  the  sort  of  medicine  doctor  sent  out 

by  the  Methodists 


Christian  family  falls  sick,  and  pagan 
relatives  or  friends  urge  the  calling  in  of 
the  witch  doctor,  the  Christian  physician 
then  comes  to  hold  faith  steady. 

The  response  to  the  work  of  the  In¬ 
hambane  Hospital  has  been  so  great  as  to 


AFRICA 


127 


be  embarrassing.  Tubercular  and  leprous 
natives  present  an  especially  pitiable  ap¬ 
peal,  for  there  is  almost  no  way  of  caring 
for  them,  and  in  most  cases  they  must,  out 
of  consideration  for  the  other  patients,  be 
sent  away.  Rapidly  as  the  work  has  ex¬ 
panded  during  the  Centenary  period,  this 
further  expansion,  to  provide  proper  iso¬ 
lation  and  care  for  cases  of  this  kind,  is 
urgently  needed. 

Africa’s  gratitude. — The  way  in  which 
the  native  feels  about  such  service  as  is 
being  rendered  at  the  Inhambane  Hospi¬ 
tal  is  graphically  expressed  in  a  letter  re¬ 
ceived  by  the  Board  of  Foreign  Missions : 

“This  doctor  we  call  him  in  our  native 
converse  ‘Nenguelisam,’  that  means  in¬ 
terpret,  ‘Maker  of  people  to  be  glad.’  Oh, 
this  marvelously  doctor !  Why?  Look  at 
the  people;  these  did  have  great  sick 
which  we  could  not  hope  that  these  peo¬ 
ple  will  be  healed.  But  now  are  getting 
well.  Is  he  not  marvelously  doctor?  He 
is  doctor  of  hearts,  too.  He  makes  happy 
the  unjoy  heart  and  makes  more  tender¬ 
ness  the  durable  hearts.  He  is  a  friend  of 
babies,  children,  men,  women,  white  peo¬ 
ple,  and  he  is  friend  of  all  people  of  black. 
If  he  finds  us  at  food  he  take  the  spoon 
and  eat  with  us  the  food  of  our  black 
people.  Therefore  I  make  you  know  that 
let  you  not  fatigue  to  help  this  make-glad 
doctor  Stauffacher.” 

Other  Methodist  work  in  Mozambique. — 
At  Gikuki  and  Kambini  there  are  training 
schools  in  which  native  pastors,  selected 
from  the  out-station  schools,  pass  through 
a  course  that  includes  the  Bible,  the  his¬ 
tory  of  the  church,  and  the  lives  of  Wes¬ 
ley,  of  Livingstone,  and  of  Mohammed. 
The  schools  for  girls,  conducted  by  the 
Woman’s  Foreign  Missionary  Society, 
place  stress  upon  the  household  arts. 

There  is  the  beginning  of  an  agricul¬ 
tural  mission  at  Kambini  on  the  farm  of 
1,200  acres,  and  the  Inhambane-  Press, 
located  at  the  same  station,  finds  its  edi¬ 
tions  grown  from  500  to  25,000  with  no 
possibility  of  keeping  pace  with  the  de¬ 
mand.  A  commentary,  this,  upon  the 
increase  in  literacy  among  Christians. 


There  is  also  a  station  planted  at  Man- 
jacaze,  forty-five  miles  from  Chai-chai,  on 
the  railway  running  north. 

From  all  the  central  stations  there  ra¬ 
diate  a  large  number  of  out-stations. 
There  are  more  than  one  hundred  of  these 
out-station  schools  in  Portuguese  East 
Africa,  with  3,173  children  in  them.  The 
baptized  Christian  community  includes 
about  six  thousand  persons,  but  a  much 
larger  number  are  under  constant  spirit¬ 
ual  care. 

The  immediate  need. — It  is  impossible 
to  separate  the  budget  for  the  work  in 
Mozambique  from  that  for  the  work  in 
the  Transvaal,  for  both  are  parts  of  one 
conference.  In  caring  for  the  needs  of 
that  conference  missionaries  cannot 
always  pause  to  consider  boundary  lines. 

Bearing  that  in  mind,  it  has  been  the 
judgment  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church  that,  during  1925,  the  work  in 
Southeast  Africa,  including  both  Mozam¬ 
bique  and  the  Transvaal,  should  be  on  this 
basis : 

Missionary  Staff  will  be  required  for: 

Evangelistic  Work....  4  Couples  0  Single 
Educational  Work....  5  Couples  0  Single 

Medical  Work  .  2  Couples  4  Single 

Other  Work .  4  Couples  0  Single 


15  4 

$  42,500 

W ork  Operations  will  be  conducted  on 
these  lines : 

Church  Work  from  104  Centers... 

156  Village  Schools  .  $7697 

2  Central  Schools  .  3  310 

1  Training  'School  .  1410 

..$  12,768 

12,417 

1  Hospital  . 

2  Dispensaries  . 

...  4,750 
.  2,625 

7,375 

Other  and  General  Operations 
Total — Work  Operations  .. 

5,925 
$  38,485 

Property  Projects: 

1  Missionary  Residence 

25  Smaller  Churches  . 

.$  8,500 
300 

$  5,500 

Miscellaneous  .... 

8,800 

2  Central  School  Buildings.... 

1  Training  School  Building. 

.  10,000 
3,500 

13,500 

2  Hospitals  . 

3  Other  Projects  ... 

11,500 

7,700 

Total — Property  Projects. 
Total  Program  (Southeast  . 

4frLa) 

$  47,000 
$127,985 

128 


WORLD  SERVICE 


THE  UNION  OF  SOUTH  AFRICA 

(The  Transvaal) 


The  Lure  of  the  Mines 

Johannesburg. — It  is  the  lure  of  the 
mines  that  is  drawing  the  men  of  Central 
Africa  into  the  Transvaal.  Just  how 
many  diamonds  or  how  much  gold  and 
coal  will  be  dug  out  before  the  soil  is  ex¬ 
hausted  cannot  be  calculated.  But  long 
before  that  time  the  flow  of  laborers  back 
and  forth,  from  the  mines  to  all  the  vil¬ 
lages  south  of  the  Zambezi,  will  have  rev¬ 
olutionized  at  least  a  third  of  Africa. 

History  tells  how  sinister  a  role  the 
mines  in  and  about  Johannesburg  have 
played.  In  years  past  their  social  influ¬ 
ence  was  almost  as  bad  as  their  economic. 
Africa  seemed  to  be  overrun  with  black 
men,  and  the  whites  who  were  developing 
the  mines  felt  no  compunction  over  wast¬ 
ing  Negro  life.  Forced  labor  was  com¬ 
mon  ;  hygienic  conditions  in  and  about  the 
mines  took  a  frightful  toll. 

This  is  no  longer  true,  at  least  in  the 
better  mines.  The  companies  have  come 
to  see  the  value  of  a  life,  even  when  it  is 
the  life  of  only  a  bush  Negro.  Healthy, 
contented  workingmen  are  a  better  invest¬ 
ment  than  diseased,  resentful  employees. 
Any  effort  to  safeguard  and  benefit  the 
natives  in  the  mines  of  the  Rand  now 
meets  with  the  enthusiastic  support  of 
the  employing  mining  companies. 


A  primitive  sort  of  meal,  but  satisfying — 
All  eating  from  one  bowl 


Following  the  convert. — Common  labor 
at  the  mines  of  the  Transvaal  is  done 
almost  exclusively  by  Negroes  imported 
from  Portuguese  East  Africa  and  Rho¬ 
desia.  The  employment  agents  press  far 
into  the  jungles,  with  their  promise  of 
large  pay.  Men  who  have  worked  at  Jo¬ 
hannesburg  return  to  their  kraals  with 
trunks  bulging — umbrella,  walking  stick, 
frying  pan,  enamel  wash  bowl,  bucket, 
folding  chair,  multi-colored  vest,  coat,  hat, 
shoes,  collar,  necktie,  shirts,  comb,  mirror, 
hair  brush,  soap,  vaseline,  beads,  brooch, 
waists,  dresses,  “and  other  articles  too 
numerous  to  mention.”  Between  the  two, 
the  urge  becomes  so  strong  that  practi¬ 
cally  every  able-bodied  young  man  makes 
the  journey  of  hundreds  of  miles  to  the 
mines. 

In  this  group  go  Christians  as  well  as 
pagans.  In  fact,  the  companies  encourage 
the  coming  of  Christians,  having  found 
them  to  be  most  dependable  workers.  But 
the  same  sort  of  temptations  lie  in  wait 
for  these  Negroes  that  beset  the  path  of 
men  away  from  home  in  other  parts  of 
the  world.  Unless  they  are  safeguarded 
their  period  in  the  Transvaal  may  prove 
their  religious  and  physical  ruin. 

It  is  for  this  reason  that  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church  finds  itself  at  work  in 
the  Union  of  South  Africa.  There  are 
many  missionary  societies  in  the  country, 
especially  those  of  British  and  Dutch 
origin.  They  do  good  work.  Why,  then, 
has  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  dur¬ 
ing  the  Centenary  period,  extended  its 
work  here  as  well?  Simply  to  care  for 
the  thousands  of  converts  who  come  down, 
every  year,  from  Portuguese  East  Africa 
into  this  strange  environment.  Friend¬ 
less,  talking  a  strange  dialect,  these  con¬ 
verts  cannot  be  left  at  the  mercy  of  the 
sharks  who  surround  the  mines. 

Types  of  work. — The  mining  companies 
house  their  laborers  in  compounds,  which 
consist  of  simple  dormitories  surrounded 


AFRICA 


129 


by  walls.  As  many  as  7,000  Negroes  live 
in  a  single  one  of  these  dormitories.  The 
hours  of  labor  are  not  excessively  long,  so 
that  much  of  the  time  is  spent  lounging 
about  the  compound  or,  when  permission 
can  be  obtained,  whiling  away  time  out¬ 
side.  The  laborer’s  time  may  thus  be¬ 
come  his  undoing,  or,  properly  used,  it 
may  increase  his  value  to  society  enor¬ 
mously. 

In  sixty-three  such  compounds  in  and 
about  Johannesburg  the  Methodist  Epis¬ 
copal  Church  has  work.  Here,  with  the 
encouragement  of  the  companies,  rooms 
have  been  opened  in  which  evangelistic 
and  educational  work  is  conducted.  Two 
school  sessions  are  held  daily,  as  well  as 
a  prayer  service,  and  on  Sundays  there 
are  the  regular  services  of  the  church. 
The  teaching  is  done  in  the  native  dialects 


Black  folk  gathered  to  hear  the  missionary 
preach  in  a  compound,  Johannesburg 


and  in  Portuguese,  the  official  language  of 
the  region  from  which  the  converts  have 
come. 

Because  these  workmen  are  receiving 
good  wages  they  are  expected  to  make 
this  work,  with  the  exception  of  the  salary 


Black  folk  gathered  for  a  Sunday  dance  in  the 
mine  compound,  Johannesburg 


of  the  supervising  missionary,  self-sup¬ 
porting.  This  they  gladly  do.  After 
their  period  of  service  at  the  mines  has 
expired,  many  of  these  “Johannesburg 
men”  become  outstanding  leaders  in  the 
church  in  Portuguese  East  Africa. 

The  immediate  need. — There  are  still 
scores  of  compounds  containing  Metho¬ 
dists  where  it  has  been  impossible  for  the 
church  to  extend  its  work.  In  many  of 
the  compounds  there  is  an  inescapable 
obligation  resting  upon  the  church  to 
broaden  its  program.  Lives  influenced 
here  will  tell  for  Christ  over  many  hun¬ 
dred  miles  of  Africa.  The  church  must 
see  that  this  work,  so  auspiciously  begun, 
is  properly  carried  ahead. 

The  approved  budget  for  work  in  the 
Transvaal  during  1925  is  included  with 
that  printed  in  the  section  devoted  to  Mo¬ 
zambique.  Since  that  work  is  all  part  of 
one  conference — the  Southeast  Africa 
Mission  Conference — it  is  impossible  to 
divide  it  by  geographical  lines. 


LATIN  AMERICA 


iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiimmiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii 


MEXICO 
PANAMA 
COSTA  RICA 
PERU 
BOLIVIA 
CHILE 
ARGENTINA 
URUGUAY 


Distribution  of  Methodist  Episcopal  churches  in  Latin  America 


GANTE  CHURCH,  MEXICO  CITY 


In  all  material  matters,  as  well  as  in  matters  more 
spiritual,  South  America  is  today  pre-eminently  the 
continent  of  opportunity „ 

Francis  E.  Clark 


LATIN  AMERICA 


The  task  of  bringing  a  living  Christ  to 
the  solution  of  the  problems  of  the  Latin 
world  is  one  of  the  most  difficult  confront¬ 
ing  the  church.  The  Christian  rejoices, 
however,  that  at  last  Protestantism  is 
facing  this  need  with  a  unity,  determina¬ 
tion  and  wisdom  unknown  in  the  past. 

The  Field 

To  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  has 
been  assigned  an  honorable  part  in  the 
evangelization  of  Latin  America-.  Our 
lines  run  from  the  Rio  Grande  on  the  north 
to  the  Straits  of  Magellan  on  the  south. 

Mexico,  Costa  Rica,  Panama, 

Peru,  Bolivia,  Chile,  Argentina 
and  Uruguay — this  is  the  pres¬ 
ent  Latin  American  field  of  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church. 

In  none  of  these  countries  is 
there  any  overlapping  with  the 
work  of  the  other  evangelical 
bodies  who  have  formed  the 


Committee  on  Co-operation  in  Latin 
America.  United  advance  is  the  slogan. 

A  Unified  Work 

Increasingly  the  Latin  American  effort 
of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  is  be¬ 
coming  unified.  The  two  bishops  work  in 
closest  harmony,  and  the  problems  of  San¬ 
tiago  are  considered  in  the  light  of  experi¬ 
ence  gained  in  Puebla. 

From  the  episcopal  headquarters  in  the 
City  of  Mexico  the  work  in  Mexico,  Costa 
Rica,  Panama  and  Peru  is  administered. 

From  Buenos  Aires  supervision  is  given 
to  Argentina,  Uruguay,  Chile 
and  Bolivia. 

These  are  two  of  the  largest 
episcopal  areas  in  Methodism 
both  in  size  and  in  terms  of  the 
time  required  to  cover  them. 

Continental  secretaries. — With 
the  advanced  program  made 
possible  by  the  Centenary,  there 


133 


134 


WORLD  SERVICE 


has  come  a  requirement  for  leaders  for 
specialized  lines  of  effort.  Three  sec¬ 
retaries  are  accordingly  at  work. 

The  Rev.  Hugh  C.  Stuntz  has  been  nota¬ 
bly  successful  in  raising  the  standards  of 
Sunday-school  work.  In  the  religious  cul¬ 
ture  of  children  lies  the  great  hope  for  the 
future  power  of  evangelism  in  Latin  lands. 

The  Rev.  Paul  Barnhart  is  bearing  a 
notable  part  in  the  temperance  campaigns 
that  are  now  fighting  the  alcoholism  that 
so  menaces  South  America’s  future.  Gov¬ 
ernment  education  departments  have  gone 
so  far  as  to  ask  him  to  prepare  texts  for 
use  in  public  schools. 

The  Rev.  S.  P.  Hauser  has  given  direc¬ 
tion  to  the  increasing  activities  of  the  Ep- 
worth  Leagues. 

In  addition  to  these,  the  Rev.  George  A. 
Miller  was  appointed  executive  secretary 
of  the  Centenary  movement  for  the  con¬ 
tinent,  and  the  remarkable  increase  in 
self-support  and  in  membership  testify  to 
the  enthusiasm  with  which  that  work  has 
been  pushed. 

The  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  as  a 
member  of  the  Committee  on  Co-operation 
in  Latin  America,  benefits  from  the  em¬ 
ployment  of  an  educational  secretary. 

Main  Lines  of  Advance 

The  basic  problems  of  the  Latin  Amer¬ 
ican  countries  are  much  the  same.  The 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church  in  these  eight 
republics  plans  six  lines  of  advance. 

Trained  leadership.  —  This  comes  first 
everywhere.  The  ministry  has  suffered 
through  failing  to  attract  men  who  had 
little  more  than  warmth  of  spirit  and  de¬ 
votion  to  bring  to  their  task.  Higher 
grade  men  can  be  found,  but  they  must 
receive  higher  grade  training. 

Fit  quarters. — The  work  in  Latin  Amer¬ 
ica  lies  under  the  shadow  of  the  cathedral. 
Better  class  Latins,  even  when  out  of  sym¬ 
pathy  with  Catholicism,  will  not  worship 
in  hovels.  Most  of  our  congregations  use 
rented  quarters.  These  are  anything  but 
churchly.  A  few  of  them  were  once  cattle 
sheds.  Any  hope  of  large  evangelistic  ad¬ 
vance  is  conditioned  by  the  provision  of 
suitable  church  edifices. 


A  social  ministry. — The  church  as  a  com¬ 
munity  servant  is  one  conception  that  the 
Latin  mind  has  lacked.  Religion  has  been 
dogma  or  ritual.  This  new  conception 
appeals  to  the  progressive  group.  King¬ 
dom  strategy  therefore  demands  that 
this  type  of  work  be  stressed. 

Standardized  education. — Schools  have 
proved,  since  the  days  of  William  Taylor, 
the  most  direct  way  to  public  confidence 
in  Latin  America.  However,  left  to  them¬ 
selves,  these  schools  have  shown  startling 
differences  in  the  grade  of  work  done.  AV 
our  schools  must  be  brought  to  the  point 
where  they  do  the  best  work. 

Sunday-school  development.  —  Supple¬ 
menting  secular  education,  we  must  seize 
our  chance  to  mold  the  coming  South 
America.  Our  Sunday  schools  should  be 
the  link  between  the  upper  class,  who  have 
been  in  our  schools,  and  the  poor  who  have 
been  in  our  congregations.  A  full  Sunday- 
school  program  may  change  the  character 
of  our  work  in  a  decade. 

Medical  work. — This,  a  new  type  of 
social  service  in  South  America,  has  met 
with  such  instant  response  that  the  pro¬ 
gram  for  the  future  should  include  a 
large  use  of  this  agency. 

The  immediate  need. — For  the  features 
of  the  work  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church  that  affect  Latin  America  as  a 
whole  this  program  for  1925  has  been 
approved : 


Missionary  Staff  is  required  for: 

Evangelistic  Work  . 2  Couples  0  Single 

Educational  Work  . I  Couple  0  Single 

Medical  Work  . 0  Couples  0  Single 

Other  Work  . 5  Couples  2  Single 

8  2 

Work  Operations  will  be  conducted  along 
the  following  lines : 

Church  Work  from  6  Centers . 

$  31,900 

14.450 

1  Theological  Training  School . $  2,450 

Other  Operations  .  31,000 

33,450 

Total — Work  Operations  . 

$  47,900 

Property  Projects  to  make  possible : 

2  Missionary  Residences  . 

2  Miscellaneous  Projects  . 

$  20,000 
18,000 

Total — Property  Projects  . 

$  38,000 

Total  Program  (Latin  America 
General)  . 

$117,800 

LATIN  AMERICA 


135 


MEXICO 


“And  Who  is  My  Neighbor?” 

America’s  responsibility  below  the  Rio 
Grande.  —  One  thousand,  eight  hundred 


and  eighty-three  miles  of  the  southern 
border  of  the  United  States  provide  the 
northern  border  of  the  Republic  of  Mex¬ 
ico.  With  a  territory  more  than  equal  to 
a  fourth  of  the  United  States  and  a  popu¬ 
lation  of  only  twenty  persons  to  the 
square  mile,  the  future  development  of 
this  treasure  house  provides  one  of  the 
world’s  challenges  to  an  international 
Christianity. 

The  United  States  can  not  dodge  its  re¬ 
sponsibility  for  the  welfare  of  Mexico.  For 
one  thing,  contiguity  has  been  recognized 
in  diplomacy  as  introducing  international 
obligations.  In  the  second  place,  previous 
acts  by  the  United  States,  including  what 
General  U.  S.  Grant  called  “one  of  the 
most  unjust  wars  ever  waged  by  a 
stronger  against  a  weaker  nation,”  have 
deprived  Mexico  of  more  territory  than 
she  still  holds  and  thus  have  exerted  a 
profound  influence  upon  her  development. 
Finally,  large  investments  by  American 
citizens  have  bound  together  the  economic 
welfare  of  the  two  peoples. 

The  destiny  of  Mexico  is  largely  condi¬ 
tioned  by  the  policy  of  the  United  States, 
and  it  is  imperative  that  the  United  States 
face  this  obligation  determined  to  secure 
the  welfare  of  the  Mexican  people  before 
every  other  consideration. 

Mexico’s  present  situation. — Mexico  is 
just  emerging  from  a  long  period  of  rev¬ 


olution.  Since  Porfirio  Diaz  fled  in  1911, 
one  revolution  has  followed  another.  Gen¬ 
eral  Obregon,  who  became  President  in 
1920,  seems  to  be  bringing  peace  and  a 
measure  of  solution  to  the  problems  of 
the  country. 

The  stability  of  any  Mexican  adminis¬ 
tration  will  in  the  long  run  depend  upon 
its  success  in  dealing  with  the  land  ques¬ 
tion.  During  the  years  that  Diaz  was  in 
power  laws  ostensibly  passed  to  stabilize 
land  holdings  really  succeeded  in  reducing 
the  vast  majority  of  the  people  to  peon¬ 
age.  Most  of  the  revolutions  of  the  last 
decade  have,  at  bottom,  been  attempts  to 
get  the  land  back  into  the  hands  of  its 
original  owners.  This  process  is  now 
under  way  all  over  Mexico,  and  must  be 
recognized  in  any  program  for  helping 
the  Mexican  people. 

The  Mexican  people. — Indians,  whites 
and  those  of  mixed  blood,  the  mestizos, 
make  up  the  fifteen  million  population  of 
Mexico.  It  is  estimated  that  there  are 


Our  young  Mexican  neighbor 


136 


WORLD  SERVICE 


about  five  million  pure-blooded  Indians 
and  a  much  larger  number  of  mestizos. 
The  Spanish-speaking  whites  have  gen¬ 
erally  ruled  the  country. 

While  the  official  language  is  Spanish, 
people  for  the  most  part  speak  various 
Indian  dialects,  of  which  180  have  been 
distinguished.  There  are  towns  in  which 
different  dialects  are 
spoken  on  the  same 
street. 

The  people  live  in 
much  the  same  manner 
as  they  must  have  before 
the  coming  of  the  Span¬ 
ish  conquerors.  The 
houses  are  adobe,  the 
cooking  vessels  largely 
clay,  the  food  mainly 
corn,  beans  and  chili 
peppers.  Mexicans  are 
nominal  members  of  the 
Roman  Catholic  church, 
but  remain  as  supersti¬ 
tious  and  even  as  idola¬ 
trous  as  before  Chris¬ 
tianity  came  to  their 
country. 

What  Mexico  thinks  of 
the  United  States. — Almost  all  Mexicans 
are  intensely  suspicious  of.  the  United 
States.  The  majority  hate  the  United 
States.  Practically  every  newspaper  in 
the  country  gives  evidence  of  a  fear  that 
the  United  States  is  determined  to  add 
more  to  the  930,590  square  miles  already 
wrested  from  Mexico. 

The  operations  of  many  of  the  mining 
and  oil  companies  have  added  to  their  sus¬ 
picions.  Threats  of  intervention,  prompted 
by  certain  American  interests,  have 
served  only  to  exasperate  the  Mexicans. 
It  can  not  be  said  that  American  diplo¬ 
macy  has  always  conducted  itself  in  a 
way  to  make  such  resentment  less. 

The  Salvation  of  Mexico 

Political  salvation. — It  begins  to  look  as 
though  Mexico  would  win  her  own  politi¬ 
cal  salvation,  provided  she  is  not  inter¬ 
fered  with.  She  has  reduced  her  army 
from  72,000  to  40,000.  Her  administra¬ 


tion  is  gradually  working  out  a  series  of 
land  laws  that  insure  the  greatest  reform 
possible  at  this  date.  The  constitution 
adopted  in  1917,  and  since  then  adjusted 
in  various  parts,  will,  if  adhered  to,  give 
Mexico  a  modern  democratic  form  of  gov¬ 


large  portion  of  the  American  public. 
Such  evidence  as  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church  or  other  evangelical  bodies  can 
give  of  their  interest  in  and  sympathy 
with  the  democratic  aspirations  of  the 
Mexican  people  will  be  a  distinct  help 
toward  the  political  salvation  of  the 
country. 

Economic  salvation. — Mexico  is  deter¬ 
mined  to  be  free  from  the  old  system  of 
great  estates  owned  by  a  few  wealthy 
families  and  the  church.  The  new  land 
laws  all  point  in  this  direction.  They,  like¬ 
wise,  seek  to  reserve  for  the  Mexican  peo¬ 
ple  the  natural  resources  that  have  been 
largely  exploited  by  foreign  capital. 

Mexico  is  one  of  the  great  mining  cen¬ 
ters  of  the  world.  More  than  half  of  the 
world’s  silver  has  been  taken  out  of  her 
hills,  and  copper,  iron,  gold,  precious  and 
semi-precious  stones  are  also  found  in 
abundance.  There  were  919  oil  wells  in 
1917  with  a  potential  production  of 


ernment. 

The  greatest  contribution  that  could 

be  made  at  the 
present  time  to 
the  solution  of 
political  prob¬ 
lems  of  Mexico 
would  be  evi¬ 
dence  of  the  dis¬ 
interested  good 
will  of  the  United 
States,  or  of  any 


llipi  METHODIST  EPISCOPAL 
Methodist  Episcopal.  South 
[  ]  Presbyterian.  North 

WM/A  Presbyterian,  South 
FT  )  Presbyterian.  Reformed 

Disciples 
Congregational 
Friends 


How  Mexico  is  divided  among  the  Protestant  denominations 


LATIN  AMERICA 


137 


1,337,012  barrels  daily.  In  1919,  80,557,- 
229  barrels  of  oil  were  shipped  out  of  the 
country. 

All  these  riches  have  seemingly  brought 
Mexico  more  woe  than  wealth.  The  large 
corporations  have  felt  almost  no  responsi¬ 
bility  for  the  welfare  of  their  Mexican 
employees.  Bishop  Thirkield  tells  of  a 
single  foreign  corporation  that  reported 
net  profits  of  $49,000,000  in  one  year  but 
that  has  not  expended  $100,000  in  the 
last  ten  years  for  the  uplift  of  the  Mexi¬ 
can  people. 

Anything  that  can  be  done  to  help  Mex¬ 
ico  secure  a  square  deal  in  the  develop¬ 
ment  of  her  internal  resources  and  raise 
the  Mexican  people  from  the  squalor  in 
which  most  of  them  live,  will  be  a  contri¬ 
bution  toward  the  economic  salvation  of 
the  land. 

Educational  salvation. — Hand  in  hand 
with  the  poverty  goes  the  illiteracy  of  the 
masses  of  Mexico.  Superstition  is  still  a 
potent  force  in  the  daily  life.  Internal 
warfare  has  made  impossible  the  carry¬ 
ing  through  of  any  government  scheme 
for  education,  even  had  the  teachers  been 
available. 

Mexican  leaders  realize  that  it  is  im¬ 
possible  to  build  a  modern  democracy  on 
an  illiterate  citizenship.  Yet  the  attempt 
to  deal  with  the  educational  problems  of 
Mexico  has  hardly  begun.  No  form  of 
help  is  more  needed  or  will  command 
quicker  attention  in  Mexico  today  than 
the  conducting  of  schools  of  the  first  grade. 


Methodist  Episcopal  centers  in  Mexico 


The  Aztecas  Mission,  Mexico  City 


Religious  salvation.  —  Religious  condi¬ 
tions  in  Mexico  are  much  like  those  in 
other  Latin  countries,  except  that  the 
break  between  the  political  leaders,  most 
of  whom  are  socialists,  and  the  church  is 
more  open  than  elsewhere. 

The  constitution  of  1917  forbids  any 
ecclesiastical  body  from  owning  property. 
This  is  a  law  evoked  only  to  protect  the 
Republic  against  the  great  land  holdings 
of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church.  The  mon¬ 
asteries  and  convents  have  been  closed 
and  several  religious  orders  and  eccle¬ 
siastical  leaders  have  been  excluded  from 
the  country. 

The  drift  toward  materialism  and  ag¬ 
nosticism  is  everywhere  to  be  noted.  A 
new  conception  of  religion  as  a  way  of 
life  and  social  uplift  must  be  introduced 
immediately  if  Mexico  is  not  to  lose  her¬ 
self  in  the  wastes  of  irreligion.  For  this 
reason,  a  wise  evangelical  advance  is 
needed  as  perhaps  never  before. 

The  Contribution  of  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church 

The  occupation  of  Mexico. — Mexico  was 
one  of  the  first  centers  toward  which  the 
eyes  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church 
turned  after  it  had  been  aroused  to  for¬ 
eign  missionary  zeal.  It  proved  impossible 
to  carry  through  the  suggestion  made  in 
the  General  Conference  of  1835  until  1871 
when,  under  the  inspiration  of  Bishop 
Haven,  with  an  appropriation  of  $10,000, 
the  work  was  opened. 

Under  the  leadership  of  William  Butler, 
who  had  the  honor  of  founding  the  work 


10 


138 


WORLD  SERVICE 


conference  sessions  as  planned.  Observ¬ 
ers  feared  lest  the  work  in  Mexico  should 
be  disorganized  beyond  the  point  where  it 
could  show  strength  for  years  to  come. 

Just  the  opposite  has  been  the  result. 
The  church  has  been  purged  of  its  baser 
elements.  Evangelicalism  has  proved  its 
sympathy  with  reform,  and  a  wise  divi¬ 
sion  of  territory  has  helped  launch  a  more 
vigorous  campaign  than  ever  in  the  past. 

In  1914  representatives  of  the  various 
missions  working  in  Mexico,  drew  up  a 
plan  whereby  the  territory  of  the  Repub¬ 
lic  was  allotted  so  that  there  was  no  over¬ 
lapping  work  and,  more  important,  no 
neglected  districts.  It  was  also  decided 
to  unite  the  forces  for  the  establishment 
of  various  educational  and  publishing 
agencies  of  high  grade. 

Important  territory. — As  the  plan  was 
finally  carried  into  effect  in  1919,  it  made 
the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  responsi¬ 
ble  for  the  Protestant  work  in  the  states 
of  Guanajuato,  Queretaro,  Hidalgo, 
Puebla,  Tlaxcala,  half  of  the  state  of  Mex¬ 
ico,  and  a  part  of  the  state  of  Morelos.  In 
the  Federal  District  and  in  the  City  of 
Mexico,  which  are  regarded  as  common 
territory,  the  work  is  shared  with  other 
missions.  The  population  of  the  region 
for  which  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church 
is  exclusively  responsible  is  3,900,000. 
Study  of  the  history  and  topography  of 
Mexico  will  show  the 
great  importance  of  this 
high  plateau  upon  which 
the  work  of  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church  is  cen¬ 
tered.  It  is  not  too  much 
to  say  that  all  the  great 
movements  and  leaders  of 
Mexico  in  all  realms  have 
had  their  birth  in  this  re¬ 
gion.  That  it  shall  be  the 
scene  of  a  vital  Chris¬ 
tianity  in  years  to  come 
is  a  matter  of  utmost  im¬ 
portance. 

The  chu  rch  today. — 
There  are  dozens  of  con- 
Boys  from  our  school  at  Queretaro  gregations  in  Mexico  that 


in  India  as  well,  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church  entered  Mexico  City,  planting  its 
headquarters  in  a  part  of  the  old  monas¬ 
tery  of  San  Francisco,  “one  of  the  most 
extensive  and  wealthy  institutions  in  the 
world.”  The  property  had  been  taken 
from  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  by  the 
Mexican  government,  following  the  down¬ 
fall  of  the  Emperor  Maximilian.  It  had 
passed  through  many  hands,  being  used  as 
a  theater  and  a  circus.  The  help  of  an 
Irish  Catholic  brought  it  into  Methodist 
hands  for  $8,150. 

The  work  grew  rapidly.  From  Mexico 
City  it  spread  to  many  other  cities,  and 
congregations  were  planted  at  Pachuca, 
the  capital  of  the  state  of  Hidalgo;  Ori¬ 
zaba  ;  Puebla,  also  a  state  capital ;  Guana¬ 
juato,  capital  of  the  state  of  the  same 
name;  Queretaro  and  elsewhere. 

Through  days  of  revolution. — Naturally 
the  work  of  the  church  suffered  heavily 
during  the  period  following  the  fall  of 
Diaz  in  1911.  Many  of  the  members  of 
the  evangelical  churches  were  leaders  in 
the  revolutionary  movement.  On  the 
other  hand,  many  excesses  were  com¬ 
mitted  by  roving  bands  that  were  practi¬ 
cally  free  from  any  central  authority. 
Church  members  were  killed,  churches 
burned,  some  pastors  were  held  for  ran¬ 
som,  many  members  were  impoverished. 
At  times  it  was  impossible  to  hold  annual 


LATIN  AMERICA 


139 


deserve  special  notice  in  such  a  volume  as 
this.  The  advance  in  self-support  is  one 
evidence  of  the  vigor  of  their  life.  In  the 
last  year  they  registered  an  advance  of 
$57,700  (286  per  cent)  in  giving. .  A  single 
congregation,  the  Gante  church  in  Mexico 
City,  that  was  giving  2,500  pesos  in  1920, 
went  up  to  6,000  pesos  in  1921  and  13,800 
in  1922.  Every  district  in  the  Mexico 
Conference  can  provide  almost  equally 
striking  examples.  There  are  six  large 
congregations  that  are  self-supporting. 

More  striking  is  the  broadening  scope 
of  the  work  being  done.  In  half  a  dozen 
centers,  Methodism  is  now  giving  the 
Protestant  interpretation  of  a  full  gospel, 
with  features  that  minister  to  the  social, 
economic  and  physical,  as  well  as  the  spir¬ 
itual  needs  of  the  Mexicans.  Such  work 
elicits  the  heartiest  support  from  the 
authorities,  who  can  think  in  terms  of 
community  uplift  even  when  their  past 
experience  with  organized  religion  has 
made  them  suspicious  of  the  church. 
This  is  the  reason  why,  at  the  time  when 
the  stringent  provisions  of  the  Constitu¬ 
tion  of  1917  are  being  enforced  against 
Catholics,  the  Protestant  churches  find 
themselves  free  to  go  forward  as  never 
before. 

Within  the  past  two  or  three  years  a  sig¬ 
nificant  development  of  Sunday-school 
work,  of  the  Epworth  League,  and  of  lay 
leadership  has  come  in  the  Methodist 
Church  of  Mexico.  In  co-operation  with 
the  Board  of  Foreign  Missions  the  Ep¬ 
worth  League  has  held  two  institutes,  with 
courses  of  study  approved  by  the  Central 
Office,  that  have  proved  not  only  of  value 
in  putting  the  organization  upon  a  stable 
basis,  but  have  provided  a  large  number 
of  young  lay  workers. 

Lines  of  Advance 

Helping  to  solve  social  problems. — Insti¬ 
tutional  churches  in  large  cities  attack  di¬ 
rectly  the  causes  of  social  misery.  The 
Gante  church  in  Mexico  City,  for  example, 
can  now  report  a  children’s  church,  a  night 
school,  special  classes  for  women,  a  dis¬ 
pensary,  headquarters  for  social  work, 
beside  the  regular  church  auditorium. 


“Inasmuch  as  ye  have  done  it  unto  one  of  the 
least  of  these” — Good  Samaritan 
Hospital,  Guanajuato 


Even  more  extensive  social  programs  are 
projected  elsewhere. 

The  fight  against  filth,  carried  on  from 
these  church  centers,  is  of  large  import¬ 
ance,  and  is  showing  good  results.  The 
same  can  be  said  of  the  agitation  against 
the  increasing  intemperance  that  is  one  of 
the  most  disquieting  facts  in  present  day 
Mexico.  Much  help  has  been  sent  from 
the  United  States  bv  the  Board  of  Tem¬ 
perance,  Prohibition,  and  Public  Morals  to 
the  missionaries  who  have  been  leading  in 
this  effort. 

Much  enthusiasm  has  been  roused  in 
Mexico  by  the  establishment  of  a  farm 
school  at  Queretaro,  where  men  are  being 
fitted  for  occupancy  of  the  land  that  the 
government  is  pledged  to  provide.  This 
school  is  trying  to  produce  teachers  of 
farmers,  as  well  as  to  teach  farming,  and 
is  being  warmly  supported  by  the  govern¬ 
ment. 

Well-tried  methods. — Nor  are  methods 
that  have  proved  their  power  during  past 


140 


WORLD  SERVICE 


Mexican  lad  trying  to  write 


years  being  abandoned.  Education  is 
being  pushed.  The  government  hopes 
some  day  to  be  able  to  provide  a  common 
school  education  for  every  Mexican  child. 
That  day,  however,  is  a  long  way  in  the 
future. 

At  present  the  schools  of  the  church  are 
the  most  effective  educational  agencies  in 
Mexico,  and  are  crowded  to  the  limit. 
Plans  are  being  made  for  the  establish¬ 
ment  of  academies  of  higher  grade,  and 
ultimately  it  is  hoped  that  there  may  be  a 
union  Christian  university  in  Mexico  City. 

The  medical  approach,  such  as  has  been 
used  by  a  man  like  Dr.  L.  B.  Salmans, 
for  decades  in  the  Hospital  del  Buen  Sa¬ 
mar  itano  at  Guanajuato,  must  be  contin¬ 
ued.  Plans  call  for  an  extension  of  dis¬ 
pensary  and  hospital  work  into  several 
needy  sections.  This  work,  after  the  cost 
of  introducing  it,  proves  largely  self- 
supporting. 

The  main  drive. — Asked  to  outline  its 
immediate  objectives  the  Methodist  Epis¬ 
copal  Church  of  Mexico  has  said  that  it 
will  double  its  membership,  plant  itself 
permanently  in  important  centers  v/ith  in¬ 
stitutional  programs,  largely  increase  the 
amount  of  lay  leadership,  multiply  its  ed¬ 


ucational  service  and  have  a  church  com¬ 
pletely  self-supporting  within  the  near 
future. 

The  immediate  need. — When  a  church 
that  has  been  punished  by  such  conditions 
as  have  obtained  in  Mexico  talks  this  way, 
its  brethren  in  more  favored  circum¬ 
stances  will  never  be  content  to  support  it 
in  a  niggardly  way.  The  program  of  sup¬ 
port  and  advance  that  the  Methodist  Epis¬ 
copal  Church  has  approved  for  Mexico  for 
1925  declares  that: 

Missionary  Staff  will  be  required  for: 

Evangelistic  Work..  5  Couples  1  Single 
Educational  Work....  3  Couples  2  Single 

Medical  Work . ?...  7  Couples  5  Single 

Other  Work .  1  Couple  0  Single 

16  8  $54,000 


IV ork  Operations  will  be  conducted  on 


the  following  lines : 

Church  Work  from  87  Centers .  $  44,465 

57  Day  Schools  . $15,187 

4  Central  Schools  .  22,229 

1  Theological  Training  School....  2,500 

2  Agricultural  Schools  .  6,500 

1  University  .  10,000  56,416 


3  Hospitals  . . . $12,705 

1  Dispensary  . . .  1,000  13,705 


Other  and  General  Operations .  16,732 

Total  for  Work  Operations .  $131,318 


Property  Projects  to  make  possible  the 
following : 


3  City  Churches  . 

. $37,500 

10  Small  Churches  . 

.  40,500 

1  .Parsonage  . 

.  1,000 

$  79,000 

10  Village  School  Buildings . 

. $  9,400 

1  Central  School  Building . 

.  17.500 

1  Theological  School  . 

.  2,000 

1  Agricultural  School  . 

.  2,000 

30,900 

1  Hospital  Building  . 

3,400 

Total  for  Property  Projects .  $113,300 

Total  Program  (Mexico) .  $298,618 


LATIN  AMERICA 


141 


PANAMA 


The  Crossroads  of  the  Western  World 
Panama  may  become  the  most  impor¬ 
tant  spot  on  American  soil  before  the  close 
of  this  century.  Certainly  it  will  be  to  the 
West  what  Singapore  has 
been  to  the  East — the 
place  where  the  cur¬ 
rents  of  commerce 
meet  and  cross. 

What  the  canal 
means.  —  By  the  open- 
mg  of  the  Panama 
Canal,  ports  on  the  Pacific 
coast  of  South  America  are  brought 
nearer  to  New  York  than  they  are  to  San 
Francisco.  It  is  possible  to  ship  by  water 
from  the  Orient  to  New  York  and  even  to 
Western  Europe  almost  as  quickly  and 
much  more  cheaply  than  by  the  land-and- 
water  routes.  Even  transcontinental  com¬ 
merce  in  the  United  States  is  bound  to  be 
profoundly  affected.  The  World  War  has 
prevented  the  Canal  from  giving  full 
demonstration  of  its  value,  but  in  the  race 
for  world  markets  which  is  now  just  be¬ 
ginning  it  will  surely  be  a  factor  of  im¬ 
mense  importance. 

The  possession  of  the  Canal  puts  a  world 
obligation  on  the  United  States. 


The  Protestant  approach.  —  Although 
there  had  been  Protestant  work  on  the 
Isthmus  of  Panama  since  the  days  of  Wil¬ 
liam  Taylor,  little  impression  was  made 
until  the  United  States  undertook  the  be¬ 
ginning  of  that  enterprise,  when  several 
missionary  societies  from  the  British  West 
Indies  and  the  United  States  entered  the 
Canal  Zone. 

In  1916  representatives  of  most  of  the 
Protestant  mission  boards,  missionaries 
and  members  of  the  evangelical  churches 
of  Latin  America  held  in  Panama  a  con¬ 
ference  concerning  work  in  Latin  coun¬ 
tries.  This  conference,  which  commanded 
attention  throughout  the  religious  world, 
served  greatly  to  increase  the  interest  in 
the  Protestant  movement  in  Panama  itself. 


Methodist  Work  in  Panama 

A  definite  field. — When  the  first  mission¬ 
ary  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  ar¬ 
rived  in  Panama  in  1906,  he  found  other 
missions  confining  their  attention  largely 
to  the  laborers  of  the  Canal  Zone.  These 
were  divided  into  two  classes.  Negroes 
from  the  British  West  Indies  were  provid¬ 
ing  most  of  the  manual  laborers,  and  their 
spiritual  needs  were  being  looked  after  by 
the  British  societies.  On  the  other  hand, 
a  large  group  of  Americans  were  employed 
in  more  responsible  positions,  and  among 
these  the  societies  from  the  United  States 
wrere  working. 

Because  of  this,  it  was  decided  that  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  while  co¬ 
operating  in  the  work  for  Americans  that 
was  finally  to  result  in  the  formation  of 
the  Union  Church  of  the  Canal  Zone, 
should  center  its  effort  upon  the  Spanish¬ 
speaking  inhabitants  of  the  Republic  of 
Panama.  This  work  is  still  exclusively  in 
Methodist  hands. 

What  is  Panama? — Government  in  Pan¬ 
ama  is  divided  between  the  Republic, 
with  an  area  of  32,380  square  miles  and  a 
population  of  403,122,  and  the  Canal  Zone, 
a  strip  five  miles  wide  on  each  side  of  the 
Canal,  with  a  population  of  about  22,000, 
all  workers  on  the  “big  ditch.” 

The  population  of  the  Canal  Zone  is 
being  reduced  steadily  and  will  soon  con¬ 
sist  of  not  more  than  the  minimum  needed 
to  operate  the  Canal  and  keep  it  in  repair. 


The  locks  of  the  Panama  Canal 


142 


WORLD  SERVICE 


It  can  be  seen  that  by  confining  its  work 
largely  to  the  Republic  of  Panama,  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church  has  before  it 
a  field  of  increasing  rather  than  decreas¬ 
ing  size. 

In  Panama  City. — In  1906  the  first,  and 
still  the  outstanding,  Methodist  institution 
was  built  in  the  city  of  Panama,  the  Sea¬ 
wall  Church.  Services  are  conducted  here 
for  a  Spanish  and  English-speaking  con¬ 
gregation,  the  latter  entirely  self-support¬ 
ing.  There  is  a  school,  built  in  1917,  the 
highest-grade  educational  enterprise  con¬ 
ducted  by  our  church  in  Panama.  The 
Centenary  provided  additional  buildings 
in  which  an  enlarged  staff  carries  on  a 
fuller  evangelistic  and  educational  pro¬ 
gram.  A  Sunday  school  is  conducted  in 
another  part  of  the  city. 

“The  region  of  the  Canal  is  not  a  good 
place  to  put  anything  that  is  to  stay  put,” 
a  missionary  once  said,  “but  it  is  a  mar¬ 
velous  opportunity  to  put  down  something 
that  will  spread  along  the  currents  that 
meet  and  cross  here — forty-five  nations, 
thirty-six  languages,  sojourners  from 
everywhere  now  live  on  the  isthmus.  And 
over  the  whole  situation  is  the  dominating 
efficiency  and  potency  of  the  Canal.  Every 
man  who  passes  through  must  carry  with 
him  a  new  conception  of  what  real  accom¬ 
plishment  means.  Likewise,  if  he  meets  a 
worthy  illustration  of  what  the  gospel  of 
the  open  Bible  and  the  free  conscience 
does  when  worthily  represented  in  effec¬ 
tive  working  form,  he  will  carry  with  him 
an  influence  that  will  affect  his  after 
life.” 


English-speaking  congregation  at  Seawall  church,  Panama  City 


Other  centers. — The  work  of  the  Metho¬ 
dist  Episcopal  Church  has  also  been  es¬ 
tablished  at  David,  capital  of  the  province 
of  Chiriqui;  at  Colon,  the  great  seaport 
on  the  Atlantic  end  of  the  Canal;  and  at 
Chitre. 

In  David  the  Centenary  has  built  a 
school  which  is  so  far  doing  only  elemen¬ 
tary  work,  but  is  to  be  developed  into  the 
leading  institution  of  higher  education  in 
western  Panama.  There  is  a.  flourishing 
Sunday  school,  out  of  which  a  congrega¬ 
tion  will  ultimately  be  developed. 

In  Colon  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church  holds  property,  but  its  work,  is 
confined  to  an  effort  for  some  non-English 
speaking  groups  carried  on  in  the  plant  of 
the  Union  Church. 

A  promising  work  had  been  begun  at 
Chitre,  where  property  has  been  secured, 
but  the  shortage  of  workers  has  forced  the 
temporary  closing  of  its  doors. 

The  Occupation  of  Panama 

Locating  the  centers. — It  cannot  be  too 
much  emphasized  that  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church  is  responsible  for  the 
evangelization  of  all  the  Spanish-speaking 
and  Indian  inhabitants  of  the  Republic  of 
Panama.  With  more  than  350,000  of 
these  it  can  be  seen  that  the  occupation  of 
the  country  can  scarcely  be  said  to  have 
begun  while  there  is  work  in  only  four 
cities,  one  of  which  is  for  the  present  neg¬ 
lected. 

The  next  ten  years,  therefore,  should  see 
rapid  extension  of  the  work  of  the  church, 
until  this  strategic  land  is  occupied  in  fact 
as  well  as  in  name.  To 
this  end  there  will  prob¬ 
ably  be  established  seven 
circuits  each  with  a  large 
number  of  stations.  Five 
of  these  circuits  should  be 
organized  at  once,  namely, 
those  radiating  from 
David,  Chitre,  Panama 
City,  Porto  Bello,  and 
Yavisa.  Later,  as  the  work 
develops,  the  Colon  and 
Almirante  circuits  should 
come  into  being. 


LATIN  AMERICA 


143 


Mission  school  in  session,  Panama 


Reaching  the  Indians. — 

It  will  be  seen  that  three 
of  the  heads  of  circuits 
mentioned  are  already  oc¬ 
cupied.  Porto  Bello  and 
Yavisa  will  provide  the 
bases  from  which  ad¬ 
vance  will  be  made  upon 
the  San  Bias  and  Chucu- 
naque  Indians.  Here  are 
55,000  savages,  so  primi¬ 
tive  that  their  languages 
have  yet  to  be  reduced  to 
writing,  with  practically 
nothing  being  done  for 
them,  yet  living  within  200  miles  of 
United  States  territory!  Here  is  a  mis¬ 
sionary  challenge  that  the  church  dare  not 
deny. 

When  the  Almirante  circuit  is  organ¬ 
ized,  it  will  make  possible  work  among  the 
Bocas  Indians. 

Types  of  work. — Throughout  the  Repub¬ 
lic  of  Panama,  whether  working  with  the 
Indians  or  Spanish-speaking  natives,  em¬ 
phasis  is  to  be  placed  upon  evangelism. 
Itinerants  will  go  into  parts  where  now 
no  religion  of  any  sort,  save  paganism, 
penetrates,  preaching  as  they  travel.  De¬ 
pendence  is  placed  upon  the  American 
Bible  Society,  which  has  already,  through 
its  Panama  agency,  distributed  718,408 
volumes  of  the  Scriptures,  to  increase 
their  form  of  pioneering. 

A  system  of  primary  schools,  feeding 
into  higher  institutions  at  Panama  and 
David,  will  gradually  be  developed.  Pan¬ 
ama  needs  modern  education,  especially 
in  the  great  region  outside  the  Canal 
Zone.  (It  must  not  be  forgotten  that,  in 
comparison  with  the  Republic  of  Panama, 
the  Canal  Zone  is  about  the  size  of  a  post¬ 
age  stamp  on  an  envelope.)  But  educa¬ 
tion  is  to  be  provided  not  for  its  own 
sake,  but  for  the  formation  of  Christian 
character,  providing  a  Christian  citizen¬ 
ship  for  the  state,  and  providing  workers 
for  the  Christian  enterprise. 

There  will  be  a  call  also  for  medical 
service,  to  deal  with  the  tropical  diseases 
that,  outside  the  Canal  Zone,  work  havoc 


with  the  people,  and  to  provide  an  opening 
wedge  for  entrance  to  the  savage  Indian 
tribes.  It  may  well  prove  that  medical 
missions  will  furnish  the  most  effective 
method  of  evangelizing  these  primitive 
peoples  at  Panama. 

The  immediate  need. — The  importance 
of  the  work  in  Panama  appeals  to  any 
American  with  imagination  enough  to 
understand  the  significance  of  the  Pan¬ 
ama  Canal.  The  work  of  the  church  is 
being  developed  slowly  and  solidly,  but  it 
cannot  wait  indefinitely  if  it  is  not  to  fall 
hopelessly  behind  the  development  of  the 
situation  with  which  it  is  supposed  to  cope. 
After  careful  study  the  Methodist  Epis¬ 
copal  Church  has  accordingly  approved 
the  following  program  as  needed  in  Pan¬ 
ama  for  1925 : 

Missionary  Staff  will  be  required  for: 

Evangelistic  Work....  3  Couples  5  Single 
Educational  Work....  3  Couples  0  Single 

Medical  Work . 0  Couples  0  Single 

Other  Work .  1  Couple  1  Single 


7  6  $25,000 

Work  Operations  will  be  conducted  <  :i 
the  following  lines: 

Church  Work  from  22  Centers .  24,340 

3  Day  Schools  . . . . $3,950 

1  Central  School  . .  3,500  7,450 

Other  Work  . .  3,600 

Total — Work  Operations  . . .  $  35,390 

Property  Projects  to  make  possible  1  School  $  24,000 
Total  Program  (Panama) . .  $  84,390 


144 


WORLD  SERVICE 


a=s=r=,=r  Rail  ways 

Methodist  Episcopal  centers  in  Costa  Rica  and  Panama 


COSTA  RICA 


A  Land  in  the  Making 

The  “Rich  Coast.” — The  Spaniards  who 
first  landed  on  the  narrow  strip  lying 
from  two  to  four  hundred  miles  west  of 
the  Isthmus  of  Panama  gave  to  their  new 
home  the  name  of  Costa  Rica,  the  “rich 
coast.”  For  centuries  the  name  seemed 
a  gigantic  irony,  for  the  conquerors  found 
little  of  the  easy  wealth  that  was  the 
portion  of  those  who  seized  other  parts  of 
Central  and  South  America. 

Today,  however,  Costa  Rica  is  a  rich 
coast  in  every  sense.  Success  in  coffee 
cultivation  has  brought  the  standards  of 
living  of  the  republic  to  a  high  level,  and 
the  coast  land  along  the  Atlantic,  once 
almost  uninhabitable,  is  now  the  greatest 
source  of  bananas  in  the  world.  The  high 
type  of  citizenship,  if  properly  cultivated, 
guarantees  that  better  wealth  of  charac¬ 
ter  that  is  the  backbone  of  a  strong 
nation. 

Costa  Rica  today. — Four  hundred  thou¬ 
sand  people  inhabit  the  23,000  square 
miles  of  this,  the  next  to  the  smallest  of 
the  Central  American  Republics.  Most  of 
them  live  in  a  territory  within  a  radius 
of  thirty  miles  of  the  capital,  San  Jose. 


Here,  on  a  plateau  almost  4,000  feet 
above  sea  level,  climate  and  soil  combine 
to  make  living  easy. 

The  Costa  Rican  is  not,  however,  as  in¬ 
digent  as  many  other  Latins.  His  is  the 
purest  Spanish  blood  in  the  western 
hemisphere,  and  the  lack  of  Indian  slaves 
has  made  it  necessary  for  him  through 
generations  to  work.  Today,  therefore, 
his  government,  in  comparison  with  those 
of  other  Central  American  states,  is 
strong,  progressive,  and  effective.  Fairly 
good  roads  and  state-owned  railways  lead 
to  the  principal  ports  on  both  coasts.  It 
is  the  boast  of  Costa  Rica  that  she  has 
more  school  teachers  than  soldiers,  with 
a  consequent  higher  rate  of  literacy  than 
is  to  be  found  elsewhere  in  Latin  Amer¬ 
ica. 

International  philanthropy.; — Since  1915, 
Costa  Rica  has  had  an  unusual  object  les¬ 
son  in  American  philanthropy.  The  In¬ 
ternational  Health  Board  (Rockefeller 
Foundation)  has  been  co-operating  with 
the  government  to  eliminate  the  hook 
worm,  which  has  been  found  to  affect 
52.3  per  cent  of  the  people  examined.  By 
the  end  of  1921  more  than  300,000  people 


LATIN  AMERICA 


145 


had  been  reached  with  remarkable  results. 
The  improvements  in  Costa  Rican  life 
will  be  tremendous,  while  the  enterprise 
forms  a  valuable  means  of  preparing  pub¬ 
lic  opinion  for  other  forms  of  help  from 
North  America. 

Christian  Strategy  in  Costa  Rica 

The  religious  situation. — Until  after  the 
Centenary  was  launched,  Costa  Rica  re¬ 
mained  “the  last  frontier  of  Protestant 
missionary  work  on  the  American  conti¬ 
nent.”  Several  missions  have  gone  to  the 
West  Indian  Negroes  on  the  banana  plan¬ 
tations,  but  have  not  reached  the  Costa 
Ricans  on  the  central  plateau. 

At  the  same  time  the  drift  away  from 
the  established  church  has  assumed  large 
proportions.  Dana  G.  Munro  declared 
that  “In  spiritual  as  well  as  in  temporal 
affairs  the  church  has  now  almost  en¬ 
tirely  lost  its  hold  upon  the  people.  Many 
of  the  women  are  still  very  devout,  but 
the  men,  especially  among  the  upper 
classes,  are  for  the  most  part  frankly  ir¬ 
religious.”  (The  Five  Republics  of  Cen¬ 
tral  America,  page  13.) 

Methodism  solely  responsible.— In  1917 
the  Interdenominational  Committee  on 
Survey  and  Occupation  of  Latin  America 
formally  assigned  Costa  Rica  to  the  Meth¬ 
odist  Episcopal  Church,  provided  work 
began  soon.  Within  six  months  the  repre¬ 
sentatives  of  the  Board  of  Foreign  Mis¬ 
sions  were  investigating 
the  country  at  first  hand. 

A  Mexican  pioneer.  — 

The  founding  of  the  work 
in  Costa  Rica  shows  how 
missionary  work  may 
propagate  itself.  For 
one  of  the  two  who  first 
spied  out  the  land  was  a 
product  of  the  mission  in 
Mexico,  the  Rev.  Eduardo 
Zapata.  While  workers 
have  since  come  from  the 
United  States,  the  pres¬ 
ence  of  Mr.  Zapata  gave 
the  new  enterprise  the 


Successful  from  the  start. — From  the 
beginning,  the  work  of  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church  in  Costa  Rica  has  been 
astonishingly  successful.  Evangelistic 
and  educational  work  have  been  strongly 
planted.  There  are  now  eight  mission¬ 
aries  with  three  congregations,  100 
church  members  and  a  total  constituency 
of  750.  There  is  a  fine  school  in  San 
Jose  with  an  enrolment  that  has  climbed 
in  two  years  from  seventeen  to  125.  The 
normal  school  at  Heredia  is  preparing 
teachers  of  high  grade. 

Government  leaders  have  gone  out  of 
their  way  to  show  sympathy.  The  Presi¬ 
dent  of  the  Republic  has  twice  appeared 
at  exercises  of  the  San  Jose  school,  and 
the  Methodist  program  has  been  publicly 
approved  by  many  state  officials. 

Recently,  when  a  Costa  Rican  law 
against  the  entrance  of  foreign  ecclesias¬ 
tics  was  invoked  to  detain  for  more  than 
a  day  at  a  landing  port  a  Roman  Catholic 
archbishop  from  the  United  States,  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  bishop  was  met  with 
passes  over  the  government  railways  and 
shown  every  courtesy  in  expediting  his 
visit. 

The  church  in  San  Jose,  under  the  pas¬ 
torate  of  Mr.  Zapata,  has  built  up  a  strong 
program.  In  addition  to  the  regular 
preaching  and  Sunday-school  services, 
there  is  a  camp-fire  organization,  a  boy 


benefit  of  appearing  as  “Latin  work  for  Latins.”  The  man  on  horseback  second  from  the  left 

“Latin  work  for  Latins.”  is  a  pioneer  missionary  who  came  to  Costa  Rica  from  Mexico 


146 


WORLD  SERVICE 


scout  troop  and  a  vested  choir.  The  growth 
of  church  and  schools  seems  to  be  condi¬ 
tioned  solely  by  the  support  forthcoming 
from  the  American  church. 

The  Central  American  Base 

A  center  for  worker-training — So  unus¬ 
ual  has  been  the  response  to  the  Methodist 
program  in  Costa  Rica  that  it  is  clear  that 
this  country  is  to  provide  the  base  for  op¬ 
erations  in  Central  America.  This  calls 
for  a  rapid  provision  of  superior  educa¬ 
tional  facilities. 

The  present  school  in  San  Jose  must  be 
enlarged  so  that  finally  it  will  become  the 
best  boarding  school  of  higher  grade  in 
Central  America.  Even  more  attention 
must  be  given  to  the  development  of  the 
schools  in  which  are  to  be  trained  preach¬ 
ers  and  teachers. 

While  large  churches  must  be  planted 
in  the  four  leading  cities  and  shialler 
churches  in  at  least  twenty-five  other 
towns,  it  is  wise  policy  to  give  this  prep¬ 
aration  of  leaders  first  attention. 

“My  conviction  is  clear,”  Bishop  Thir- 
kield  has  testified,  “that  here  we  are  to 


raise  up  the  group  of 
teachers  and  Christian 
ministers  and  workers 
who  shall  evangelize  the 
lands  bordering  the  Pa¬ 
cific.  At  Panama,  the 
crossroads  of  the  western 
world,  we  must  strengthen 
our  work.  The  position  is 
strategic  and  of  singular 
importance.  But  here  in 
the  highlands,  away  from 
the  wickedness  of  an  open 
port,  free  from  the  conta¬ 
gious  example  of  worldly 
and  careless  thousands 
from  the  States;  here 
where  the  people  are  turn¬ 
ing  their  faces  to  the  light, 
we  shall  find  an  atmos¬ 
phere  in  which  to  grow 
the  workers  and  leaders  for  the  future.” 
(The  Christian  Advocate,  April  14,  1921.) 

The  immediate  need. — In  Costa  Rica 
the  work  is  at  that  sensitive  point  where 
it  must  either  go  ahead  immediately,  or 
it  may  wither.  The  church  has  recog¬ 
nized  this  in  approving  a  program  that 
not  only  supports  the  present  work,  but 
makes  possible  meeting  the  most  pressing 
needs.  This  is  the  approved  program 
for  Costa  Rica  in  1925 : 

Missionary  Staff  will  be  required  for: 

Evangelistic  Work ....  2  Couples  0  Single 
Educational  .  3  Couples  2  Single 

S  2  $  16.200 

Work  Operations  will  be  conducted  on 
the  following  lines : 

8  Preaching  Places  . ..$9,980 

4  Day  Schools  .  3,650 

Other  and  General  Work .  1,700 

Total  for  Work  Operations .  15,330 

Property  Projects  proposed  are  : 

San  Jose  School  . $10,000 

Total  for  Property  .  10,000 


Total  Program  (Costa  Rica) 


$  41,530 


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Methodist  Episcopal  centers  in  South  America 


148 


WORLD  SERVICE 


PERU 


Bigotry’s  Stronghold 

The  old  Spanish  tradition. — Peru  is  the 
most  Spanish  of  all  Spanish-American 
countries.  The  power  of  the  Roman  Cath¬ 
olic  church  is  still  felt  in  every  depart¬ 
ment  of  its  life.  Not  until  1915  was  the 
constitution  altered  to  make  it  legal  to 
worship  under  other  than  Roman  Catholic 
forms.  A  Catholic  revival  is  now  in 
progress,  and  the  ecclesiastical  hierarchy 
was  never  stronger. 

There  is  no  such  rift  between  intellec¬ 
tuals  and  the  church  in  Peru  as  in  other 
Latin  American  nations.  A  recent  trav¬ 
eler  reports  that  “It  is  clear  that  Peruvian 
liberals  will  have  to  come  out  boldly  and 
be  willing  to  take  the  consequences  of  a 
mortal  combat  with  the  clergy  before  the 
country  can  enjoy  real  liberty.” 

A  growing  work. — Despite  the  opposi¬ 
tion  of  the  Romanists,  Protestant  work  in 
Peru  is  growing.  There  is  not  the  fanati¬ 
cal  opposition  on  the  part  of  the  masses 
that  once  made  advance  almost  impossi¬ 
ble.  Since  religious  liberty  was  granted, 
one  in  close  touch  with  the  situation  has 
reported  that,  “The  work  has  developed 
as  much  during  one  year  of  liberal  wor¬ 
ship  as  during  five  years  of  effort  and 
growth  under  the  olcl  conditions.”  Con¬ 


gregations,  although  forced  to  meet  in 
private  homes,  small  rented  halls,  or  some¬ 
times  even  in  railway  stations,  have  in¬ 
creased  rapidly.  A  growth  in  member¬ 
ship  of  about  one-third  yearly  is 
now  expected  and  the  contributions  of 
the  Peruvian  converts  have  mounted  by 
330  per  cent  since  1916. 

Problems  Geographic 
Peru,  with  a  territory  as  large  as  the 
United  States  east  of  the  Mississippi, 
with  the  exception  of  Alabama,  Georgia 
and  Florida,  presents  one  of  the  most 
needy  mission  fields  in  the  world.  Its 
population  is  about  4,800,000,  of  whom 
not  more  than  750,000  are  whites.  In¬ 
deed,  most  of  these  have  a  certain  amount 
of  Indian  blood  in  their  veins.  The  Indi¬ 
ans  are  exploited  as  in  all  Latin  American 
countries  and  there  are  other  classes 
whose  spiritual  needs  are  not  being  met. 
Some  of  the  distinctive  missionary  prob¬ 
lems  of  Peru  come  from  the  geographical 
conditions  of  the  country.  These  may  be 
summarized  as  problems  of  the  cities,  of 
the  mining  camps,  and  of  the  Indians. 

Problems  of  the  cities. — There  are  sev¬ 
eral  commanding  cities  in  Peru,  such  as 
the  capital,  Lima,  containing  the  oldest 
university  in  the  new 
world ;  its  port,  Callao ; 
Arequipa,  Huancayo,  and 
the  ancient  capital,  Cuzco. 
The  city  problem,  as  it  ex¬ 
ists  in  these  centers,  is 
not  greatly  different  from 
the  same  problem  in 
other  countries.  Student 
bodies,  tenement  groups, 
schoolless  children,  un¬ 
evangelized  multitudes  — 
all  require  their  peculiar 
type  of  service. 

There  are  still  several 
large  cities  within  the  ter¬ 
ritory  of  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church  that 


The  patio  of  the  British-American  Hospital  at  Lima 


LATIN  AMERICA 


149 


have  not  even  been  entered,  and  while  it 
remains  true  that  the  church  owns  only 
one  unfinished  edifice  in  which  worship 
is  being  conducted,  it  can  not  be  said  that 
occupation  is  anywhere  adequate. 

Problems  of  the  mining  camps. — On  the 
high  slopes  of  the  Andes  some  of  the 
greatest  mining  camps  in  the  world  are 
growing.  Largely  the  corporations  re¬ 
sponsible  are  financed  by  foreign  capital. 
The  directors  of  these  corporations  are 
in  most  cases  eager  to  have  Protestant 
work  in  the  towns  that  they  have  called 
into  being.  Conditions  are  much  like 
those  that  once  made  the  camps  of  Amer¬ 
ica’s  West  notorious.  Open  vice,  absence 
of  all  modern  sanitation,  and  a  merciless 
exploitation  of  cheap  labor  cry  aloud  for 
effective  evangelistic  effort.  Only  a  be¬ 
ginning  has  been  made. 

Problems  of  the  Indians. — In  all  that 
part  of  Peru  that  lies  back  from  the  coast 
practically  the  entire  population,  outside 
of  a  few  owners  of  large  estates,  is  In¬ 
dian.  More  than  half  a  million  of  these 
people,  living  in  remote  sections,  are  still 
pagan  and  others  are  nominal  adherents 
of  a  debased  form  of  Romanism. 

The  exploitation  of  the  Indians  of  Peru 
is  a  story  that  has  never  been  told  in  its 
full  horror.  Evangelical  missionaries  are 
only  just  beginning  to  reach  these  people 
with  a  type  of  Christianity  that  offers 
hope  for  the  solution  of  their  social  as 
well  as  religious  problems. 

The  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  has 
up  to  this  time  had  no  work  exclusively 
designed  to  reach  the  Indians.  The  de¬ 
velopment  in  the  brief  period  of  religious 
freedom  has  been  in  the  cities  and  mining 
camps.  The  time  is  now  here,  however, 
when  it  must  reach  out  to  this  most  needy 
class  of  all  Peru.  Plans  for  this  exten¬ 
sion  of  work  form  a  part  of  the  immedi¬ 
ate  program. 

Problems  Social 

Studying  Peru  from  another  angle,  that 
country  is  found  struggling  with  problems 
that  can  not  be  isolated  in  any  one  section 
but  affect  her  life  as  a  whole.  Toward  the 


Geography  class  at  the  Lima  High  School 


solution  of  these  social  problems,  the  Meth¬ 
odist  Episcopal  Church  is  contributing  its 
leadership. 

Problems  of  morals  and  democracy. — 
Peru  is  afflicted  with  the  same  moral  prob¬ 
lems  that  beset  other  Latin  peoples — in¬ 
temperance,  unchastity,  a  light  regard  for 
the  value  of  a  pledge,  a  conception  of  re¬ 
ligion  as  a  formal  adherence  rather  than 
as  a  mode  of  life — these  and  other  vices 
sap  the  national  strength.  It  is  not  too 
much  to  say  that  the  work  of  the  Protes¬ 
tant  congregations  is  almost  the  only 
force  in  Peru  directly  dealing  with  such 
needs. 

There  are  twenty-seven  cities  and 
towns  in  Peru  in  which  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church  is  now  regularly  carry¬ 
ing  on  work.  In  hardly  one  of  these, 
however,  does  it  own  the  quarters  in 
which  services  are  held.  It  is  not  to  be 
wondered  at,  therefore,  that,  in  the  pro¬ 
gram  for  advance,  the  Peru  mission  puts 
the  building  of  certain  churches  and  chap¬ 
els  at  the  head  of  the  list  of  needs. 

As  surely  as  low  morals  will  under¬ 
mine  the  stamina,  so  surely  will  contempt 
for  honest  labor  undermine  the  democratic 
ideals  of  Peru.  It  is,  alas,  true  that  today 
any  physical  labor  is  thought  so  degrading 
as  to  exclude  the  worker  from  all  but  the 
very  lowest  society.  For  this  reason  the 
testimony  of  Protestant  schools  to  the 
dignity  of  manual  work  is  as  much  needed 
in  Peru  as  the  effort  of  the  Protestant 
church  to  combat  the  other  social  evils. 


150 


WORLD  SERVICE 


Problems  of  education. — Although  the 
oldest  university  of  either  of  the  Ameri¬ 
can  continents  is  located  in  Lima,  Peru 
stands  tenth  in  the  list  of  Latin  American 
countries  in  regard  to  the  education  of 
her  citizenship.  Less  than  twenty  per 
cent  of  the  population  can  read  and  write. 
Primary  education  is  supposed  to  be  com¬ 
pulsory,  yet  less  than  half  of  the  children 
are  enrolled  in  school  and  the  average  at¬ 
tendance  is  less  than  half  of  the  enrol¬ 
ment. 

An  educational  mission  from  North 
America  has  been  attempting  to  deal  with 
this  situation  for  several  years  and  has 
made  some  progress.  It  has  found  itself, 
however,  handicapped  by  the  policy  of  the 
Catholic  church. 

No  schools  in  the  country  have  won 
more  attention  than  the  Institute  Andino, 
a  coeducational  boarding  school  at  Huan- 
cayo ;  the  Callao  High  School ;  the  Insti¬ 
tute  Norteamericano,  a  boarding  school 
for  boys  in  Lima ;  and  the  high  school  for 
girls  conducted  in  the  same  city  by  the 
Woman’s  Foreign  Missionary  Society. 
The  growth  of  these  schools  has  been  re¬ 
markable.  Despite  determined  opposition 
on  the  part  of  some  priests,  enrolment  in 
the  school  at  Huancayo  has  grown  from 
150  in  1919  to  290  in  1922;  in  Callao, 
from  262  in  1917  to  520  in  1922;  and  in 
Lima  the  newly  established  school  already 


has  an  enrolment  of  176. 

These  schools  are  all  ap¬ 
proaching  complete  self- 
support.  One  has  reached 
that  goal.  Since  almost 
eighty  per  cent  of  the  stu¬ 
dents  in  them  come  from 
non-evangelical  homes,  it 
can  be  seen  how  important 
is  the  contribution  that 
they  can  make  toward 
overcoming  popular  prej¬ 
udice. 

It  is  also  necessary  to 
establish  day  schools  to 
act  as  feeders  for  these 
schools  of  higher  grade. 
Not  only  is  the  gov¬ 
ernment  unable  to  pro¬ 
vide  school  facilities  for  all,  but  condi¬ 
tions  in  the  government  schools,  where  re¬ 
ligious  instruction  by  Catholic  priests  is 
required,  are  such  that  it  is  frequently  in¬ 
advisable  to  allow  children  from  Prot¬ 
estant  homes  to  study  in  them.  The  pri¬ 
mary  schools  already  established  by  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church  have  been  of 
such  a  high  grade  that  they  have  won 
wide  popularity,  and  from  many  parts  of 
the  republic  requests  are  coming  for  the 
extension  of  the  Methodist  day  school 
system. 

Problems  of  leadership. — The  conditions 
holding  Peru  back  will  never  be  perma¬ 
nently  changed  until  Peruvian  citizens 
are  ready  to  lead  in  the  work  of  reform. 
The  discovery  and  training  of  indigenous 
leadership  thus  becomes  a  major  part  of 
the  evangelical  program. 

Two  projects  are  included  in  the  plans 
of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  to 
deal  with  this  need.  The  first  is  for  the 
theological  seminary  at  Lima,  which  will 
be  a  union  institution,  ministering  to  all 
the  Protestantism  of  Peru.  The  second 
is  a  Bible  Institute  for  Indians  at  Huan¬ 
cayo,  established  only  a  year  ago  by 
Bishop  Thirkield,  which  has  already  pro¬ 
duced  five  ministerial  candidates  for  this 
needy  field. 

Problems  of  sanitation. — Except  in  the 
large  cities,  no  attempt  has  been  made  to 


LATIN  AMERICA 


151 


Boy  Scouts  at  the  Lima  High  School 


provide  hygienic  sur¬ 
roundings  for  the  peo¬ 
ple  of  Peru.  The  result 
is  that  even  such  a  city 
as  Callao  is  reputed  to 
have  the  highest  death 
rate  in  the  world.  Among 
the  Indians,  it  is  esti¬ 
mated  that  there  is  an 
infant  mortality  rate  of 
eighty  per  cent. 

So  great  has  been  the 
lack  of  modern  medicine 
that  a  group  of  British 
and  American  residents 
have  provided  a  hospital 
in  which  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church  has  be¬ 
gun  its  medical  program. 

At  the  present  time  the 
small  staff  in  this  hospital  is  overwhelmed 
with  the  demand  for  its  services.  It  is 
expected,  however,  that  additions  to  the 
force  will  make  extension  of  this  service 
possible,  especially  to  Indian  communities. 

The  Forward  Program 

The  advance  program  for  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church  in  Peru  can  be  sum¬ 
marized  under  four  heads : 

Permanent  Protestant  churches.  —  The 
first  necessity  is  to  place  congregations  in 


Pupils  from  our  grammar  school  at  Callao 


important  centers  in  permanent  homes.  It 
will  never  be  possible  nor  desirable  to 
build  edifices  as  large  as  the  cathedrals 
that  are  already  to  be  found  in  Lima  and 
other  cities.  But  it  is  essential  to  gather 
our  people  out  of  the  inadequate  and  fre¬ 
quently  unsanitary  rented  quarters  in 
which  they  now  attempt  to  worship  and 
house  them  in  well-designed  churches  and 
chapels. 

Strengthening  Protestant  schools. — The 
Methodist  school  system  in  Peru  is  young 
and  still  lacks  equipment  essential  in  the 
provision  of  modern  education.  The  Cen¬ 
tenary  made  possible  large  educational 
advance.  It  is  now  necessary  to  follow 
this  up  in  such  a  way  that  there  may  be 
a  strong  foundation  of  Protestant  day 
schools  upon  which  to  rest  securely. 

The  training  of  ministers  is  also  of  im¬ 
mediate  importance.  Plans  under  way 
call  for  the  development  of  a  theological 
seminary  at  Lima  that  will  serve  the 
evangelical  churches  of  Bolivia  as  well  as 
Peru.  To  these  plans  the  Methodist  Epis¬ 
copal  Church  is  whole-heartedly  com¬ 
mitted. 

Spreading  a  hospital. — As  soon  as  the 
British-American  Hospital  reaches  its  full 
capacity  for  work  in  the  present  quarters 
— which  will  be  within  a  very  short  time, 


152 


WORLD  SERVICE 


The  foundation  on  which  a  strong  nation  may  be  built 


if  adequate  staff  is  provided — its  influence 
should  be  carried  to  the  interior  parts  of 
Peru  through  the  establishment  of  a  chain 
of  dispensaries.  There  should  also  be  dis¬ 
pensaries  opened  in  connection  with  the 
institutional  church  work  in  the  cities. 

Reaching  the  Indians. — No  more  appeal¬ 
ing  work  lies  before  the  church  than  that 
for  the  Indians.  It  is  agreed  that  this 
enterprise  can  not  longer  be  delayed. 
First  approach  may  be  made  by  the  open¬ 
ing  of  dispensaries,  although  educational 
and  evangelistic  work  is  also  called  for 


New  property  now  used  by  the  Evangelical 
School  at  Huancayo — Made  possible 
by  Centenary  money 


and  planned.  It  will  take  the  utmost  wis¬ 
dom  and  devotion  to  reach  this  exploited 
and  suspicious  portion  of  the  population 
of  Peru.  The  difficulty  of  the  task  in 
large  measure  constitutes  the  challenge. 

The  immediate  need. — To  deal  with  the 
situation  in  this  land  where  religious  big¬ 
otry  is  making  its  last  stand,  the  Metho¬ 
dist  Episcopal  Church  has  authorized  the 
following  program  for  1925 : 

Missionary  Staff  will  be  required  for: 


Evangelistic  Work.. 

..  2  Couples 

1  Single 

Educational  Work  .... 

..  8  Couples 

12  Single 

Medical  Work  . 

..  3  Couples 

7  Single 

Other  Work  . 

..  2  Couples 

0  Single 

15 

20 

Work  Operations  will  be  conducted  on 
the  following  lines: 

Church  Work  from  18  centers.. ..$25, 235 


18  Day  Schools  .  4,450 

5  Central  Schools  .  3,476 

1  Theological  School  .  200 

1  Hospital  . 

1  Dispensary  .  1,000 

Other  and  General  Work .  7,640 


Total  for  Work  Operations .  $  41,981 

Property  Projects: 

2  City  Churches  .  42,500 

2  Small  Churches  . —  5,500 

2  Missionary  Residences  .  20.000 

1  Huancayo  Property  Debt .  6,000  $  74,000 


Total  Program  (Pern) .  $175,481 


LATIN  AMERICA 


153 


BOLIVIA 


A  Neglected  Country 

Cut  off  from  the  sea  by  five  of  her  sis¬ 
ter  republics,  Bolivia  remains  one  of  the 
least  known  Latin  American  nations. 
This  is  not  because  it  is  a  small  land, 
for  the  most  recent  estimate  of  the  area, 
605,600  square  miles,  makes  Bolivia 
about  as  large  as  the  United  States  when 
it  challenged  world  attention  with  its 
Declaration  of  Independence.  It  is  not 
because  of  poverty,  for  there  are  rich  tin, 
gold,  copper  and  silver  mines  on  the 
slopes  of  the  Andes.  It  is  not  because  of 
sterility,  for  three-fifths 
of  Bolivia  is  valleys, 
sloping  and  alluvial 
plains  and  forests,  where 
modern  agriculture  can 
raise  large  harvests. 

Population.  —  In  this 
great  country  less  than 
3,000,000  people  (five  to 
the  square  mile)  live.  As 
in  Mexico,  Peru  and 
Ecuador  the  majority  are 
Indians,  either  those  still 
living  in  a  primitive 
state  or  those  who  make 
up  the  peon  class.  From  the  American 
viewpoint,  these  Indians  lack  prac¬ 
tically  every  right,  privilege  and  ad¬ 
vantage  that  is  supposed  to  belong  to 
citizens  of  a  modern  republic.  There  are 
not  more  than  300,000  whites,  in  whose 
hands  are  the  great  estates,  as  well  as  the 
agencies  of  the  government.  The  degra¬ 
dation  of  the  Indians  is  pitiful. 

Transportation. — The  development  of  a 
country  situated  as  is  Bolivia  is,  of  course, 
dependent  upon  transportation.  Up  to 
date  there  are  only  765  miles  of  railway, 
linking  the  capital,  La  Paz,  with  the  coast 
by  three  lines.  Two  rivers,  the  Mamore 
and  Beni,  tributaries  of  the  Amazon,  pro¬ 
vide  the  only  natural  outlet  to  the  sea. 
Both  are  navigable  for  large  vessels,  and 
from  them  launches  and  other  boats  ply 
the  smaller  streams  of  the  country. 

11 


How  Bolivia 
gets  to  the 
sea 


Winning  the  Minds  of  a  Nation 
Returning  from  Bolivia  as  recently  as 
1917,  Samuel  G.  Inman  was  able  to  write 
that  “it  was  a  real  shock  to  find  that 
there  was  a  country  on  the  globe  where 
so  little  Christian  work  is  being  done.” 

Perhaps  this 
was  because 
of  unprofitable 
lines  of  ap¬ 
proach  on  the 
Protestant  mis¬ 
sions.  At  any  rate  the  Metho¬ 
dist  Episcopal  Church  is  now 
coming  into  a  place  of  peculiar 
importance  in  the  life  of  this 
nation  because  of  a  policy  very 
different  from  that  followed  in 
most  Latin  countries. 

This  policy  has  been  radi¬ 
cally  altered  since  the  first 
minister  of  the  Methodist  Epis¬ 
copal  Church  was  appointed  to 
work  in  Bolivia  in  1901.  To  be 
sure,  the  initial  years  of  zeal¬ 
ous  preaching  and  Bible  teach¬ 
ing  provided  a  firm  foundation 
but,  since  1906,  the  work  has 
proceeded  along  very  unusual 
lines. 

Education  for  the  upper 
classes. — The  approach  of 
the  preacher  and  Bible  col¬ 
porteur  was  necessarily  to  the  poor.  The 
upper  classes,  whose  allegiance  to  the 
Roman  Catholic  Church  was  becoming 
constantly  weaker,  were  still  almost  com¬ 
pletely  beyond  the  reach  of  Protestant  ef¬ 
fort.  Irreligion  seemed  about  to 
whelm  the  country. 

The  pioneers  of  the  Methodist  Episco¬ 
pal  Church,  surveying  conditions  in  Bo¬ 
livia,  realized  that  the  greatest  unmet 
need  of  the  country,  in  any  realm  but  the 
spiritual,  was  that  of  first-class  education. 
Although  there  was  a  law  providing  for 
universal  compulsory  education,  only  two 
per  cent  of  the  population  were  in  school. 
Higher  institutions  were  conspicuous  by 


Buenos  Aire' 


over- 


154 


WORLD  SERVICE 


a  course  seemed  revolu¬ 
tionary — a  Roman  Catho¬ 
lic  country  co-operating 
with  a  Protestant  mission 
for  the  conducting  of 
schools  that  were  to  mold 
coming  leaders !  But  in 
1906  the  government  of 
Bolivia  decided  to  endorse 
this  proposal,  and  made  a 
grant  for  the  establish¬ 
ment  of  a  school  in  La  Paz. 
Later  a  similar  school  was 


Bird’s-eye  view  of  La  Paz 

their  absence.  As  a  result,  the  country 
was  held  back  by  a  failure  to  give  ad¬ 
equate  training  to  those  who  would  natur¬ 
ally  provide  its  leadership. 

In  this  situation,  the  missionaries  of 
the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  brought 
forward  the  proposal  that  the  government 
co-operate  with  them  in  the  establishment 
of  schools  that  would  fill  this  gap.  Such 


Above,  Typical  Indian  face,  La  Paz 
Left,  Yungas  Indian,  La  Paz 

planted  in  Cochabamba.  Each  is  called 
the  American  Institute. 

Two  centers  of  influence. — From  the  day 
of  the  opening  of  the  American  Institutes 
in  La  Paz  and  Cochabamba  they  have 
been  outstanding  successes.  For  the  first 
years  of  this  work  the  government  pro¬ 
vided  subsidy.  Financial  difficulties, 
growing  out  of  the  World  War,  made  it 
necessary  to  withdraw  this  in  1915.  Since 
then  the  schools,  which  have  an  annual 
budget  of  $76,000,  have  been  supported 
by  their  own  income  from  tuitions,  plus 
$10,000  contributed  by  the  Board  of  For¬ 
eign  Missions. 

Student  classes. — The  boys  in  these 
schools,  which  start  with  the  kindergar¬ 
ten  and  carry  through  the  high  school,  do 
not  come  from  any  one  class.  “The  sons 


LATIN  AMERICA 


155 


of  small  merchants,  of 
wealthy  miners  and 
ranchers,  of  Indian  bur¬ 
den-bearers,  of  members 
of  the  President’s  cabinet, 
of  ex-Presidents,  of  mem¬ 
bers  of  the  official  circles 
of  the  government,  learn 
to  work  and  to  play  to¬ 
gether  and  to  forget  that 
there  is  such  a  thing  as 
caste.” 

The  girls’  departments 
have  been  equally  success¬ 
ful.  All  of  them  are  run¬ 
ning  to  capacity,  giving 
the  students  the  finest 
education  to  be  had  in 
Bolivia,  with  acquaint¬ 


Above,  Pupils  in  Indian 
night  school,  La  Paz 


Left,  Physics  class  in  our 
school  at  Cochabamba 


ance  with  the  spirit  and  ideals  of  a  for¬ 
ward-looking  Protestantism.  There  have 
been  more  than  6,000  pupils  in  the  two 
schools  since  their  founding  (in  1922 
there  were  381  enrolled)  and  of  those  who 
have  finished  the  course, 
a  large  number  have  al¬ 
ready  achieved  recogni¬ 
tion. 


not  linked  themselves  defi¬ 
nitely  with  the  church, 
they  are  leading  Chris¬ 
tian  lives  and  exerting  a 
wide  influence.  Our  Chris¬ 
tian  schools  have  been 
able  to  show  the  youth  of 
the  country  that  Chris¬ 
tianity  is  a  reasonable  religion,  that  sci¬ 
ence  and  the  laws  of  nature  do  harmonize 
with  the  teachings  of  God,  and  they  are 
having  a  large  influence  in  saving  the 
young  man  from  the  prevailing  atheism.” 


“The 

veteran 


a 


school,”  says 
missionary,  “is 
the  most  effective  evangel¬ 
izing  agency  in  Bolivia. 
By  means  of  Bible  classes 
and  the  Christian  example 
of  the  teachers,  the  stu¬ 
dents  are  brought  to  a 
knowledge  of  the  Chris¬ 
tian  life.  Even  though 
many  of  them  have 


Domestic  science  class  in  American  Institute,  La  Paz 


156 


WORLD  SERVICE 


Kindergarten  children  at  La  Pa z 

A  Neglected  People 
The  other  undeveloped  field  of  service 
in  Bolivia,  to  which  the  Methodist  Episco¬ 
pal  Church  has  turned  its  attention,  is  the 
uplift  of  the  Indian.  There  are  900,000 
of  these  Indians,  most  of  whom  live  in  a 
primitive  state  and  under  the  most  piti¬ 
able  conditions.  The  leading  newspaper 
of  La  Paz  has  thus  described  their  life: 

“The  condition  of  the  Indians  has 
changed  all  too  little  since  the  times  of  the 
Spanish  domination.  They  continue  to  be 
pariahs,  exploited  by  provincial  authori¬ 
ties  and  brutalized  by  alcohol.  The  state 
has  entered  into  a  kind  of  partnership 
with  the  church ;  the  former  to  sell  alcohol 
to  the  Indians  (having  a  monopoly  of  its 
sale)  and  the  latter  to  provide  in  her  fes¬ 
tivals  the  occasion  for  its  consumption. 

“The  moral,  intellectual,  and  material 
condition  of  the  Indians  is  the  worst  pos¬ 
sible,  and  hinders  the  progress  of  the 
nation,  at  the  same  time  bringing  us  face 
to  face  with  very  many  and  very  grave 
problems  which  must  be  solved,  the  tran¬ 
quillity  of  outlying  districts  being  mean¬ 
time  in  constant  danger.” 

Exploited  as  the  Indian  has  been,  the 
work  done  among  his  people  is  difficult 
in  the  extreme,  for  there  are  those  who 
would  rather  see  him  depressed  and  trac¬ 
table  than  educated  and  able  to  stand  up 
for  his  rights.  And  they  are  quick  to  rec¬ 
ognize  the  dangerous  revolutionary  char¬ 
acter  of  the  Christian  gospel  applied  to 
such  conditions. 


Supporting  present 
work. — The  advance  pro¬ 
gram  in  Bolivia  is  very 
clear.  The  work  at  pres¬ 
ent  conducted  must  be  con¬ 
tinued.  This  means  that 
the  two  higher  schools 
for  boys  and  girls, 
through  which  the  Prot¬ 
estant  spirit  is  being 
disseminated  throughout 
the  country  must  be 
strengthened ; 

The  two  day  schools  and  five  night 
schools  for  the  Indians  must  be  developed ; 

The  Bible  Training  School  in  La  Paz, 
the  source  of  a  trained  ministry,  must  be 
enabled  to  do  efficient  work; 

The  congregations  gathered  in  La  Paz, 
Cochabamba  and  three  other  places  must 
be  encouraged,  and  the  day  brought  near 
when  they  can  be  suitably  housed. 

Occupying  new  territory. — By  agreement 


Drinking  an  alcoholic  beverage  after  mass,  in 
the  shade  of  the  chapel,  La  Paz 


Future  Lines  of  Ad¬ 
vance 


LATIN  AMERICA 


157 


among  the  Protestant 
forces,  a  great  section  of 
Bolivia,  comprising  one 
third  of  the  total  area,  is 
left  for  penetration  by  the 
Methodist  Episcopal 
Church.  This  is  the  Beni 
region,  a  fertile  country, 
lying  along  the  tributa¬ 
ries  of  the  Amazon  that 
give  Bolivia  its  only  out¬ 
let  to  the  sea.  Students 
from  this  region  are  al¬ 
ready  in  the  American 
Institutes  at  La  Paz  and 
Cochabamba.  The  terri¬ 
tory  has  a  larger  percentage  of  pure- 
blooded  Spanish  inhabitants  than  any 
other  in  Bolivia,  and,  strange  to  say,  is 
less  occupied  by  the  Roman  Catholic 
Church  than  any  other  region.  In  much 
of  this  region  there  are  neither  priests 
nor  churches. 

It  is  desired,  therefore,  to  send  a  com¬ 
petent  missionary,  acquainted  with  Bo¬ 
livia,  into  this  territory  not  later  than  1925. 
This  pioneer  is  expected  to  study  the  land 


Epworth  Leaguers,  La  Paz 

and  report  to  the  church  as  to  the  most 
promising  fields  in  which  to  begin  work. 

The  immediate  need. — Facing  the  situ¬ 
ation  in  Bolivia,  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church  has  approved  the  following  pro¬ 
gram  : 

Missionary  Staff  will  be  required  for: 

Evangelistic  Work  ....  5  Couples  0  Single 

Educational  Work . 12  Couples  17  Single 

Medical  Work .  1  Couple  4  Single 

18  21  $  57,650 

Work  Operations  will  be  conducted  along 
the  following  lines : 

7  Preaching  Centers  . $15,260 

6  Day  Schools  .  4,700 

2  Central  Schools  .  800 

1  Indian  Agricultural  School .  300 

1  Hospital  .  500 

1  Dispensary  - .  1,700 

Other  and  General  Work .  4,300 


Total  for  Work  Operations .  $  27,560 

Property  Projects  proposed  are  : 

1  City  Church  .  44,400 

1  Missionary  Residence  . — .  10,880 

2  Central  School  Buildings .  38,000 

Total  for  Property  Projects . .  93,280 


The  1921  graduating  class  at  Cochabamba 


Total  Program  (Bolivia) 


$178,490 


158 


WORLD  SERVICE 


CHILE 


Where  Chile  would  be  if  it  were  revolved  about 
the  equator  and  placed  in  the  Northern 
Hemisphere 

A  Republic  with  a 
Future 

What  is  Chile  like? — 

Chile,  the  “shoe-string  re¬ 
public,”  appeals  to  the 
imagination.  What  sort 
of  a  country  can  it  be, 
when  its  coast  line  is 
2,700  miles  long  and  its  territory,  on 
the  average,  only  eighty-seven  miles 
wide?  Many  have  been  deceived  as  to  its 
size,  which  is  greater  than  that  of  Texas. 

Someone  has  said  that  if  you  could  take 
the  state  of  Illinois  and  squeeze  it  out 
until  its  northern  border  lay  in  the  middle 
of  Hudson  Bay  and  its  southern  border 
in  Cuba,  you  would  obtain  a  fair  ap¬ 
proximation  of  Chile.  Another  has  said 
that  if  Chile  were  laid  out  upon  the  United 
States,  it  would  stretch 
from  Portland,  Maine,  to 
Portland,  Oregon. 

Traveling  in  Chile  you 
pass  through  three  kinds 
of  climate.  In  the  north 
there  are  eight  or  nine 
hundred  absolutely  rain¬ 
less  miles,  then  comes  an¬ 
other  like  distance  where 


there  is  so  little  rain  that  irrigation  is 
necessary,  and  finally  there  is  another 
well-watered  section  of  equal  size  stretch¬ 
ing  down  to  the  Straits  of  Magellan.  The 
climate  on  the  whole  resembles  that  of 
California. 

What  are  the  Chileans  like? — Even  to 
the  casual  traveler,  the  citizens  of  Chile 
seem  among  the  most  progressive  to  be 
found  in  South  America.  The  Anglo- 
Saxon  is  struck  by  the  evidence  of  early 
immigration  from  the  British  Isles,  shown 
in  the  Edwards  Street  or  the  Pratt  Plaza 
or  the  O’Higgins  Square  to  be  found  in 
many  of  the  leading  towns.  These  fam¬ 
ilies,  with  the  McKennas,  the  Walkers,  the 
Tuckers  and  many  others  came  to  the  fore 
in  the  days  of  the  struggle  for  independ¬ 
ence.  With  the  passing  of  the  years,  how¬ 
ever,  they  generally 
proved  content  to  settle 
down  into  an  oligarchy  of 
wealth,  which  virtually 
ruled  Chile. 

That  period  has  passed. 
Today,  while  representa¬ 
tives  of  these  original 
English  families  remain,  now  thoroughly 
latinized,  the  leadership  of  the  country  is 
largely  in  the  hands  of  men  whose  ances¬ 
tors  came  from  about  the  Mediterranean. 
And  these  men  find  Chile  ready  for  demo¬ 
cratic  advance  of  every  kind.  Great 
changes  are  coming  within  a  few  years. 

The  latest  census  shows  the  population 
to  be  3,870,000.  This  means  that  fewer 
than  thirteen  people  live  on  every  square 
mile.  With  an  energetic  population, 


Loading  sacks  of  nitrate 


LATIN  AMERICA 


159 


large  national  resources  and  one  of  the 
most  securely  established  governments  on 
the  continent,  Chile  is  bound  to  be  a 
leader  in  the  great  advance  that  is  before 
South  America. 

The  Church  in  Chile 

Established  but  not  secure. — Article  IV 
of  the  Constitution  of  Chile  declares  that 
“the  religion  of  the  Republic  of  Chile  is 
the  Apostolic  Roman  Catholic,  excluding 
the  public  functioning  of  any  other.”  The 
Catholic  clergy  have  been  of  a  higher 
grade  than  elsewhere  in  South  America. 
The  church  has  produced  a  better  type  of 
morality  and  has  held  the  allegiance  of 
the  ruling  classes  in  a  way  that  it  has 
failed  to  do  elsewhere.  It  can  not  be  said, 
however,  to  be  meeting  the  religious  needs 
of  the  country.- 

In  truth,  Roman  Catholicism  in  Chile 
today  is  established,  but  it  is  not  secure. 
A  plank  in  the  platform  upon  which  Presi¬ 
dent  Alessandri  was  elected  in  1920  de¬ 
manded  the  separation  of  Church  and 
State.  The  mounting  tides  of  labor,  fem¬ 
inism,  temperance  reform,  all  find  Ca¬ 
tholicism  in  opposition.  Just  as  rapidly 
as  they  achieve  their  inevitable  triumph, 
they  will  loosen  the  grip  of  the  old  eccle- 
siasticism. 

The  challenge  to  Protestantism. — The 
same  forces  that  spell  defeat  for  an  ex¬ 
clusive  Catholicism  offer  unbounded  op¬ 
portunity  to  an  awakened  Protestantism. 
When  the  Liberal  Party  was  swept  into 
power  at  the  recent  election,  its  platform 


San  Salvador  Catholic  Church,  Santiago 


First  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  Santiago 


Our  church  at  Gorbea 


called  for  currency  re¬ 
form,  the  income  tax, 
protection  of  national  in¬ 
dustries  from  foreign 
aggression,  solution  of 
social  evils,  provision  for 
the  education  of  women 
and  children,  prohibition, 
parliamentary  reforms 
and  separation  of  church 
and  state. 

It  can  be  seen  that  this 
list  of  reforms  that  have 
received  the  mandate  of 


160 


WORLD  SERVICE 


the  Chilean  people  includes  causes  for 
which  Protestantism  is  struggling.  Educa¬ 
tion  of  women  and  children,  the  basis  of 
the  new  feminist  movement  in  that  coun¬ 
try,  has  long  been  pushed  by  the  evangeli¬ 
cals  as,  for  example,  at  the  Santiago 
College  for  Women,  conducted  by  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church. 

Poisoned  by  alcohol. — For  a  long  time 
the  evangelicals  have  been  almost  alone 
in  their  temperance  agitation.  Chile  has 
been  notorious  as  one  of  the  most  intem¬ 
perate  nations.  In  fact,  some  travelers 
have  called  it  the  most  intemperate. 
Today,  however,  far-sighted  scientists  and 
Liberal  statesmen  are  joining  with  Prot¬ 
estants  to  popularize  the  motto :  “Alcohol 
is  a  poison ;  taken  in  large  or  small  quan¬ 
tities,  it  is  a  poison.” 

Labor  and  the  church. — The  labor  situ¬ 
ation  is  demanding  more  attention  than 
any  other  factor  in  Chile  today.  For 
almost  a  century  the  country  has  been 
under  the  domination  of  an  oligarchy  of 
not  more  than  a  hundred  land-owning 
families.  With  the  fortunes  of  these,  the 
Roman  Catholic  Church  has  allied  itself. 
It  is  common  opinion  that  only  the  election 
of  a  Liberal  President  prevented  armed 
revolution  in  1920.  Strikes  are  common 
throughout  Chile  today.  The  newspapers 
give  pages  to  labor  problems. 

How  the  Challenge  is  Being  Met 

The  two  outstanding  evangelical  forces 
in  Chile  today  are  the  Presbyterian  and 


Gymnasium  class  at 

the  Methodist  Episcopal  Churches.  Their 
fields  alternate  from  the  Peruvian  border 
to  the  Straits  of  Magellan.  Between  them 
there  is  cordial  co-operation.  Both  are 
striving  to  introduce  a  type  of  Protestant¬ 
ism  that  will  show  itself  in  harmony  with 
all  progressive  forces.  Preaching,  teach¬ 
ing,  healing  are  the  means  employed. 

Growing  amid  difficulties' — The  latest 
figures  available  show  that  the  Metho- 


The  members  of  this  church  at  Iquique  almost 
paid  for  it  with  their  own  contributions 


LATIN  AMERICA 


161 


Collegio  Americano,  Concepcion 


dist  Episcopal  Church  now  has  in  Chile 
thirty-six  churches,  ministering  to  ap¬ 
proximately  5,000  members.  This  is 
being  done  with  only  a  handful  of  work¬ 
ers,  there  being  only  seventeen  Chilean 
members  of  conference,  with  eighteen  un¬ 
ordained  preachers  under  appointment. 

Most  of  the  churches  have  been  housed 
miserably,  with  the  exception  of  one  edi¬ 
fice  in  Valparaiso.  The  appeal  has  been 
largely  limited  to  the  poorest  classes  be¬ 
cause,  in  a  country  educated  to  cathedrals, 
it  is  almost  impossible  to  induce  members 
of  the  upper  classes  to  enter  such  dilapi¬ 
dated  little  shacks  as  have  sheltered  most 
Prot.estant  congregations. 

Despite  their  handicaps,  however,  the 
churches  are  active  as  never  before.  There 
has  been  a  great  increase  in  tithing. 
Sunday  schools  are  being  pushed.  Special 
leadership  in  temperance  reform  and  in 
work  among  young  people  has  been  pro¬ 
vided,  and  in  the  leading  cities,  in  tem¬ 
porary  quarters,  beginnings  have  been 
made  out  of  which  will  grow  com¬ 
manding  institutional  programs. 

Schools  with  national  reputations. — The 
educational  work  of  the  Methodist  Epis¬ 
copal  Church  is  known  throughout  Chile, 
largely  because  of  such  successful  institu¬ 
tions  as  the  Santiago  College  for  Girls, 
Iquique  English  College,  the  Concepcion 
College  for  Girls,  and  the  American  College 
for  boys,  also  in  Concepcion.  The  lack  in 
this  system  has  come  from  its  concentra¬ 
tion  upon  students  of  the  upper  classes.  Re¬ 


quired  by  stringency  of  funds  to  be  self- 
supporting,  these  schools  have  of  necessity 
placed  their  fees  so  high  that  only  the 
wealthy  have  been  able  to  take  advantage 
of  this  opportunity.  One  of  the  proposi¬ 
tions  immediately  to  be  undertaken  is  the 
extension  of  the  educational  system  under 
Protestant  auspices  to  the  masses. 

A  ministry  of  healing. — Medical  work 
has  been  on  a  restricted  scale,  but  in  the 
large  industrial  fields,  such  as  the  nitrate 
regions,  and  in  the  slums  of  the  cities, 
there  is  great  need  for  service  of  this 
character,  offering  a  quick  means  of  ap¬ 
proach  to  the  poor.  Such  an  enterprise 
as  the  dispensary  of  the  Good  Samaritan 
in  Santiago  has  a  large  influence  and  its 
resources  are  always  taxed  to  their  capac¬ 
ity. 

Literature  an  evangelistic  force. — The 
distribution  of  Christian  literature  is 
growing.  Not  only  is  the  weekly  paper 
issued  by  the  Methodists  of  Chile,  El  Her- 
aldo  Cristiano,  constantly  gaining  a  wider 
reading,  but  the  book  store  in  Santiago 
is  increasing  its  sales.  This  work  is  self- 
supporting. 

Much  of  the  success  in  reaching  Chile 
with  the  gospel  in  printed  form  must  be 
credited  to  the  years  of  seed-sowing  by 
the  American  Bible  Society,  working 
through  its  La  Plata  agency.  More  than 
2,000,000  copies  of  the  Scriptures  have 
been  distributed  by  this  agency,  which 
also  works  in  Argentina,  Uruguay,  and 
Paraguay.  Its  pioneer  agent,  Francis  G. 


162 


WORLD  SERVICE 


Class  in  the  Union  Theological  School,  Santiago,  Chile 


Penzotti,  gladly  suffered  persecution  and 
imprisonment  in  planting  the  work. 
Today  his  son,  a  minister  of  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church,  carries  on  the  enter¬ 
prise. 

Unique  Features  of  the  Chilean 
Mission 

The  work  in  Chile  is  much  like  that  in 
other  South  American  countries.  A  few 
developments,  however,  merit  special  at¬ 
tention. 

Hogar  Anglo-Chileno. — In  order  to  pro¬ 
vide  a  home  for  girl  students  of  the  Uni¬ 
versity  of  Chile  in  which  they  may  have 
the  opportunity  of  using  the  English  lan¬ 
guage  and  learning  English  customs  while 
in  the  most  wholesome  surroundings, 
there  has  been  opened  in  Santiago  a  home 
that  now  provides  quarters  for  fifty-three 
students.  These  come  from  the  depart¬ 
ments  of  medicine,  law,  dentistry,  phar¬ 
macy,  physical  education,  art  and  peda¬ 


ism  in  a  way  that  is  cer¬ 
tain  to  leave  a  deep  im¬ 
press  upon  their  later 
years  of  service.  With 
the  student  class  so  rap¬ 
idly  drifting  into  infidel¬ 
ity,  such  an  approach  as 
is  represented  in  the 
Hogar  Anglo-Chileno  de¬ 
serves  wide  support. 

Bunster  Farm. — No  Cen¬ 
tenary  project  in  South 
America  has  attracted 
more  attention  than  the 
Bunster  Farm,  purchased 
in  1919  to  provide  a  self- 
supporting  school  for  children  of  the  poor. 
On  these  acres  an  encouraging  start  has 
been  made  in  the  establishment  of  a  farm 
that  shall  demonstrate  the  latest  methods 
of  agriculture  and  at  the  same  time  give 
practical  education  to  a  constantly  grow¬ 
ing  group  of  students. 

The  equipment  is  as  yet  very  primitive 
and  the  resources  of  the  farm  have  been 
swallowed  up  in  building  up  an  impover¬ 
ished  soil,  replacing  worn-out  machin¬ 
ery,  equipment  and  live  stock,  and 
nursing  back  to  health  diseased  nurs¬ 
eries  and  orchards.  The  experiment  has, 
however,  gone  far  enough  to  arouse 
interest  in  many  parts  of  South  America. 
It  will  eventually  prove  one  of  Protestant¬ 
ism’s  most  effective  contributions  to  the 
solution  of  Chile’s  twin  problems  of  illit¬ 
eracy  and  poverty. 

Temperance  propaganda, — Support  fur¬ 
nished  by  the  Board  of  Temperance,  Pro¬ 
hibition  and  Public  Morals  has  made  it 


gogy. 

This  home  for  girls 
was  the  first  institution 
of  its  kind  in  South  Amer¬ 
ica  and  is  rendering  a 
much  needed  service.  By 
means  of  Bible  study 
classes,  lectures,  and  dis¬ 
cussion  groups  it  is  possi¬ 
ble  to  present  to  these  uni¬ 
versity  girls  the  ideals 
and  ideas  of  Protestant¬ 


Harvesting  wheat  at  the  Angol  Mission  Farm,  Angol 


LATIN  AMERICA 


163 


Waiting  for  admission  to  the  dispensary,  Santiago,  Chile 


possible  to  put  a  Metho¬ 
dist  secretary  at  work 
fighting  against  the  en¬ 
trenched  liquor  interests 
of  Chile.  By  establishing 
connections  with  the  gov¬ 
ernment  and  with  influ¬ 
ential  societies  mass 
meetings  have  been  held, 
a  news  service  used  by 
leading  papers  conducted, 
much  literature  distrib¬ 
uted,  and  moving  pic¬ 
tures  and  stereopticon 
views  widely  displayed. 

This  propaganda  has  been 
peculiarly  effective  in 
shops,  mines  and  facto¬ 
ries. 

Continental  headquarters. — In  view  of 
the  geographical  location  of  Methodist 
work  in  South  America,  Chile  has  proved 
the  center  from  which  much  continent¬ 
wide  work  has  been  conducted.  In  addi¬ 
tion  to  the  temperance  agitation  already 
mentioned,  the  Centenary,  the  Sunday- 
school,  and  the  Epworth  League  head¬ 
quarters  have  been  located  in  Santiago. 

The  Sunday-school  program  for  Chile 
includes  short  summer  institutes  for  the 
training  of  workers,  an  increased  range 


In  the  Gabriel  Reyes  dispensary 


of  literature,  more  helps  for  teachers,  a 
summer  school  of  religious  education, 
daily  vacation  church  schools,  co-operation 
with  other  evangelical  bodies  and  many 
other  features.  This  work  has  been  nota¬ 
bly  successful. 

Under  the  leadership  of  a  part-time 
secretary  the  Epworth  League  is  coming 
to  the  fore.  The  summer  institute  at 
Angol.  held  for  three  successive  years,  has 
been  remarkable  for  the  results  achieved 
in  spite  of  lack  of  equipment.  Junior 
League  work  is  also  increasing. 

The  Line  of  Advance 

In  a  land  of  stately  churches. — The  time 
has  come  when  the  Latin  must  be  shown 
that  to  join  a  Protestant  church  does  not 
mean  that  he  must  step  from  the  magnifi¬ 
cence  of  the  cathedral  into  the  dinginess 
of  a  rented  store  room. 

Not  much  impression  can  be  made  until 
some  adequate  church  edifices  represent 
the  evangelical  group  in  the  centers  of 
Chile.  Particularly  in  the  capital,  where 
there  is  not  now  a  single  presentable 
Methodist  Church,  is  it  imperative  that 
such  be  erected.  These  will  not  be  ornate 
structures  but  they  will  be  in  thoroughly 
good  architectural  taste. 

In  the  city  of  Santiago,  the  capital,  an 
institutional  church  and  two  other 
churches  must  be  built.  In  addition. 


164 


WORLD  SERVICE 


churches  should  be  erected  immediately 
at  Punta  Arenas,  the  dominant  city  on 
the  Straits  of  Magellan,  in  Los  Anjeles, 
the  capital  of  the  province  of  Bio  Bio, 
and  Ovalle,  a  city  controlling  a  mining 
and  agricultural  country  in  Coquimbo. 

Other  churches  in  other  strategic  points 
must  follow  at  an  early  date.  It  is  said 
that  most  of  these  congregations  will  be¬ 
come  self-supporting  within  two  or  three 
years. 

Where  education  is  sceptic. — In  the 
swing  away  from  Catholicism  most  of  the 
intellectuals  of  South  America  have  be¬ 
come  agnostic,  if  not  atheistic.  There  is 
little  chance  that  this  condition  will  be 
altered  in  government  schools  for  years 
to  come.  For  this  reason,  it  is  imperative 
that  the  Protestant  educational  effort  be 
kept  at  the  highest  possible  state  of  effi¬ 
ciency. 

All  the  higher  institutions  of  learning, 
mentioned  in  previous  sections,  must  be 
reinforced.  In  many  of  them  the  equip¬ 
ment,  which  has  been  doing  duty  since 
the  days  of  William  Taylor,  is  out  of  date. 
In  the  city  of  Santiago,  it  is  hoped  to  open 
a  Nurse  and  Deaconess  Training  School  in 
connection  with  the  institutional  church, 
in  which  nurse  training  can  be  given 
Chilean  girls  under  distinctly  Christian 
auspices. 

Day  schools  in  connection  with  our 
churches  are  a  necessity  and  must  not  only 
be  taught  by  well-trained  teachers  but 
must  be  carefully  supervised.  The  type 
of  practical  education  represented  by  the 
Bunster  Farm  must  be  further  developed. 

Better  men  for  a  better  land. — One  of  the 
keenest  observers  of  Protestant  work  in 
Chile  has  said  that  the  immediate  need  is 
to  provide  first-class  professional  schools 
for  training  the  church  ministers  and 


teachers.  A  Union  Bible  Seminary  is 
maintained  in  co-operation  with  the  Pres¬ 
byterian  mission.  This  school  has  been 
conducted  in  borrowed  and  utterly  inad¬ 
equate  quarters  in  one  of  the  Methodist 
churches. 

Despite  such  handicaps,  the  students 
are  the  school’s  most  enthusiastic  support¬ 
ers.  Almost  first  on  the  Methodist  pro¬ 
gram  in  Chile  must  come  the  placing  of 
this  school  on  a  better  basis.  With  a 
school  equipped  to  give  the  highest  grade 
of  work,  the  church  can  prepare  a  better 
type  of  leadership  for  the  Chile  that  is 
to  be. 

The  immediate  need. — During  1925  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church  has  approved 
the  following  program : 

Missionary  Staff  will  be  required  for: 

Evangelistic  Work....  7  Couples  0  Single 
Educational  Work . 12  Couples  36  Single 


Medical  Work .  0  Couples  3  Single 

Other  Work.... .  5  Couples  3  Single 


24  42  $  87,500 

Work  Operations  will  be  conducted 
along  the  following  lines : 

49  Church  Centers  . $29,043 

13  Day  Schools  .  3,408 

7  Central  Schools  .  6,526 

1  Theological  School  .  900 

1  Agricultural  School  .  4,430 

(Bunster  Farm) 

5  Dispensaries  .  4,624 

Other  and  General  Work .  9,600 


Total  for  Work  Operations .  $  58,531 

Property  Projects  proposed  are: 

2  City  Churches  .  26,600 

3  Small  Churches  .  12,500 

3  Buildings  for  Central  School....  24,000 
1  Theological  School  Building....  15,000 

Annual  payment  on  Bunster 

Farm  .  25,000 

1  Missionary  Rest  Home .  4,000 


Total  Property  Projects .  $107,100 


Total  Program  (Chile) .  $253,131 


LATIN  AMERICA 


165 


ARGENTINA 


“Watch  Orient. 


A  South  American  Leader 

“Watch  Argentina  Grow!”— If  Argen¬ 
tina,  instead  of  being  south  of  the  equa¬ 
tor,  were  west  of  the  Mississippi  (it  is  as 
large  as  twenty  Iowas)  what  a  fine  time 
its  Booster  Clubs  would  have ! 

Argentina  Grow!”  would  be  the 
slogan  advertised  across  its 
more  than  a  million  square  miles 
of  territory.  There  are  less  than 
ten  million  people  in  Argentina 
today,  but  if  the  present  rate  of 
increase  should  continue  as  it 
has  for  the  last  half  century 
there  would  be  fifty  million  peo¬ 
ple  on  hand  in  1970,  and  two 
hundred  million  a  century  from 
now. 

At  that,  Argentina  will  not  be 
crowded.  Only  fifty  millions  of 
its  two  hundred  and  fifty  mil¬ 
lions  of  acres  of  tillable  soil  are 
as  yet  under  cultivation.  When 
the  population  is  as  thick  on  its 
plains  as  it  now  is  in  Italy,  there 
will  be  three  hundred  and  sixty 
million  Argentines.  Most  of  the  wealth 
of  the  land  now  comes  from  ranching, 
with  great  wheat  fields  and  cattle  herds. 
But  as  the  smaller  farmer  increases,  under 
government  encouragement,  production 
and  income  will  closely  approximate  those 
of  our  own  agricultural  states. 

Unlike  other  Latin-American  countries, 
Argentina  is  populated  almost  entirely  by 
Europeans.  There  are  a  few  Indians  left 
in  the  extreme  north  and  extreme  south, 
but  for  the  most  part  the  land  is  a  mecca 
for  emigrants  from  the  old  world.  Ninety- 
two  per  cent  of  those  are  Latins.  Argen¬ 
tina  expects  to  develop  her  life  by  growth 
from  abroad  just  as  the  United  States  has 
done. 

The  city  supreme. — Just  as  Paris  domi¬ 
nates  France,  so  is  Buenos  Aires  the  center 
of  the  Argentine  republic.  Indeed,  as  far 
as  politics,  education,  business,  the  fine 
arts,  and  other  matters  of  social  interest 


are  concerned.  Buenos  Aires  is  Argentina. 

To  this  city,  with  its  population  of 
1,750,000,  is  flowing  a  growing  stream  of 
immigration  from  Italy,  Spain,  Germany, 
the  Near  East,  Turkey,  and  even  the 


Argentina  has  about 
the  population  of  New 
York  state,  but  is 
twenty-four  times  as 
large  in  area. 


In  ten  years  Buenos  Aires  will 
probably  be  the  second  largest 
city  in  the  new  world.  She 
already  houses  more  Italians 
than  Rome,  more  Spaniards 
than  Madrid,  more  Syrians  than 
Beirut  and,  as  an  aftermath  of 
the  war,  expects  to  receive  great 
additions  of  Austrians  and  Ger¬ 
mans. 

The  domination  of  Buenos 
Aires,  however,  is  being  chal¬ 
lenged  by  such  other  cities  as 
Rosario,  Parana,  Cordoba,  Men¬ 
doza,  Bahia  Blanca,  Santa  Fe, 
and  Tucuman.  The  government 
is  encouraging  the  settlement  of 
tracts  previously  given  to  cattle 
raising  so  that  what  have  been 
sparsely  inhabited  provinces 
will  soon  support  permanent 
agricultural  communities.  Before  many 
generations,  Buenos  Aires  will  be  forced 
by  the  growing  power  of  the  rest  of  the 
country  to  assume  a  less  commanding 
position. 

Strategy  today  and  tomorrow.  —  Many 
travelers  declare  that  Argentina  at  pres¬ 
ent  is  marked  by  an  aggressive  national¬ 
ism  which  in  some  of  its  manifestations 
becomes  almost  a  blind  egotism.  A  per¬ 
vading  materialism  likewise  makes  reli¬ 
gious  work  difficult.  One  observer  is  re¬ 
ported  as  saying  that  “here  the  people  are 
so  indifferent  to  all  religions  that  they 
have  no  time  to  be  hostile  to  any.  There 
is  practically  religious  liberty,  authorities 
and  people  alike  seeming  to  look  upon  re¬ 
ligious  work  as  an  amiable  form  of  in¬ 
sanity.” 

In  the  face  of  this  dominance  of  Buenos 
Aires,  the  growth  in  national  pride,  and 
the  materialistic  atmosphere,  any  program 


166 


WORLD  SERVICE 


of  advance  in  the  Argentine  must  take 
into  consideration  these  elements.  Evan¬ 
gelicalism  must  have  a  strategy  that  will 
provide,  in  the  first  place,  a  national 
leadership;  in  the  second  place,  command¬ 
ing  institutions;  in  the  third  place,  ad¬ 
equate  occupation  of  the  nation;  and,  in 
the  fourth  place,  occupation  of  the  un¬ 
developed  regions  as  they  are  settled. 

Argentina’s  Pressing  Problems 

The  rising  tide  of  labor. — It  may  surprise 
readers  in  North  America  to  know  that 
Buenos  Aires  has  probably  suffered  more 
from  labor  troubles  since  the  close  of  the 
world  war  than  any  other  city  in  the 
world.  Labor  conditions  have  grown 
critical  throughout  the  Argentine  Repub¬ 
lic,  leading  up  to  the  triumph  of  the  radi¬ 
cal  party  at  the  recent  election,  with  the 
socialists  in  second  place,  and  the  conserv¬ 
atives  that  have  long  been  in  power  rele¬ 
gated  to  a  minor  position. 

Sovietism  is  rampant  in  Argentina 
today.  Not  only  working  men  but  stu¬ 
dents  and  faculties  in  the  universities  have 
largely  gone  over  to  the  extreme  commu¬ 
nistic  position.  The  Federacion  Obrera 
Regional  Argentina — the  labor  organiza¬ 
tion  that  is  generally  known  by  its  initials 
as  the  F.  0.  R.  A. — now  has  a  member¬ 
ship  of  more  than  300,000,  all  paying 
dues.  It  has  carried  through  successful 
strikes  against  the  strongest  business  or¬ 
ganizations  in  the  country,  such  as  the 
railway  and  steamship  lines,  and  is  now 
undertaking  the  organization  of  the  peon 
labor  on  the  great  ranches. 


Cattle  grazing  on  the  pampas 


Twelve-year-old  girl  and  baby  sister  at  the 
steamer  landing  to  welcome  you  to  Argentina 


In  truth,  there  is  plenty  in  the  condi¬ 
tion  of  these  workers  to  inspire  action, 
not  only  by  the  F.  O.  R.  A.  but  by  all  who 
are  interested  in  human  welfare.  The 
working  men  on  many  plantations  are 
virtual  slaves.  If  they  attempt  to  flee, 
they  are  hunted  like  hounds.  The  con¬ 
tract  given  them  provides  that:  “Each 
peon  who  abandons  work  without  permis¬ 
sion  of  the  patron,  absenting  himself  from 
the  establishment,  incurs 
a  responsibility  for  dam¬ 
ages,  in  which  case  he  will 
be  considered  as  a  fugi¬ 
tive  and  the  patron  is 
authorized  to  pursue  him 
and  to  compel  him  to  com¬ 
ply  with  his  contract.  If 
the  peon  loses  his  time- 
book,  he  must  submit  him¬ 
self  to  the  data  contained 
in  the  firm’s  books.  The 
peon  must  work  every  day 
that  the  patron  desig- 


LATIN  AMERICA 


167 


The  three  star  athletes  of  the  American  College 

and  Ward  Commercial  School,  Buenos  Aires 

nates,  Sundays,  holidays,  or  rainy  days 
not  excepted,  as  also  he  must  work  at 
night,  if  the  inclemency  of  the  weather 
has  not  permitted  him  to  do  so  during 
the  day.  If  for  lack  of  desire,  he  pretends 
sickness  in  order  not  to  work,  especially 
on  Sunday,  he  will  pay  fifty  cents  a  day 
for  his  meals,  besides  losing  his  salary.” 

Labor  has  proved  its  power  so  conclu¬ 
sively  in  Argentina  that  any  body  or 
movement  seeking  influence  in  the  future 
life  of  the  country  must  bring  itself  into 
line  with  the  labor  program.  The  Roman 
Catholic  Church  is  wholly 
out  of  sympathy  with  this 
labor  movement.  As  a  re¬ 
sult,  labor  is  stanchly 
anti-clerical.  It  remains 
to  be  seen  whether  Prot¬ 
estantism  can  win  an  al¬ 
legiance  that  Catholicism 
has  thrown  away. 

Perils  to  society. — Ar¬ 
gentina  is  confronted  by 
much  the  same  social 
problems  that  are  to  be 


found  in  ether  Latin  lands.  Such  vices 
as  intemperance,  gambling,  a  double 
moral  standard,  and  lax  regard  for 
the  truth  are  patent  to  any  observer. 
Woman  has  until  recently  held  an  inferior 
position  and  still  labors  under  legal  dis 
advantages  that  make  it  impossible  for 
her  to  administer  family  property. 
Through  the  neglect  of  education,  it  is  esti¬ 
mated  that  forty  per  cent  of  the  people  are 
illiterate. 

To  deal  with  these  social  problems  many 
organizations  are  being  formed.  There 
are  three  outstanding  feminist  bodies, 
one  composed  of  mothers,  one  of  school 
teachers,  and  one  the  National  Council  of 
Women,  all  of  which  are  attacking  these 
evils  from  their  own  standpoint.  The 
Woman’s  Rights  Association  of  Buenos 
Aires  is  carrying  on  a  campaign  that  de¬ 
mands  : 

1.  The  repeal  of  all  laws  which  estab¬ 
lish  a  difference  between  the  two  sexes 
and  against  woman,  in  order  that  the  lat¬ 
ter  be  no  longer  the  weakling  which  she 
is  today,  before  the  law. 

2.  The  right  of  women  to  hold  public 
office  and  to  be  members  of  the  national 
and  Regional  Councils  of  Education. 

3.  The  establishment  of  special  courts 
for  children  and  women. 

4.  The  passing  of  laws  for  the  protec¬ 
tion  of  maternity  and  for  making  legiti¬ 
mate  all  children. 

5.  The  abolition  of  legal  prostitution 
and  the  establishment  of  the  white  life 
for  both. 

6.  Equality  in  wages. 

7.  Equal  political  rights. 


Heavily  laden  dock  symbolic  of  Argentina’s  vigorous 
commercial  activity 


168 


WORLD  SERVICE 


Our  Girls’  School  at  Buenos  Aires  builds  strong  bodies  as  well  as 
alert  minds  and  spirits 


The  Woman’s  Christian 
Temperance  Union  has  ob¬ 
tained  a  strong  hold,  par¬ 
ticularly  among  women 
connected  with  Protestant 
churches.  The  roster  of 
organizations,  some  of 
them  fostered  by  the 
evangelical  churches  and 
some  with  Catholic  back¬ 
ing,  wrestling  with  these 
problems,  is  too  long  for 
insertion  here. 

A  spiritual  battleground. 

— It  is  in  the  realm  of  reli¬ 
gion  that  Argentina  offers 
the  greatest  challenge. 

The  indifference  of  the 
intellectual  and  working  classes  to  the 
Roman  Catholic  church  has  already  been 
cited.  Equally,  it  should  be  said,  are 
these  groups  indifferent  to  the  presenta¬ 
tion  of  religion  under  any  auspices  what¬ 
ever  they  may  be. 

There  are  several  organizations  of 
Catholic  women  that  show  a  fanatical 
attachment  to  the  welfare  of  that  church. 
The  Catholic  hierarchy  is  bestirring  itself 
to  rid  the  clergy  of  inner  decay  and  to  re¬ 
establish  the  influence  of  the  church.  In 
this,  it  may  be  said  that  notable  progress 
is  being  shown. 

But  Argentina  is  drifting,  in  so  far  as 
its  controlling  elements  are  concerned, 
into  religious  indifference  and  even 
atheism.  The  evangelical  churches  have, 
as  yet,  shown  but  slight  strength  where¬ 
with  to  cope  with  this  exceedingly  difficult 
and  dangerous  situation. 

The  Evangelical  Program 

Occupying  the  field. — In  this  tremendous 
expanse  of  territory,  there  are  working 
nine  main  evangelical  bodies  besides  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church.  Of  these, 
two  confine  their  efforts  very  largely  to 
the  small  English-speaking  communities 
that  are  to  be  found  scattered  throughout 
the  country.  Several  hold  themselves 
rigidly  to  a  program  of  preaching  only. 

With  one  body,  the  Disciples  of  Christ, 
it  has  been  possible  for  the  Methodist 


Episcopal  Church  to  unite  for  various  en¬ 
terprises.  A  delimitation  of  territory  has 
prevented  overlapping  of  the  work  of 
these  two  churches  and  should  insure  much 
more  rapid  occupation  of  the  country. 

Methodist  responsibility. — The  responsi¬ 
bility  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church 
is  larger  than  that  of  any  other  evangel¬ 
ical  society.  At  the  present  time,  its 
work  is  almost  equal  to  that  of  all  other 
missions  combined. 

Although  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church  has  been  able  to  organize  four  dis¬ 
tricts  in  Argentina,  and  other  evangelical 
bodies  have  pushed  their  way  into  other 
communities,  the  occupation  of  the  field 
can  not  be  said  to  have  passed  the  initial 
stage. 

Unoccupied  territory. — There  are,  as  yet, 
few  churches  in  Buenos  Aires  of  any  par¬ 
ticular  importance.  There  are  large  cit¬ 
ies  that  contain  no  Protestant  congrega¬ 
tions. 

In  1917,  the  Executive  Secretary  of  the 
Committee  on  Co-operation  in  Latin 
America  testified  that:  “If  all  the  mis¬ 
sionaries,  preachers,  teachers,  and  other 
evangelical  workers,  native  and  foreign, 
were  placed  in  the  province  of  Buenos 
Aires  there  would  be  only  one  for  each 
6,500  people.  In  Buenos  Aires,  with 
1,700,000,  there  are  fewer  than  twenty 
churches  and  halls  for  Spanish-speaking 
services.  In  Bahia  Blanca,  with  100,000 


LATIN  AMERICA 


169 


people,  there  is  one  resident  Protestant 
minister,  and  there  are  no  teachers.  In 
the  province  of  Mendoza,  San  Juan  and 
San  Luis,  with  457,584  inhabitants,  there 
are  five  ordained  ministers  and  a  few  vol¬ 
unteer  helpers,  with  eight  churches.  The 
country  districts,  from  which  we  draw 
most  of  our  ministers,  are  practically  un¬ 
reached  in  Argentina.  And  if  we  think 
of  the  unreached  classes  of  people,  space 
would  hardly  permit  of  their  mention.” 

Methodism’s  Present  Work 

Successful  institutions. — The  work  of  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church  really  began 
in  labors  among  the  English-speaking  pop¬ 
ulation  of  Buenos  Aires.  This  work  re¬ 
mains  important  and  should  be  developed. 
It  is  self-supporting. 

In  the  course  of  the  years,  however, 
growth  has  been  almost  exclusively  in  the 
direction  of  the  Spanish-speaking  popula¬ 
tion.  There  are  today  thirty-four  churches, 
seventy-nine  Sunday  schools,  a  Bible 
Training  School,  a  secondary  school  in 
Buenos  Aires,  an  agricultural  training 
school,  a  group  of  primary  schools  in 


New  building  of  Ward  Institute,  Buenos  Aires 


Buenos  Aires,  an  orphanage  at  Mercedes, 
primary  schools  for  boys  and  girls  in  Ro¬ 
sario,  and  a  primary  school  in  San 
Eduardo. 

Ward  institute. — More  public  attention 
is  being  given  to  the  American  College 
and  Ward  Commercial  Institute  than  to 
any  other  of  these  enterprises.  Here, 
where  the  co-operation  of  the  Disciples 
of  Christ  has  been  secured  in  order  to 
place  before  the  Argentine  capital  an  ob¬ 
ject  lesson  in  Christian  education,  there  is 
a  flourishing  secondary  school,  with  a 
three-year  commercial  course.  The  Cen¬ 
tenary  has  made  possible  the  enlargement 
of  a  fine  plant  on  one  of  the  main  avenues 
of  Buenos  Aires.  The  school  has  been 
filled  to  capacity  from  the  opening  day. 

Christian  literature. — As  in  all  Latin 
American  countries,  the  use  of  the  printed 
page  is  of  increasing  importance  in  the 
Protestant  program.  In  Argentina  the 
church  has  shown  itself  strong  enough  to 
conduct  its  own  publishing  house  and  dis¬ 
tribute  its  own  weekly  El  Estandarte 
Evangelico,  on  a  self-supporting  basis. 
The  success  of  this  enterprise  is  one  more 
evidence  of  the .  inherent  power  of  the 
church  in  a  Latin  land. 

A  devoted  membership. — There  are  7,250 
members  in  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church  in  the  bounds  of  the  Eastern 
South  America  Conference!  (This  con¬ 
ference  includes  the  work  in  Uruguay  as 
well  as  in  Argentina.)  This  may  seem 
like  a  small  group  with  which  to  face  the 
problem  of  so  large  a  land  but  the  devo¬ 
tion  of  these  Methodists  is  shown  by  the 
fact  that,  whereas  the  budget  for  educa¬ 
tional  work  has  called  for  $95,000  yearly, 
the  church  in  South  America  has  con¬ 
tributed  $76,000  of  this  amount;  and 
whereas  the  budget  for  evangelistic  work 
has  required  $203,000,  the  Methodists  on 
the  field  have  contributed  $149,000,  while 
they  have  carried  the  entire  $50,000  that 
represents  the  expense  of  the  publishing 
house.  In  other  words,  the  Methodists  of 
Eastern  South  America  are  now  giving  an 
average  of  $21.00  per  member  for  evan¬ 
gelistic  work  and  an  average  of  $38.00  for 


170 


WORLD  SERVICE 


One  of  five  Sunday  schools  supported  by  the  members  of  the  First 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church  at  Bahia  Blanca 


all  purposes!  This  will 
compare  favorably  with 
the  giving  of  Methodists 
in  any  part  of  the  world 
and  indicates  that  there 
has  already  been  gathered 
in  Argentina  a  nucleus 
about  which  can  grow 
a  mighty  evangelical 
church. 

The  Line  of  Advance 

Raising  up  leaders.  — 

Bishop  W.  F.  Oldham  has 
written  what  he  declares 
to  be  his  “abiding  word  to  Methodism” 
concerning  the  problems  that  face  the 
church  in  Argentina.  First  place  he  gives 
to  the  need  of  a  better-trained  ministry. 
“This  is  a  people,”  he  says,  “wonderfully 
responsive  to  preaching  that  is  adequate 
in  material  and  form,  while  there  is  per¬ 
haps  less  patience  with  poor  preaching 
than  even  with  our  impatient  people  at 
home.  What  we  need,  therefore,  is  a 
higher  order  of  prepared  men  to  command 
that  hearing  without  which  the  gospel 
message  can  not  hope  to  be  widely  spread.” 

In  the  face  of  this  need,  the  importance 
can  be  seen  of  continuing  the  Bible  Train¬ 
ing  School  at  Buenos  Aires,  and  of  start¬ 
ing  the  work  of  the  projected  Union  Theo¬ 
logical  Seminary  at  Montevideo,  which  is 
to  offer  the  highest  type  of  post-graduate 
work  to  the  evangelical  ministerial  candi¬ 
dates  of  all  South  America. 

The  training  school  in  Buenos  Aires  is 
conducted  in  company  with  the  Disciples 
of  Christ,  although  five-sixths  of  the  stu¬ 
dents  enrolled  are  prospective  ministers  of 
the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church.  There 
will  long  be  need  for  such  a  school  to  fur¬ 
nish  the  major  portion  of  the  Argentine 
ministry.  The  school  in  Montevideo  is 
expected  to  give  instruction  only  to  those 
university  graduates  who  have  given  signs 
of  ability  to  render  extraordinary  service. 

Adequate  churches. — Argentina,  with 
its  well-planned  cities,  presents  the  prob¬ 
lem  of  church  edifices  in  a  more  pressing 
form  than  the  other  Latin  countries. 


“There  can  never  be  sufficient  empha¬ 
sis,”  declares  Bishop  Oldham,  “on  the 
statement  that  people  of  cultivation  and 
social  position  can  not  be  induced  into 
religious  services  or  gatherings  of  any 
kind  in  poorly  located  and  furnished 
halls.  Accustomed  to  the  stately  and  or¬ 
nately  furnished  buildings  of  the  Roman 
Church,  men  and  women  of  cultivation 
can  not  be  induced  by  any  possible  means 
to  enter  ill-favored  buildings. 

“Methodism  must  heed  the  important 
need  by  the  expenditure  of  large  sums  of 
money  to  provide  adequate  churches.  In 
every  case  the  existing  local  congrega¬ 
tions  will  provide  a  far  larger  proportion 
of  the  expenses  than  one  who  knows  their 
circumstances  would  estimate.  And  it 
can  safely  be  said  that  such  churches 
once  built  will  soon  hold  self-supporting 
congregations,  carrying  not  only  their 
own  local  expenses  but  helping  to  send 
the  gospel  to  other  sections  of  their 
country.” 

A  sample  statement. — As  one  example  of 
many  that  might  be  cited,  consider  the 
proposal  for  the  building  of  Third 
Church,  Buenos  Aires: 

“The  Third  Church,  Buenos  Aires,  is 
in  the  very  heart  of  the  city  and  presents 
the  always  pathetic  sight  of  a  Methodist 
attempt  to  evangelize  a  community  of  cul¬ 
tivated  tastes  through  advance  located  in 
an  inadequate  hall,  which  at  best  can 
only  hold  150  persons,  without  separate 
rooms  for  Sunday  school  or  young  peo- 


LATIN  AMERICA 


171 


Pupils  in  our  day  school  at  Edwards 


pie’s  activities  of  any  kind.  For  years 
this  gallant  group  has  held  its  own,  but  it 
is  worse  than  foolish  to  keep  on  with  it, 
using  so  much  energy,  when  with  altered 
conditions  so  much  larger  results  could  be 
obtained.  These  conditions  are:  first,  to 
move  on  to  a  main  street ;  second,  to  erect 
a  commodious,  attractive,  but  simple 
church  and  Sunday-school  rooms.  Land  is 
expensive  and  about  one-half  the  total  ex¬ 
pense  incurred  will  be  in  purchasing  it. 
The  amount  that  the  congregation  is  col¬ 
lecting  excites  the  admiration  of  all  who 
know  their  circumstances !  The  total 
amount  required  is  $38,500.  Local  sources 
will  provide  $8,500.” 

A  socialized  program. — Argentina  is  re¬ 
sponding  in  an  astonishing  way  to  the 
first  attempt  at  social  service  by  the 
evangelical  forces. 

The  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  has  in 
its  Boca  Mission  in  Buenos  Aires  given 
an  object  lesson  in  the  possibilities  of  in¬ 
stitutional  work.  The  ministries  of  this 
widely  known  mission  are  mainly  to  the 
seamen  and  workers  along  the  water¬ 
front  of  the  Argentine  capital.  Only  a 
lack  of  proper  equipment  has  kept  this 
from  being  one  of  the  outstanding  suc¬ 
cesses  in  institutional  work  in  any  land. 
Other  social  agencies  are  to  be  extended 
and  a  well-planned  system  of  medical  re¬ 
lief  for  the  poor  is  to  be  put  into  effect, 
especially  outside  of  the  larger  cities. 

Bishop  Oldham,  whose  experience  has 
touched  India,  Malaysia,  and  the  general 
work  of  the  church  through  his  service 
as  Corresponding  Secretary  of  the  Board 


of  Foreign  Missions, 
writes  that  “If  anywhere 
in  the  world  will  be  found 
response  to  such  pro¬ 
grams,  it  will  be  found 
here.  In  this  case,  once 
the  initial  expense  is 
made,  a  large  measure  of 
self-support  may  speedily 
be  looked  for.  All  these 
clamant  needs  can  be  sup¬ 
plied  for  a  total  sum  not 
exceeding  the  amount 
originally  promised  by  the  Centenary,  and 
this  because  we  are  finding  the  local  re¬ 
sponse  greater  than  our  estimates,  fan¬ 
tastical  as  those  estimates  seemed  when 
first  made.” 

Entering  the  empty  spaces. — A  single 
district  of  the  Eastern  South  America 
Conference  contains  more  than  283,000 
square  miles  of  territory  (more  than  all 
the  state  of  Texas)  with  a  population  of 
2,500,000.  Another  district  embraces 
185,000  square  miles  (more  than  four 
times  larger  than  Ohio)  with  only 
621,500  people.  In  still  another  district, 
with  a  territory  more  than  ten  times  as 
large  as  that  of  Pennsylvania,  there  are 
but  920,000  people. 

Of  the  work  in  all  these  sections  the 
resident  bishop  has  to  write:  “Little  is 
being  done.  Our  undertakings  are  so 
small  that  as  yet  they  can  scarcely  be 
said  to  be  touching  the  fringes  of  the  sit¬ 
uation.  The  insistent  call  is  for  primary 
schools,  district  nurses,  itinerating  dis¬ 
pensaries  and  a  gospel  tent  for  itinerat¬ 
ing  through  all  the  spring  and  summer, 
with  a  plentiful  use  of  tracts.” 

The  plans  now  adopted  provide  for  a 
fit  entrance  into  these  new  portions  just 
as  fast  as  funds  are  made  available. 
Today,  with  the  expansive  spirit  common 
to  pioneer  communities,  these  towns  and 
cities  welcome  the  evangelical  approach.  It 
is  possible  to  secure  satisfactory  sites  for 
the  work  that  may  not  be  available  a  few 
years  hence,  and  a  large  amount  of  local 
support  is  in  sight  from  the  start.  Chris¬ 
tian  wisdom  calls  for  advance  into  these 
fields  in  this  time  of  opportunity. 


172 


WORLD  SERVICE 


The  need. — In  order  in  any  sense  to 
discharge  the  obligations  of  Methodism 
in  Argentina,  the  church  has  approved 
the  following  program1  for  1925 : 

Missionary  Staff  is  required  for: 

Evangelistic  Work.... 10  Couples  0  Single 

Educational  Work . 10  Couples  6  Single 

Medical  Work .  0  Couples  5  Single 

20  11  $  68,950 


1  This  program  is  for  the  Eastern  South  America 
Annual  Conference,  which  includes  the  work  in  Uru¬ 
guay.  It  is  impossible  successfully  to  separate  the 
budgets  for  the  two  countries,  because  administra¬ 
tively  they  are  handled  as  a  unit. 


Work  Operations 

Church  Work  from  66  Centers. 


23  Day  Schools  . $6,800 

5  Central  Schools  .  3,950 

1  Theological  Training  School .  4.500 

1  Agricultural  School .  2,000 


1  Dispensary  . 

Other  and  General  Operations 

Total — Work  Operations  .. 


Property  Projects 

4  City  Churches . $85,000 

6  Smaller  Churches . $43,500 

2  Central  School  Bldgs .  32,000 


Total — Property  Projects  . 

Total  Program  (Eastern  South 
America  Conference)  . 


$  61,847 

17,250 

5,000 

10,625 

$  94,722 


$160,500 

$324,172 


URUGUAY 


A  Forward-Looking  Nation 

Progressive  Uruguay. — As  Geneva  was 
once  the  intellectual  center  of  Europe,  so 
Montevideo,  the  capital  of  Uruguay,  small¬ 
est  of  the  countries  of  South  America, 
bids  fair  to  become  the  intellectual  cap¬ 
ital  of  that  continent.  South  America  is 
just  moving  into  a  period  of  destiny.  And 
not  only  in  education,  but  in  dealing  with 
almost  every  other  problem  that  confronts 
the  Latin  republics,  Uruguay  is  pointing 
the  way. 

Uruguay  is  as  much  dominated  by  Mon¬ 
tevideo,  whose  400,000  people  are  a  third 
of  the  population,  as  is  Argentina  by 
Buenos  Aires.  The  development  of  the 
interior  has  scarcely  begun,  although 
there  are  small  cities,  such  as  Durazno  and 
Trinidad,  with  20,000  people  in  them.  At 
present  it  is  possible  largely  to  concen¬ 
trate  attention  upon  the  capital,  but  the 
certain  development  of  the  rest  of  the 
country  requires  an  adequate  occupation 
of  other  centers  as  well. 

Where  labor  rules. — The  labor  troubles 
of  other  South  American  countries  have 
not  greatly  disturbed  Uruguay,  because 
labor  is  already  in  control.  The  govern¬ 
ment  is  avowedly  socialistic  in  tendency, 
and  the  national  constitution  adopted  in 
1917  is  remarkably  progressive  in  its  atti¬ 
tude  upon  industrial  issues. 


There  is  probably  no  other  government 
in  the  world,  for  example,  where,  accord¬ 
ing  to  law,  a  workman  has  to  be  paid 
while  he  is  on  strike.  The  compensation 
laws  protecting  workmen  injured  in  in¬ 
dustry  provide  payment  even  when  the 
accident  is  the  result  of  negligence.  The 
nation  is  probably  the  most  socialistic  in 
either  of  the  Americas. 

Votes  for  women. — It  is  not  surprising, 
therefore,  to  find  a  strong  feminist  move¬ 
ment  in  Uruguay.  The  only  woman’s  uni¬ 
versity  in  South  America  stands  in 
Montevideo.  The  headquarters  of  the  Con¬ 
tinental  Temperance  Society,  a  woman’s 
movement,  are  in  the  same  city.  And  thre 
agitation  for  votes  for  women  seems  likely 
to  attain  its  end. 

Educational  emphasis. — Uruguay  boasts 
that  she  has  the  lowest  rate  of  illiteracy 
in  South  America.  This  is  due  to  an  edu¬ 
cational  program  that  absorbs  a  larger 
percentage  of  the  national  budget  than  in 
any  other  country  on  that  continent.  So 
complete  is  the  government  system  of 
grammar  schools  that  it  is  unnecessary 
for  the  church  to  maintain  schools  of  that 
grade,  save  in  a  few  places  where  excep¬ 
tional  conditions  obtain. 

A  continental  center. — It  is  as  a  sort  of 
center  for  the  movements  that  affect 
South  America  as  a  whole  that  Uruguay 


LATIN  AMERICA 


173 


is  attracting  prominence.  Mention  has 
been  made  of  the  way  in  which  the  tem¬ 
perance  cause  has  made  its  headquarters 
in  Montevideo.  The  international  student 
organization  of  South  America  has  also 
placed  its  offices  in  that  city.  The  South 
American  headquarters  of  the  Young 
Men’s  Christian  Association  will  be  found 
there.  The  Catholic  church  is  reported 
to  be  sending  priests  from  all  parts  of 
Latin  America  to  Montevideo  for  final 
training.  The  office  of  the  educational 
secretary  for  the  united  Protestants  of 
the  continent  has  been  placed  there.  Some 
day  the  Union  Theological  Seminary, 
which  is  to  provide  the  finest  Protestant 
ministerial  training  in  South  America, 
will  be  located  in  this  center. 

The  religious  situation.  —  Reports  con¬ 
cerning  the  religious  situation  in  Uruguay 
conflict.  While  Protestant  work,  espe- 


i 


4 

i  i  I 


Central  Methodist  Episcopal  Church, 
Montevideo,  Uruguay 


dally  that  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church,  is  flourishing,  it  cannot  be  denied 
that  dominant  political  elements  are 
strongly  anti-religious. 

By  the  constitution  of  1917  church  and 
state  have  been  separated.  In  many  ways 
this  has  been  a  good  thing  for  the  Cath¬ 
olic  church,  since  the  necessity  of  provid¬ 
ing  for  its  own  support  has  purified  and 
invigorated  that  body.  The  Catholic  party 
today  contains  many  strong  men.  The 
doors  before  the  evangelicals,  however, 
seem  wide  open. 

The  Response  to  Methodism 

How  the  field  is  occupied. — While  most 
of  the  people  of  Uruguay  have  lost  confi¬ 
dence  in  religion  as  embodied  in  an  insti¬ 
tution,  they  have  proved  peculiarly  ac¬ 
cessible  to  religion  preached  as  a  personal 
experience  and  expressed  through  service. 

The  response  to  the  efforts  of  the  Meth¬ 
odist  Episcopal  Church  has  been  remark¬ 
able.  It  is  generally  conceded  that  one 
Methodist  congregation  is  the  strongest 
Protestant  body  of  any  kind  in  Latin 
America.  There  are  now  twelve  circuits, 
with  many  preaching  points.  The  main 
population  centers  of  the  country  are  oc¬ 
cupied.  Methodist  work  is  much  more 
extensive  than  the  combined  wTork  of  all 
other  Protestant  forces.  The  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church  must  face  responsibility 
for  the  evangelization  of  about  four-fifths 
of  Uruguay. 

An  outstanding  churchj — Mention  Meth¬ 
odism  in  Uruguay  and  the  McCabe  Me¬ 
morial  Church,  Montevideo,  immediately 
comes  to  mind.  Here,  in  the  finest  plant 
occupied  by  a  Spanish-speaking  Protes¬ 
tant  congregation  in  Latin  America,  evan¬ 
gelicalism  is  making  a  deep  impression. 
Doctors,  lawyers,  university  professors, 
merchants,  bankers,  and  many  other  call¬ 
ings  are  represented  in  this  wholly  self- 
supporting  church.  Great  liberality  for 
benevolent  purposes  is  shown,  while  im¬ 
provement  of  the  local  equipment  goes  on 
continually.  A  varied  institutional  work 
goes  hand  in  hand  here  with  an  aggressive 
evangelistic  appeal. 


174 


WORLD  SERVICE 


Lads  from  our  North  American  Academy,  Montevideo 


In  South  America’s 
stockyards.  —  Equal  suc¬ 
cess  is  meeting  the  Pan- 
American  Institute  in  the 
Cerro  district  of  Monte¬ 
video.  This  is  the  stock- 
yards  section,  and  is  filled 
with  the  workers  of  the 
Swift  and  Armour  plants. 

The  Pan-American  Insti¬ 
tute  puts  on  an  evangelis¬ 
tic,  educational,  and  medi¬ 
cal  program  that  runs 
seven  days  and  nights  a 
week.  Practically  no 
other  religious  work  of  any  kind  is  being 
done  among  these  15,000  people,  who  show 
their  appreciation  by  bearing  more  than 
half  the  budget.  As  this  is  a  young  work, 
it  is  possible  in  time  it  may  become  self- 
supporting,  something  that  is  true  of  few 
institutional  plants  in  the  world. 

Two  noted  schools. — The  higher  educa¬ 
tional  work  under  Methodist  auspices  is 
notably  successful.  In  a  country  that 
prides  itself  on  its  standards  of  education, 
the  high  school  for  girls  conducted  by  the 
Woman’s  Foreign  Missionary  Society, 
Crandon  Hall,  is  genei-ally  ranked  in  the 
first  grade. 

The  North  American  Academy,  the 
higher  school  for  boys  carried  on  by  the 
Board  of  Foreign  Missions,  is  rapidly  win¬ 
ning  distinction.  The  crowded  classrooms 


and  large  budget  borne  by  local  resources 
testify  to  the  high  standing  of  this  school. 

If  there  were  space,  report  might  be 
made  of  much  other  work  in  Uruguay.  It 
must  suffice  to  say  that  in  all  South  Amer¬ 
ica  there  is  no  country  where  the  work 
is  more  solidly  planted,  nor  anywhere 
is  better  hope  for  a  future  of  large  in¬ 
fluence. 

The  immediate  need, — As  it  is  impossi¬ 
ble  to  separate  the  administration  of  work 
in  the  Argentine  Republic  and  Uruguay, 
since  both  are  included  in  the  Eastern 
South  America  Conference  of  the  Metho¬ 
dist  Episcopal  Church,  with  district  lines 
in  some  cases  crossing  national  bound¬ 
aries,  the  approved  program  for  both 
countries  will  be  found  in  the  section  de¬ 
voted  to  Argentina. 


EUROPE  AND  NORTH  AFRICA 


iiiiiiiiimiiimiiiiiiiiimiiiiMiii 


LATIN  PEOPLES 
BALKANS 

PROTESTANT  PEOPLES 
RUSSIA 

BALTIC  REPUBLICS 
MOHAMMEDAN  PEOPLES 


EACH  DOT  REPRESENTS  ONE 
METHODIST  EPISCOPAL  CHURCH 


COLLEGIO  INTERNAZIONALE,  MONTE  MARIO,  ROME 

In  1917-1918  /  studied  the  history  of  all  the  races  of  the 
earth,  and  became  convinced  that  the  sole  solution  of 
the  evil  of  the  world  is  the  transformation  of  human 
souls,  that  this  cannot  be  brought  about  except  by  means 
of  religion,  and  that  the  most  perfect  and  suitable  is 
that  taught  by  Christ.  Giovanni  Papini 


EUROPE  AND  NORTH  AFRICA 


The  Continent  with  Diverse  Problems 

When  the  Peace  Conference  attempted 
to  settle  the  problems  of  Europe  on  the 
basis  of  racial  and  economic  interests,  it 
plunged  into  a  task  from  which  it  was 
unable  to  extricate  itself  successfully.  The 
church,  facing  the  religious  problems  of 
the  same  continent,  finds  itself  dealing 
with  questions  as  intricate  and  difficult 
of  solution  as  any  that  confronted  the 
negotiators  at  Versailles. 

The  program  of  the  Methodist  Epis¬ 
copal  Church  in  Europe  is  not  a  mechani¬ 
cal  one.  It  has  not  been  worked  out  on 
paper  and  then  imposed  upon  the  people 
involved.  It  has  grown  up  as 
needs  have  been  expressed  by 
these  people  themselves  and  has 
been  tested  out  carefully  in 
action. 

There  are  six  main  divisions 
in  the  work  of  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church  in  Europe. 

Briefly,  these  divisions  are: 


The  Latin  Peoples 
The  religious  problem  presented  by  the 
Latin  countries  is  one  of  the  most  difficult. 
In  Italy,  France,  and  Spain  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church  has  attempted  to  deal 
with  it  by  placing  increasing  emphasis 
upon  a  proper  culture  for  youth  while  at 
the  same  time  carrying  forward  its  evan¬ 
gelistic  program.  The  rearing  of  a  Prot¬ 
estant  younger  generation  looks  to  future, 
more  than  to  present,  power. 

The  Balkans 

Into  the  southeastern  corner  of  Europe 
have  been  flung  Mohammedans,  Greek 
Catholics,  Roman  Catholics, 
Jews,  Free  Thinkers,  and  Prot¬ 
estants.  To  insure  future  peace 
in  this  storm  center  a  solution 
of  the  resulting  religious  prob¬ 
lem  is  as  much  needed  as  any¬ 
thing.  Methodist  work  is  being 
conducted  in  Bulgaria  and  Yugo¬ 
slavia,  including  Macedonia. 


177 


178 


WORLD  SERVICE 


The  Protestant  Peoples 
The  healthy  Methodist  Episcopal 
churches  that  have  sprung  un  among  the 
Protestant  peoples  of  Europe  have  all 
come,  not  as  a  result  of  any  planning  in 
America,  but  in  response  to  evangelistic 
labors  carried  on  by  natives  of  these  lands 
converted  in  other  Methodist  centers. 
Had  it  not  been  for  the  war,  the  work  in 
Denmark,  Norway,  Sweden,  Germany, 
and  Switzerland  would  probably  have  been 
self-supporting  by  this  time.  For  pur¬ 
poses  of  easy  classification,  in  the  follow¬ 
ing  pages,  the  description  of  work  in  Aus¬ 
tria  and  Hungary,  which  was  planted  from 
Germany,  will  be  found  listed  under  the 
head  of  the  Protestant  peoples. 

Russia 

This  great  land  remains  a  problem  by 
itself.  So  challenging  are  the  opportuni¬ 
ties  that  it  is  clear  that  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church  must  undertake  a 
greatly  enlarged  program. 

The  Baltic  Republics 
The  three  small  states  that  have  been 
placed  as  buffers  between  Russia  and 
western  Europe  have  been  the  scene  of 


Methodist  work  for  many  years.  A  strong 
church  is  coming  into  being  in  each  of 
them. 

The  Mohammedan  Peoples 
While  not  in  Europe,  the  work  in  North 
Africa  has  been  attached  to  that  in  Europe 
for  purposes  of  administration.  Tunisia, 
Algeria,  Tripoli,  Cyrenaica,  Morocco — the 
field  of  Methodist  labor  among  the  Mo¬ 
hammedans  of  North  Africa — are  all 
under  the  political  control  of  European 
states.  They  are,  however,  closely  linked 
to  the  rest  of  Africa,  because  they  provide 
the  base  from  which  Islam  is  advancing 
against  Central  Africa. 

Plans  for  Advance 
The  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  at 
present  has  established  residences  for 
bishops  in  Zurich,  Copenhagen,  and  Paris. 
The  immediate  program  as  approved  for 
work  of  a  nature  affecting  Europe  as  a 


whole  is  as  follows : 

Work  Operations ; 

1  Theological  School  . $  8,500 

Other  and  General .  13,500 

Total  (Europe — general) .  $22,000 


FRANCE 


Our  headquarters  at  Chateau  Thierry 


Battling  for  the  Spiritual  Life  of 
Europe 

Is  France  Catholic?— France  is  a  Latin 
nation.  Her  history  has  been  interwoven 
with  that  of  the  papacy.  Her  land  is  stud¬ 
ded  with  hundreds  of  Roman  Catholic 
churches  and  other  institutions.  She  sup¬ 
ports  seventeen  archbishops,  sixty-eight 
bishops,  and  51,000  Catholic  clergy  of 
other  ranks. 

Outwardly,  this  suggests  a  Catholic 
country.  Nor  can  it  be  denied  that  there 
has  been,  since  the  close  of  the  World  War, 
a  lessening  of  the  enmity  between  the 
French  government  and  the  Vatican,  at  the 


EUROPE  AND  NORTH  AFRICA 


in 


same  time  when,  in  some  places,  a  resur¬ 
gence  of  Catholic  piety  has  been  reported. 

The  diplomacy  of  an  astute  Pope  and  of 
a  foreign  office  seeking  every  possible 
source  of  continental  support  has  led  to 
the  first.  The  after-effect  of  the  war, 
coupled  with  admiration  for  the  heroism 
displayed  by  hun¬ 
dreds  of  priests,  has 
contributed  largely 
to  the  second. 

But  the  question  is 
not  yet  answered.  Is 
France  Catholic? 

Politically,  no.  Dip¬ 
lomatic  flirtations 
may  be  in  progress, 
but  it  is  unthinkable 
that  any  French  gov¬ 
ernment  now  possi¬ 
ble  would  re-estab¬ 
lish  the  status  that 
existed  before  1905, 
when  church  and 
state  were  separated. 

Culturally,  no. 

That  there  are  large 
Roman  Catholic  de¬ 
posits  in  the  culture 
of  France  will  not  be 
questioned,  but  for  more  than  a  hundred 
years  the  men  who  have  been  molding 
French  thought  have  not,  in  the  main, 
been  sons  of  the  church. 

Religiously,  no.  In  this  realm  the  Cath¬ 
olic  interest  is  larger  than  in  any  other. 
But  even  here  the  influence  must  be  recog¬ 
nized  of  French  Protestantism,  living  un- 
brokenly  to  this  hour  despite  St.  Bartholo¬ 
mew’s  Eve  and  all  other  disadvantage. 

The  man  who  sees  France  just  as  a 
Catholic  country  does  not  see  France. 

Irreligion  and  materialism. — The  truth  is 
that  the  fight  which  an  eager  evangelical¬ 
ism  must  wage  in  France  today  is  not  so 
much  with  a  tradition-bound  Catholicism 
as  with  irreligion  and  materialism.  Mil¬ 
lions  of  Frenchmen,  including  many  of  the 
ruling  minds,  pride  themselves  upon  their 
superiority  to  all  religion,  their  devotion 
to  a  “reality”  that  confines  itself  to  the  af¬ 
fairs  of  the  immediate  moment. 


The  struggle  in  France  is  not  with  a  dis¬ 
torted  conception  of  the  worship  of  God, 
but  with  a  refusal  to  worship  God  at  all. 
Religion  is  to  millions  a  myth  outworn. 
And  since  France  is  the  leading  nation  on 
the  continent  of  Europe,  with  the  stand¬ 
ards  of  culture  for  the  Latins,  the  Balkans, 

the  Poles,  and  the 
people  of  Central  Eu¬ 
rope  largely  in  her 
keeping,  the  battle  in 
this  republic  is  really 
a  struggle  for  the 
spiritual  life  of  Eu¬ 
rope. 

It  is  not  a  struggle 
between  varying  de¬ 
grees  of  spiritual 
life.  It  is  a  struggle 
to  maintain  any  spir¬ 
itual  life  at  all. 

French  Protestant¬ 
ism.  —  Tribute  must 
be  paid  the  various 
branches  of  French 
Protestantism  for 
the  manner  in  which 
the  truths  of  the  ref¬ 
ormation,  as  they 
found  their  incarna¬ 
tion  in  that  great  Frenchman,  John  Calvin, 
have  been  kept  alive. 

The  last  edition  of  the  Statesman’s 
Year  Book  states  that  there  are  about  a 
million  Protestants  in  France.  The  Prot¬ 
estants  themselves,  at  the  close  of  the 
war,  claimed  only  about  600,000  commu¬ 
nicants,  with  1,200  churches.  The  addi¬ 
tion  of  Alsace  and  Lorraine  increased  this 
enumeration  by  about  275,000. 

French  Protestantism  is  divided  be¬ 
tween  Reformed,  Lutheran,  Baptist,  Wes¬ 
leyan,  and  Methodist  Episcopal  churches, 
the  McAll  Mission,  and  the  Salvation 
Army.  A  good  measure  of  the  vigor  of  the 
French  Protestant  bodies  is  to  be  found 
in  the  fact  that,  at  the  outbreak  of  the 
war,  despite  their  slender  resources,  they 
supported  119  foreign  missionaries, 
mainly  in  Central  Africa,  with  an  annual 
missionary  expenditure  of  $190,000. 
French  Protestantism  has  a  proud  history. 


French  orphan  at  Charvieu 


180 


WORLD  SERVICE 


Girls  from  the  Ecully  orphanage 


What  Methodism  has  to  offer. — The 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church  entered 
France  in  1907.  During  the  years  before 
the  World  War  the  principal  attempt  was 
to  evangelize  the  mountainous  regions  of 
Savoy,  lying  in  the  enclave  between  the 
work  already  established  in  Switzerland 
and  that  in  Italy.  The  region  had  been 
badly  neglected  from  a  Protestant  stand¬ 
point,  and  the  results  of  the  evangelistic 
work  attempted  were  encouraging. 

While  the  war  was  in  progress,  with 
pastors  and  parishioners  on  the  firing  line, 
little  more  could  be  done  than  to  hold  the 
work  together.  Now  the  Methodist  Epis¬ 
copal  Church  is  giving  France  proof  of  a 
continuing  interest  on  the  part  of  the 
Protestant  countries  in  the  fortunes  of 
Protestantism  in  France.  It  is  also 
setting  up  a  type  of  combined  evangelistic 
and  social  service  that  may  induce  a  new 
and  more  effective  method  in  all  French 
Protestantism. 

The  Strategy  of  the  Methodist 
Occupation 

Where  the  church  is  working. — There 
are  twenty-three  pastoral  charges  in  the 
France  Mission  Conference,  including 
Paris,  Marseilles,  Lyons,  Toulon,  Greno¬ 
ble,  Chamberry,  Chateau  Thierry,  Tre- 
voux,  Albertville,  and  Grasse. 


There  are  also  schools 
or  homes  at  Charvieu, 
Ecully,  Cannes,  and  Gen- 
nevilliers,  in  addition  to 
some  of  the  places  already 
named. 

It  will  be  seen  that  the 
work  of  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church  has 
thus  expanded  outside  the 
boundaries  at  first  con¬ 
ceived  for  it.  In  large 
measure,  this  is  a  result 
of  the  war. 

The  effect  of  the  war. — 
Before  the  war  the  Meth¬ 
odist  Episcopal  Church  in 
France  was  a  modest 
agency,  mainly  at  work  in 
the  mountains  of  Savoy. 
After  the  war  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church  in  France  is  a  social  agency,  at¬ 
tempting  at  many  points  to  heal  some  of 
the  wounds  inflicted  by  that  mastodonic 
conflict. 

Before  the  war  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church  in  France  had  its  eyes  fixed 
mainly  upon  the  conversion  of  adults. 
After  the  war  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church  in  France  is  fixing  its  eyes  largely 
upon  the  conservation  of  children.  In 
large  measure,  the  present  work  can  be 
told  in  terms  of  children  (mainly  orphans) 
and  young  people. 


War  reconstruction. — Hardly  had  the 
guns  cooled  before  the  Centenary,  work- 


Three  refugees  in  front  of  the  Centenary 
tent  under  the  Liberty  tree,  Bouresches 


EUROPE  AND  NORTH  AFRICA 


181 


Domestic  science  is  taught  at  our  orphanage  in  Grenoble 


ing  through  its  War  Re¬ 
construction  Fund,  made 
it  possible  for  the  Metho¬ 
dist  Episcopal  Church  to 
move  to  the  help  of 
France.  Thirty  villages 
on  the  Marne  were  turned 
over  to  Methodist  workers 
for  rehabilitation,  and 
prompt  and  large  contri¬ 
butions  were  made  to  aid 
in  the  rebuilding  and  re¬ 
covery  of  strength  of  the 
historic  churches. 

In  Chateau  Thierry,  a 
few  hundred  feet  from  the 
bridge  where  American 
marines  stopped  the  last 
desperate  German  ad¬ 
vance  on  Paris,  the  memorial  was  opened 
which  keeps  firm,  through  a  well-rounded 
social  program,  the  bond  there  forged  be¬ 
tween  America  and  France. 

All  this,  and  more,  was  done  with  no 
other  thought  than  that  of  helpfulness. 
In  the  providence  of  God  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church  had  funds  wherewith 
to  help;  action  therefore  followed.  But 
one  result  has  been  a  widespread  gratitude 
on  the  part  of  many  French  folk  which 
has  made  ready  a  welcome  in  many  places 
for  other  features  of  the  work. 

Schools  and  orphanages. — Space  does  not 
permit  a  description  of  the  home  at  Char- 
vieu,  with  its  farm  school,  and  its  eighty 
boys  housed  in  the  fine  plant  that  the  Cen¬ 
tenary  has  erected.  The  orphanage  at 


Boys  at  Charvieu  lend  a  hand  at  reconstruction 


Champs  Fleury  cares  for  about  sixty  girls, 
many  of  whom  entirely  lost  track  of  their 
families  during  the  war.  In  Grenoble  the 
Woman’s  Foreign  Missionary  Society  has 
a  fine  home  and  school  for  girls. 

Ultimately,  these  orphanages,  now  de¬ 
manded  to  care  for  the  victims  of  the  war, 
will  be  developed  into  high  grade  schools. 

Other  lines  of  work. — Evangelistic  work 
of  the  Methodist  type  is  proving  success¬ 
ful.  At  the  area  headquarters  in  Paris, 
located  in  the  university  quarter,  a  chapel 
has  been  erected,  where  good  congrega¬ 
tions  are  being  gathered;  and  a  building 
has  been  provided  for  a  varied  type  of 
social  work.  In  Lyons  a  former  moving 
picture  palace  has  been  transformed  into 
a  social  center  that  is  influencing  the  en¬ 
tire  section  of  the  city  in  which  it  is 
located. 

Of  significance  in  connection  with  the 
stress  laid  upon  work  for  children  and 
young  people  is  the  development  in  Sun¬ 
day-school  methods.  A  few  years  ago 
there  were  no  literature  supplies,  and  the 
schools  were  nothing  more  than  catechis- 
tical  classes.  Today  there  is  a  modern 
and  rapidly  growing  Sunday-school  work 
in  all  Methodist  centers. 

Some  measure  of  the  power  of  French 
Methodism  may  be  caught  in  these  facts: 
In  1909  there  were  only  twenty-four 


182 


WORLD  SERVICE 


church  members ;  at  the  end  of  1920  there 
were  971.  In  1909  there  were  only  three 
Sunday  schools ;  in  1920  there  were 
twenty-four.  In  1909  only  twenty-five 
French  children  studied  the  Bible  in  Meth¬ 
odist  Sunday  schools;  by  1920  more  than 
1,800  did  so. 

What  might  be  called  a  socialized  evan¬ 
gelism  distinguishes  the  whole  work  of  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church  in  France. 

The  immediate  need.  —  To  project  the 
work  in  France  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church  has  approved  the  following  pro¬ 
gram  for  1925 ; 


Missionary  Staff  will  be  required  for  : 


Evangelistic  Work . . 1  Couples 

Other  Work . 2  Couples 


5 

$  14,500 

Work  Operations  will  be  conducted  on 
the  following  lines : 

Church  Work  from  7  Centers . 

27,900 

2  Orphanages  . $22,000 

Medical  Work  . .  15  000 

37,000 

Total — Work  Operations  . 

$  64,900 

Property  Projects; 

2  Orphanage  Buildings  . . $  20,000 

Other  and  General  Work .  200,000 

$220,000 

Total  Program  (Prance) . 

$299,40o 

SPAIN 


A  Land  in  Prospect 
A  tale  of  two  schools. — The  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church  has  entered  Spain. 
Count  that  as  a  Centenary 
achievement.  The  entrance  has 
not  been  spectacular.  There  are 
probably  Spaniards  who  do  not 
know  that  the  Methodist  Episco¬ 
pal  Church  is  among  them.  But 
the  day  is  coming  when  they  will. 

When  Methodism,  after  care¬ 
ful  investigation,  entered  Spain,  it  did  so 
by  means  of  two  schools.  Both  had  been  es¬ 
tablished  for  years,  had  won  the  confidence 
of  their  communities,  and  afforded  a  fine 
constituency  with  which  to  begin  work. 


Girls  from  our  Sunday  school,  Alicante 


The  first  of  these  schools  is  the  Model 
School  for  Boys  in  Alicante,  a  city  on  the 
southeast  coast.  Founded  by  the  Rev. 

Francisco  Albrecias,  who  had 
been  educated  in  Switzerland, 
and  had  labored  for  years  as  a 
Bible  Society  inspector,  the 
school  has  won  a  wide  reputa¬ 
tion.  Since  1919,  when  it  was 
taken  over  by  the  Board  of  For¬ 
eign  Missions,  the  enrolment  in 
the  day  school  has  jumped  from  about  200 
to  more  than  500.  A  Sunday  school  gath¬ 
ers  more  than  700  children  each  week  in 
the  largest  Spanish-speaking  Sunday 
school  in  the  world. 

The  second  school  is  at  Seville,  and  has 
been  known  for  years  as  the  Evangelical 
School.  Formerly  supported  by  private 
parties,  many  of  them  now  deceased,  the 
school  has  taken  on  new  vigor  in  its  new 
relation  as  one  of  the  bases  for  Methodist 
work  in  Spain.  In  fact,  its  enrolment 
mounted  so  high  that  the  bars  had  to  be 
put  up,  in  order  to  keep  the  school  within 
the  limits  made  necessary  by  its  present 
curtailed  equipment. 

All  this  in  Spain,  where  the  public 
schools  offer  freely  what  these  schools  are 
forced  to  charge  fees  to  possess,  and  where 
the  enrolment  of  a  child  in  the  Protestant 
school  may  lead  to  the  parent’s  loss  of  po¬ 
sition  or  the  family’s  social  ostracism ! 


EUROPE  AND  NORTH  AFRICA 


183 


What  Spain  is  today. — Spain  is  having  a 
hard  time  finding  her  place  in  the  company 
of  modern  European  states.  The  mon¬ 
archy  survives,  supported  by  the  army, 
and  the  two  in  turn  find  in  the  church 
their  hope  of  a  continuing  conservatism. 

But  progressive  movements  in  other 
parts  of  the  continent  are  felt  below  the 
Pyrenees.  The  general  public  is  becoming 
more  and  more  exasperated  with  the  mili¬ 
tary  adventures  that  have  led  to  such 
costs  in  blood  and  treasure,  with  so  little 
in  return,  in  Morocco.  The  stability  of  the 
state  is  gradually  vanishing.  A  new  day 
may  come  in  Spain  at  any  time. 

Facing  the  future. — There  is  already  a 
measure  of  religious  tolerance  in  Spain, 
although  it  is  less  than  that  in  other  Latin 
countries.  But  it  was  possible  for  the 
200  small  Protestant  congregations  to 
unite  in  an  open  and  national  congress  in 
Madrid  in  1919.  To  aid  in  securing  this 
assembly  the  Board  of  Foreign  Missions 
made  a  generous  contribution.  The  agi¬ 
tation  for  complete  freedom  of  worship  is 
constantly  gathering  strength. 

It  takes  no  prophet  to  see  that  the 
triumph  of  new  forces  in  Spain  cannot  be 
much  longer  delayed.  This  is,  therefore, 
the  best  of  all  periods  for  Protestants  to 
be  planting  their  stakes,  in  order  that  they 
may  be  ready  for  aggressive  advance  the 
moment  the  control  of  Catholicism  is 
loosened. 

The  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  feels 
sure  that,  by  beginning  among  the  chil¬ 
dren,  it  is  doing  the  sort  of  foundation 
work  that  will  make  possible  a  stable 
church,  with  true  evangelical  ideals  deeply 


Sunday-school  youngsters,  Alicante 


inbred,  in  the  larger  days  to  come.  In 
those  days  the  Methodist  program  will  be 
enlarged.  For  the  present  the  methods  of 
work  will  be  continued  on  the  successful 
basis  of  the  past  three  years. 

The  immediate  need. — The  following  pro¬ 
gram  for  work  in  Spain  during  1925  has 
been  approved : 

Missionary  Staff  will  be  required  for: 


Educational  Work  . ...1  Couple  $  2,900 

IV  ork  Operations  will  be  conducted  on 
these  lines : 

Church  Work  from  3  Centers .  $  2.000 

2  Schools  .  8,100 

Total  for  Work  Operations  . $10,100 

Property  Projects: 

2  School  Buildings  .  $30,000 

Total  (Spain)  .  $43,000 


ITALY 


The  Heart  of  the  Latin  World 
All  roads  lead  to  Rome. — The  fascination 
of  Italy  abides,  especially  in  the  Latin 
world.  The  great  Polish  novelist,  Sienkie- 
wicz,  declared  that  every  Latin  has  two 
fatherlands,  the  one  in  which  he  is  born 
and  Italy.  And  if  travelers  will  gather  from 
all  the  earth  in  the  peninsula  that  once 


ruled  the  West,  drawn  by  the  magnetism 
of  its  past,  how  great  must  be  the  impress 
made  upon  the  mind  that  traces  its  cul¬ 
ture  to  this  source ! 

The  Latin  is  no  more  confined  to  the 
northern  shore  of  the  Mediterranean.  As 
his  numbers  have  increased  (there  are 
about  170,000,000  Latins  today)  he  has 


184 


WORLD  SERVICE 


spread  through  the  world,  until  he  is  to  be 
found  dominating  South  America,  in  force 
in  large  portions  of  North  America  and 
planting  great  colonies  in  Africa.  The 
spiritual  condition  of  Italy  therefore  be¬ 
comes  of  vastly  more  moment  than  as  if  it 
affected  merely  one  European  peninsula. 

A  crucible  of  history. — Terrific  has  been 
the  struggle  for  the  control  of  Italy.  The 
dark,  confused  years  following  the  fall  of 
the  Roman  empire  are  familiar.  The  city- 
republics  of  the  Middle  Ages  must  be  care¬ 
fully  studied  by  every  student  of  political 
institutions.  The  emergence  of  the  papacy 
as  a  temporal  power,  and  the  blighting 
effect  of  its  rule,  is  the  most  curious  phe¬ 
nomenon  in  Western  religious  history. 

It  took  Italy  from  the  time  of  the  Cae¬ 
sars  to  that  of  Mazzini  and  Garibaldi  to 
win  back  control  of  her  own  life.  And  the 
makers  of  modern  Italy — Mazzini,  Gari¬ 
baldi,  Cavour,  Victor  Emmanuel  I — had 
first  to  defy  the  papacy  before  they  could 
unite  the  country  as  a  limited  monarchy. 

Ostensibly  the  struggle  closed  in  1870 
when  Victor  Emmanuel  was  crowned  in 
Rome,  and  the  pope  became  “the  pris¬ 
oner  of  the  Vatican.”  In  fact,  the  struggle 
continues.  It  played  its  part  in  hamper- 


Children  of  Sicily 


ing  Italy’s  armies  during  the  World  War. 
It  is  at  work  today. 

A  hidden  tomorrow.  —  Few  observers 
would  be  so  brave  as  to  predict  Italy’s 
political  future.  At  the  close  of  the  World 
War  it  seemed  that  communism  might  en¬ 
gulf  the  land  immediately.  The  monarchy 
is  still  admittedly  in  a  precarious  position. 
At  present,  a  reaction,  to  which  has  been 
given  the  name  of  Fascism,  has  put  down 
all  socialistic  agitation  ruthlessly.  This 
dictatorship — for  such  it  is — may  con¬ 
tinue  in  power  for  some  time,  counting 
upon  the  weariness  of  the  people  and  their 
desire  for  order  at  any  price.  It  is  closely 
allied  with  the  Vatican.  On  the  other 
hand,  its  repressions  may  bring  about  re¬ 
volt  at  any  time. 

Any  enterprise  in  Italy,  therefore,  must 
work  today  in  an  environment  far  from 
stable.  There  is  small  hint  as  to  what 
tomorrow’s  conditions  may  be.  But  just 
because  this  is  such  a  period  of  flux,  it  is 
a  time  when  forces  that  would  exert  a 
molding  influence  upon  Italy’s  future  must 
press  their  efforts. 

A  Spiritual  Battleground 

“Semper  idem.”  —  It  is  the  boast  of 
the  Roman  Catholic  Church  that  she 
never  changes.  History  shows  many 
changes  that  have  come  within  her  life 
during  the  centuries,  but  it  is,  alas,  true 
that,  in  spirit,  the  church  has  hardly 
changed  since  the  Middle  Ages.  Some  of 
her  doctrines,  such  as  that  of  papal  infalli¬ 
bility,  are  of  recent  promulgation.  But 
her  mind  has  scarcely  altered  since  the 
days  of  Thomas  Aquinas-. 

The  challenge  to  freedom. — It  is  just  this 
unchangeableness  in  which  the  Roman 
Church  glories  that  has  reduced  its  influ¬ 
ence  among  many  Italians  to  the  vanishing 
point.  To  be  sure,  in  this  day  of  unrest, 
there  is  something  attractive  about  any 
institution  that  proclaims  its  opposition  to 
change.  But,  to  the  thinker,  it  soon  be¬ 
comes  clear  that  freedom  requires  growth. 
Premier  Mussolini  states  that  his  Fascisti 
have  not  hesitated  to  tread  upon  the  pros¬ 
trate  body  of  freedom,  nor  will  they  hesi¬ 
tate  to  do  so  again,  should  change  be 


EUROPE  AND  NORTH  AFRICA 


185 


bruited.  It  is  no  wonder  that  a  party  with 
such  a  platform  can  bring  about  a  rap¬ 
prochement  with  the  Vatican.  At  the  same 
time,  it  makes  more  inevitable  the  final 
divorcement  between  liberal  elements  in 
Italy  and  the  Roman  Church.  Before  long, 
even  the  nominal  adherence  that  has  been 
maintained  by  many  liberals  will  become 
impossible. 

The  need  for  Protestantism. — Whatever 
present  conditions,  some  form  of  liberal¬ 
ism  is  bound  finally  to  triumph  in  Europe. 
If  this  triumph  finds  Italy’s  liberals 
completely  separated  from  the  Roman 
Church,  and  without  other  spiritual  al¬ 
legiance,  the  religious  situation  through¬ 
out  the  Latin  world  will  be  most  serious. 
Apparently,  the  Roman  Church  tried  to 
provide  for  this  contingency  at  the  close 
of  the  World  War,  when  it  launched  its 
Popular  Party  with  a  program  calling  for 
far-reaching  social  and  political  reforms. 
But  the  temptation  to  make  common  cause 
with  the  immediate  Fascist  despotism  has 
been  too  strong,  and  the  proposal  of  an 
alliance  between  a  progressive  political 
order  and  a  medieval  church  is  now  seen 
to  be  empty  words. 

Liberal  Italy  is  bound  to  discover  that 
it  cannot  trust  its  future  to  any  program 
dictated  from  the  Vatican.  It  knows  that 
the  272  bishops,  archbishops  and  cardi¬ 
nals,  the  67,147  priests,  the  45,253  monks 
who  inhabit  this  country  no  larger  than 
Colorado  are,  with  only  a  few  exceptions, 
agents  of  a  reactionary  order.  It  must, 
for  this  reason,  either  find  a  form  of  Chris¬ 
tianity  compatible  with  a  free,  progressive 
state,  or  it  will  reject  all  religion. 

Too  largely,  the  choice  of  Italy’s  lib¬ 
erals  has  swung  toward  the  latter  of  these 
alternatives.  To  protect  the  Latin  world, 
and  the  rest  of  the  world,  against  this  ca¬ 
tastrophe,  Protestantism  is  called  upon  to 
attempt  to  set  new  religious  ideals  before 
Italian  eyes. 

Methodism  in  Italy 

In  the  path  of  Victor  Emmanuel. — It  was 
on  the  twentieth  of  September,  1870,  that 
the  armies  of  Victor  Emmanuel  I  breached 
the  walls  of  Rome,  brought  to  an  end  the 


A  youthful  virtuoso  from  Crandon  Insti¬ 
tute,  Rome.  A  W.  F.M.  S.  school 


pope’s  temporal  sway,  and  proclaimed  a 
united,  free  Italy.  In  the  same  year  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church  resolved  to 
open  the  work  in  the  country.  Five  years 
later  there  was  a  Methodist  work  in  Rome. 
In  1893  Methodist  headquarters  were 
erected  on  the  Via  Venti  Septembre — the 
Street  of  the  Twentieth  of  September ! 
Historically  and  symbolically,  free  Italy 
and  Methodism  have  been  closely  con¬ 
nected. 

Planting  the  church. — From  the  begin¬ 
ning,  the  attempt  was  to  bring  forth  an 
Italian  church.  During  all  the  years  there 
has  scarcely  ever  been  a  time  when  there 
were  more  than  two,  and  sometimes  only 
one,  American  member  of  the  Italy  Con¬ 
ference.  Schools,  philanthropic  institu¬ 
tions,  periodicals — all  have  been  conducted 
worthily  by  Italian  Methodists. 

While  much  has  been  reported  concern¬ 
ing  Methodist  work  in  Rome,  it  must  not 
be  thought  that  this  bounds  the  enterprise 
in  Italy.  Before  the  World  War,  the  Meth¬ 
odist  Episcopal  Church  had  been  planted 
in  ninety-six  preaching  places.  (A  few  of 


186 


WORLD  SERVICE 


Soap  bubblers,  Casa  Materna,  Naples 


these  were  congregations  of  Italians  resi¬ 
dent  in  Switzerland.)  The  Boys'  Indus¬ 
trial  School  in  Venice  had  attracted  wide 
attention,  while  to  the  Crandon  Institute, 
conducted  by  the  Woman’s  Foreign  Mis¬ 
sionary  Society,  and  the  school  for  boys, 
conducted  by  the  Board  of  Foreign  Mis¬ 
sions,  in  Rome,  hundreds  of  the  finest  of 
the  youth  of  Italy  came  for  education.  The 
theological  seminary,  also  conducted  in 
Rome,  provided  a  trained  ministry. 

What  the  Centenary  has  done. — During 
the  World  War  the  church  in  Italy  suffered 
heavily.  Preachers  and  laymen  were  called 
into  the  ranks,  and  suffered  there  in  com¬ 
mon  with  the  rest  of  Italy.  Churches  in 
the  northern  part  of  the  country,  in  the 
path  of  invading  armies,  were  destroyed. 


Methodist  Headquarters  in  Rome 


But  with  the  return  of  peace,  the  Meth¬ 
odist  Episcopal  Church  immediately  en¬ 
tered  upon  a  larger  day.  Fifty-three  new 
workers  were  added,  and  26,000  people 
aided  with  food,  clothing,  or  money. 

Bible  depots  were  opened  in  Syracuse, 
Reggio,  Pozzuoli,  and  Rome.  Today  we 
have  schools  in  Pola,  Trent,  Florence, 
Pistoia,  Pisa,  Terni,  Spinazzola,  Naples, 
and  Rome.  Additional  property  has  been 
purchased  in  Venice;  new  property  in  Co- 
ritzia,  Florence,  Trent,  Pisa,  Pistoia,  Na¬ 
ples,  Scicli,  and  Rome;  improvements  in 
Turin.  In  Genoa,  Milan,  and  Reggio 
Calabria  property  was  purchased  upon 
which  there  will  later  be  buildings  erected. 

The  Present  Program 

Monte  Mario. — The  removal  of  the  Col- 
legio  Internazionale  from  the  crowded 
headquarters  building  on  the  Via  Venti 
Septembre  to  a  site  on  Monte  Mario,  a 
part  of  the  Janiculum  hill,  overlooking 
Rome  and  the  Mediterranean,  has  awak¬ 
ened  interest  throughout  Italy.  For  a 
time  it  seemed  that  permission  might  be 
withheld  for  the  erection  of  the  buildings 
planned.  Buildings  that  were  on  the  site 
when  purchased  have  been  remodeled, 
however,  and  the  school  is  in  operation 
there.  It  is  confidently  expected  that  there 
will  be  no  final  hindrance  placed  in  the 
way  of  developing  a  free  institution  of 
higher  learning. 

The  school  is  well  called  “international.” 
In  its  present  student  body  are  students 
from  Albania,  Montenegro,  Yugo-Slavia, 
Hungary,  Africa,  Switzerland,  Spain, 
Latin  America,  and  the  United  States.  It 
has  already  graduated  more  than  1,200 
students,  many  of  whom  occupy  positions 
of  leadership  in  many  realms  of  Italian 
life.  More  than  forty  members  of  the 
Italy  Conference  are  products  of  the  school 
that  is  now  on  Monte  Mario.  (For  picture 
of  one  of  the  new  buildings,  see  page  177.) 

“To  serve  the  present  age.” — The  motto 
of  the  World  Service  Program  of  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church  well  ex¬ 
presses  the  spirit  of  present-day  Italian 
Methodism.  Not  only  on  Monte  Mario, 
but  in  many  other  places  and  ways,  the 


EUROPE  AND  NORTH  AFRICA 


187 


Neapolitan  preaching  scene 


church  is  trying  to  serve 
Italy.  In  Naples,  for  ex¬ 
ample,  the  Casa  Materna 
has  been  moved  to  a  new 
location,  where  one  of 
Methodism’s  largest  or¬ 
phanages  looks  after 
helpless  children.  The 
property  outgrown  has 
been  turned  into  a  social 
center,  with  a  day  nurs¬ 
ery,  a  clinic,  a  recreation 
center,  and  an  emigration 
bureau. 

This  development  of 
centers  in  which  help  may 
be  given  those  who  hope 
to  emigrate  to  the  United 
States  is  of  great  value.  America’s  laws 
now  are  so  stringent  that,  unless  prospec¬ 
tive  immigrants  are  carefully  instructed, 
they  may  spend  all  their  available  funds 
upon  a  fruitless  trip  across  the  ocean.  At 
these  stations  in  Italy  the  church  attempts 
to  forge  the  first  link  in  the  chain  of  serv¬ 
ice  that  shall  later  bind  the  immigrant  to 
the  church  in  the  United  States. 

A  Catholic  revival. — Newspaper  reports, 
and  apparently  official  statements,  have 
declared  that,  along  with  the  present  in- 


Geography  class,  Monte  Mario 


crease  in  Catholic  political  power  in  Italy, 
there  has  been  planned  a  campaign  espe¬ 
cially  directed  against  the  Methodists  in 
Italy.  The  very  plan  bespeaks  the  reality 
of  Methodist  success.  It  seems  clear,  how¬ 
ever,  that  this  campaign  is  to  take  the 
form  of  Catholic  reproduction  of  Metho¬ 
dist  forms  of  social  service,  which  will 
hardly  hurt  the  Methodists,  and  will  be  a 
welcome  help  in  Italy. 

The  immediate  need. — In  the  critical  con¬ 
dition  in  which  the  work  in  Italy  now 


stands,  the  Methodist 

Episcopal 

Church 

has  authorized  this  program  for  1925 : 

Missionary  Staff  will  be  required  for: 

Evangelistic  Work  . 

. 3  Couples 

$  8,700 

Work  Operations  will  lie 

conducted  on 

these  lines : 

Church  Work  from  SO  Centers..- . 

75,500 

1  School  . . . . . . . 

$  4.000 

1  College  . 

.  20,000 

1  Orphan  Asylum  . 

.  7000 

1  Theological  Seminary  . 

.  16.000 

47,000 

Total — Work  Operations 

...$122,500 

Property  Projects  to  make  possible  : 

1  Citv  Church  . 

. $10,000 

1  College  . . 

.  50.C00 

$  60,000 

Total  Program  (Italy)  . 

...$191,200 

18ft 


WORLD  SERVICE 


YUGOSLAVIA 


In  Europe’s  Storm  Center 

A  shot  heard  ’round  the  world. — On  a 
July  morning  in  the  city  of  Sarejevo, 
capital  of  the  province  of  Bosnia,  a  Ser¬ 
bian  student  fired  at  an  Austrian  arch¬ 
duke  and  his  wife.  Before  the  final  echo 
of  those  shots  had  died  away,  ten  million 
men  were  dead  on  the  field  of  battle,  other 
millions  were  crippled,  others  homeless, 
others  hungry,  and  the  world  had  been 
brought  to  a  crisis  in  its  civilization.  So 
far-reaching  can  be  the  effects  of  trouble 
in  the  Balkans. 

The  Balkans  after  the  war. — The  map  of 
the  Balkans  has  been  radically  altered  by 
the  World  War.  Out  of  the  dismember¬ 
ment  of  the  Austro-Hungarian  Empire, 
the  disappearance  of  Montenegro,  the  de¬ 
feat  of  Turkey  and  Bulgaria,  there  has 
emerged  the  kingdom  of  the  Serbs,  Croats, 
and  Slovenes,  or,  as  it  is  more  familiarly 
known,  Yugo-Slavia. 

There  must  be  about  five  and  a  half 
million  people  in  this  territory,  although 
political  conditions  are  still  so  unsettled 
that  an  official  census  is  impossible.  They 
represent  a  strange  mixture  of  peoples, 
with  the  races  named  in  the  king¬ 
dom’s  title  naturally  in  the  major¬ 
ity.  It  will  be  some  time  before 
these  can  be  welded  into  true 
natural  unity,  as  is  shown  by  the 
present  agitation  for  independence 
in  Croatia,  and  the  refusal  of  Croat 
deputies  to  sit  in  the  national  legis¬ 
lature. 

Yet  the  importance  of  stability 
for  this  Balkan  kingdom  can  not 
be  minimized.  “A  foreigner  in  the 
Balkans,”  wrote  a  recent  observer, 

“in  the  city  of  Belgrade,  about 
equidistant  from  seven  turbulent 
borders,  rests  his  security  on  the  best  bet 
in  sight,  and  that  the  sagacity  and  firm¬ 
ness  of  the  Kingdom  of  the  Serbs,  Croats 
and  Slovenes.”  In  the  midst  of  the  clash¬ 
ing  forces  in  southwestern  Europe,  the 
survival  of  Yugo-Slavia,  or  of  some  well- 


organized  state  where  Yugo-Slavia  now 
stands,  is  necessary  if  the  world  is  to  be 
protected  from  further  infection  by  the 
“running  sore  of  the  Balkans.” 

Strategic  advance. — The  church  enters 
Yugo-Slavia  because  it  has  a  definite  and 
needed  contribution  to  this  work  of  build¬ 
ing  a  lasting  community.  In  the  breakup 
of  nations,  religious  bonds  have  been 
greatly  loosened.  Much  of  the  religious 
ferment  that  is  being  felt  in  Bohemia  has 
crossed  the  border  into  Yugo-Slavia.  The 
Greek  Orthodox  Church  is  shaken  to  its 
foundations  by  events  in  Russia,  Greece, 
and  the  Near  East.  Even  Islam  has  at¬ 
tempted  a  revolution  in  its  government. 

Conditions  are  plastic  in  the  Balkans. 
There  is  an  enormous  amount  of  the  sort 
of  human  need  that  calls  for  the  service 
of  Good  Samaritans  from  whatever  source 
they  may  come.  There  is  much  seeking 
after  a  more  searching  personal  and  more 
socially  uplifting  type  of  religion.  The 
Roman  Catholic  Church  is  straining  every 
nerve  to  take  advantage  of  this  opportu¬ 
nity.  In  the  providence  of  God  it  happens 
that  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  is 
called  upon  to  bear  the  major 
share  of  the  Protestant  advance 
into  the  same  region. 

The  Church  in  Yugo-Slavia 

The  religious  situation.  —  Some 
idea  of  the  racial,  as  well  as  the 
religious  mixture  to  be  found  in 
the  Balkans  is  given  by  the  report 
that,  on  the  Novi  Sad  district  of 
the  Yugo-Slavia  Mission,  there  are 
about  900,000  Slavs,  450,000  Ger¬ 
mans,  and  450,000  Hungarians  and 
Jews,  while  on  the  Strumitza 
District  there  are  very  few 
Catholics  or  Protestants,  but  300,000  Mo¬ 
hammedans  and  450,000  Serb,  Bulgarian, 
and  Greek  members  of  the  Orthodox 
Church;  and  on  the  Zagreb  district  the 
majority  are  Roman  Catholics,  with  only 
a  few  Orthodox  communicants. 


A  refugee  from 
Smyrna,  she  is 
now  under 
Methodist  care 
at  Belgrade 


EUROPE  AND  NORTH  AFRICA 


189 


Consolidating  the  Methodist  line. — 
Across  the  heterogeneous  kingdom  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church  has  begun  to 
spread  its  forces.  In  this  statement  the 
emphasis  must  be  placed  on  the  word 
“begun,”  because  the  work  of  the  church 
in  Yugo-Slavia  is  still  largely  in  a  process 
of  becoming.  Adequate  occupation  of  this 
vital  territory  requires  a  program  much 
larger  than  that 
now  possible,  but  the 
main  centers  of  work 
have  already  been  oc¬ 
cupied. 

As  suggested  there 
are  three  districts  in 
the  Methodist  Epis¬ 
copal  field.  North  of 
the  Save  River, 
mostly  in  the  terri¬ 
tory  of  old  Hungary, 
north  of  Belgrade,  in 
the  richest  farming 
country  in  Yugo-Sla- 
via,  lies  the  Novi  Sad 
district.  The  part  of 
old  Macedonia  that 
borders  Greece  on 
the  south,  Albania  on 
the  west,  Bulgaria  on 
the  east  and  unites 
with  the  older  Serbia 
on  the  north,  com¬ 
prises  the  Strumitza 
district.  The  provinces  of  Croatia  and 
Slovenia  will  form  the  Zagreb  district, 
when  this  unit  is  organized.  A  glance  at 
the  map  will  show  how  complete  is  this 
occupation  of  territory. 

Work  welcomed  and  supported. — Offi¬ 
cials  of  the  state,  and  in  some  instances 
leaders  in  the  Orthodox  Church,  have 
shown  their  approval  of  the  type  of  serv¬ 
ice  being  rendered  by  the  Methodist  Epis¬ 
copal  Church.  The  Serbian  bishop  in  Novi 
Sad  has  commended  the  work  being  done 
in  the  school  for  girls  there.  The  utmost 
cordiality  has  been  shown  by  the  Orthodox 
bishop  in  Strumitza.  In  the  province  of 
Croatia,  which  it  is  proposed  to  enter,  the 
plans  have  the  warm  approval  of  the  gov¬ 
ernment. 


Social  work,  which  includes  such  insti¬ 
tutions  as  the  Children’s  and  Mothers’ 
Home  at  Sarajevo,  the  social  center  and 
clinic  at  Belgrade,  the  social  clubs  at  Novi 
Sad,  Stari  Becej,  and  Veliki  Bechkerek, 
the  girls’  school  at  Monastir,  and  the  train¬ 
ing  school  for  girls  at  Novi  Sad,  has  met 
a  response  that  has  shown  its  need.  For 
example,  the  schools  mentioned  are  over¬ 
crowded,  although 
schools  conducted 
by  Protestant  bodies 
in  years  before  the 
war  found  it  impossi¬ 
ble  to  attract  a  con¬ 
stituency. 

The  request  has 
come  from  official 
quarters  to  extend 
the  Methodist  type  of 
educational  work  to 
peasant  boys  and 
girls  who  are  not 
now  being  reached. 
The  government  has 
asked  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church  to 
conduct  an  agricul¬ 
tural  and  industrial 
training  school,  but 
funds  have  not  been 
sufficient.  However, 
it  is  plain  that  this 
is  a  type  of  education 
of  vast  importance,  for  the  future  lies 
with  the  farmers. 

An  Adequate  Program 
The  evangelistic  advance. — The  Metho¬ 
dist  Episcopal  Church  can  not  fool  with 
the  situation  in  Yugo-Slavia.  Either  it 
will  do  the  work  that  there  is  a  chance  to 
do  there  in  the  name  of  a  free,  modern, 
evangelical  church,  or  it  will  lose  its  chance 
and  might  as  well  withdraw.  The  pro¬ 
gram  that  the  church  is  being  asked  to 
support  is  not  extravagant.  It  is  ex¬ 
tremely  conservative. 

The  outstanding  feature  in  the  advance 
program  for  evangelistic  work  is  the  occu¬ 
pation  of  the  province  of  Croatia,  with 
later  occupation  of  Slovenia.  In  both  prov- 


Yes,  a  snow  man  in  Yugo-Slavia.  Girls 
from  the  training  school  at  Novi  Sad 


190 


WORLD  SERVICE 


Centenary  funds  are  building  this  church  at 
Novi  Sad.  At  the  left  is  a  school  building 


inces  there  have  been  assurances  given  of 
support,  and  the  government  will  favor 
the  move. 

Next  in  importance,  or  perhaps  of  equal 
importance,  is  the  placing  of  the  work  in 
Belgrade  in  a  position  to  command  the 
attention  of  that  city.  This  involves  a 
large  social  program,  but  the  fundamental 
purpose  is,  of  course,  to  provide  an  ad¬ 
equate  evangelistic  impact  upon  the  na¬ 
tion’s  capital. 

The  Centenary  has  made  possible  an 
increase  in  the  posts  on  the  Novi  Sad  dis¬ 
trict  from  twenty  to  forty-one,  so  that  the 
main  drive  now  in  this  region  must  be 
toward  the  energizing  of  these  new 
centers.  There  will  be  expansion,  how¬ 
ever,  much  of  which  will  be  made  possible 
by  the  release  of  funds  through  the 
attainment  of  self-support  by  churches 
now  established. 

There  is  much  greater  advance  neces¬ 
sary  in  the  work  in  Macedonia.  Here  the 
occupation  has  not  more  than  begun.  The 
field  will  be  hard  to  work,  but  there  is  a 
welcome  assured  wherever  the  church 
goes.  And  as  soon  as  the  occupation  of 
territory  is  complete,  the  effort  to  reach 
the  large  Mohammedan  population  must 
begin  in  earnest. 

Schools  and  homes. — The  scope  of  the 
training  school  for  girls  at  Novi  Sad  must 
be  broadened.  Present  standards  are 
high,  but  there  are  many  types  of  service 
that  Yugo-Slavia  needs  that  have  not  yet 


been  undertaken.  More  room  must  be 
provided  for  students.  Ultimately,  a 
similar  school  for  boys  should  be  opened, 
probably  in  connection  with  the  central 
headquarters  in  Belgrade.  The  Girls’ 
School  at  Monastir  has  made  such  progress 
in  the  two  years  past  that  a  broadening  of 
its  field  must  be  made  possible. 

Serbia  is  full  of  young  people  whom 
the  war  has  left  parentless  and  homeless, 
who  must  be  prepared  to  make  their  own 
way  in  life.  The  necessity  for  this  type 
of  education  is  apparent. 

In  addition  to  these  schools,  the  pro¬ 
gram  in  Yugo-Slavia  calls  for  the  develop¬ 
ment  of  such  institutions  as  the  Children’s 
Medical  Home  and  Sanitarium  in  connec¬ 
tion  with  the  school  at  Novi  Sad,  the  Chil¬ 
dren’s  and  Mothers’  Home  at  Sarajevo, 
and  a  training  school  for  Christian  work¬ 
ers  in  Belgrade. 

The  necessity  of  providing  adequate 
training  for  Christian  workers  needs  no 
argument.  A  few  may  go  as  far  as  Frank¬ 
furt,  but  the  majority,  if  they  are  to  be 
trained  at  all,  must  be  trained  at  home. 

Christianity  in  action. — The  note  of  com¬ 
munity  service  is  struck  loud  and  often, 
in  the  program  of  Yugo-Slavia.  In  addi¬ 
tion  to  the  institutions  already  mentioned, 
there  are  already  social  clubs  at  Novi  Sad, 
Stari  Becej,  and  Veliki  Bechkerek,  where 
are  provided : 

1.  Clubs  for  boys ; 

2.  Clubs  for  girls; 

3.  Bible  classes  for  women; 

4.  Reading  hours  for  boys  and  men; 

5.  Stereopticon  and  moving  pictures; 

6.  Language  classes  in  Serbian  and. 

English; 


Sunning  at  the  sanatorium,  Ragusa,  Belgrade 


EUROPE  AND  NORTH  AFRICA 


191 


7.  Musical  instruction; 

8.  Distribution  of  literature; 

9.  Medical  care  for  the  poor. 


Missionary  Staff  will  be  required  for: 
Evangelistic  Work  ...1  Couple  0  Single 

Educational  Work  3  Couples  0  Single 

Medical  Work.  . .1  Couple  1  Single 


Plans  call  for  the  establishment  of  a 
press  and  a  widespread  distribution  of  lit¬ 
erature,  and  a  medical  work  at  Strumitza 
that  will  be  felt  throughout  Macedonia. 
Social  work  is  to  be  stressed  in  many 
forms  at  the  Belgrade  headquarters.  It 
is  suggested  that,  eventually,  there  may 
come  agricultural  and  industrial  training 
schools  and  perhaps  even  a  farm  colony 
for  the  demonstration  of  Christian  stand¬ 
ards. 

The  immediate  need. — The  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church  is  called  upon  to  help 
in  the  healing  of  the  Balkans  during  1925 
by  supporting  the  following  program  for 
Yugo-Slavia : 


5  1  $15,950 

IVork  Operations  will  be  conducted  along 
these  lines : 

Church  Work  from  32  Centers. . .  $20,735 

1  Industrial  School  . .  . $4,300 

1  Agricultural  School  .  ...  6,300 

1  Training  School  . . .  5,400  16,000 


2  Dispensaries  .  3,550 

5  Social  Centers  . 8,315 

Other  and  General  Work .  2,000 


Total  for  Work  Operations . .  $50,600 

Property  Projects  to  make  possible : 

2  Churches  . . $21,750 

1  Hospital  . . . .  1,500 


Total  for  Property  Projects .  $23,250 


Total  Program  (Yugo-Slavia) ....  $89,800 


BULGARIA 


A  Laboratory  of  History 

Where  trouble  is  brewed. — Diplomats 
talk  in  terms  of  “danger  spots.”  Of  all 
such,  none  has  played  a  more  sinister  role 
than  have  the  Balkans.  Professor  Sloane 
has  well  written  of  them  as  “A  Laboratory 
of  History.”  Great  has  been  the  trouble 
brewed  in  these  na¬ 
tional  retorts.  Of 
these  Balkans,  the 
heart  is  Bulgaria. 

Among  all  war- 
weary  countries, 

Bulgaria  has  a  right 
to  be  almost  the 
weariest.  Since  she 
sent  her  troops  to 
break  the  Turkish 
lines  around  Adria- 
nople  in  1912,  Bul¬ 
garia  has  been  con¬ 
tinually  under  arms. 

In  her  last  two  wars 
she  has  fought  on 
the  losing  side.  She  has  been  stripped  of 
her  territory,  and  saddled  with  heavy  in¬ 
demnities  and  a  war  debt.  Thousands  of 
her  sons  have  been  slaughtered. 


Bulgaria  since  the  war. — “Today,”  says 
an  observer,  “the  Bulgarian  is  war-tired. 
He  is  depressed  and  discouraged.  He 
feels  that  he  has  been  a  victim  of  mis¬ 
placed  confidence.”  The  promises  of  the 
Central  Powers  for  a  greater  Bulgaria 
were  soon  shown  to  be  empty.  The  king 

who  maneuvered  the 
country  into  war  on 
the  side  of  those  pow¬ 
ers  has  been  exiled. 
But  the  ideas  out¬ 
lined  in  the  Ameri¬ 
can  fourteen  points, 
which  did  much  to 
end  Bulgar  resist¬ 
ance  and  to  open  the 
Balkans  to  the  Allies, 
were  also  repudiated 
when  peace  -  making 
time  came. 

As  elsewhere  in 
Europe,  Bulgaria’s 
reaction  since  the 
war  has  been  two-sided.  There  have  been 
those,  who  because  their  political  hopes 
have  been  blighted,  have  been  driven  to 
their  knees.  Evangelical  woi’kers  report 


192 


WORLD  SERVICE 


such  a  response  as  they  have  never  before 
known.  But  there  are  also  those  who  are 
swinging  into  avowed  irreligion.  In  the 
face  of  this  movement,  with  its  accom¬ 
panying  social  excesses,  the  state  church 
has  shown  little  power. 

Within  recent  months  Bulgaria  has 
faced  another  post-war  condition.  Hordes 
of  refugees  from  Russia  and 
the  Near  East,  refused  a  shelter 
in  other  countries,  have  been 
permitted  to  enter  Bulgaria. 

The  Armenian  communities 
already  in  Bulgaria  have  la¬ 
bored  heroically  to  care  for  these 
refugees,  but  they  have  been  un¬ 
able  to  provide  for  more  than  a 
small  part.  By  further  demands 
upon  their  own  already  drained 
resources  the  Bulgars,  with  for¬ 
eign  aid,  have  proved  themselves 
friends  in  time  of  need  for  thou¬ 
sands. 

The  future  in  Bulgaria. — It  is 
hard  to  prophesy  about  Bulga¬ 
ria’s  political  future.  At  the 
present  time  a  peasant  party  is 
in  control,  and  the  major  inter¬ 
est  of  the  state  is  the  rehabilita¬ 
tion  of  agriculture.  This  is  as  it  should 
be.  Currency  is,  naturally,  depreciated, 
and  the  cost  of  living  has  mounted  as  in 
other  war-wrecked  countries. 

The  Bulgar,  however,  inspires  confi¬ 
dence.  He  is  industrious,  sober,  better 
educated  than  other  inhabitants  of  the 
Balkans,  and  has  proven  his  ability  to  take 
care  of  himself  and  build  a  strong  nation, 
provided  he  receives  an  adequate  chance. 

The  location  of  the  country  on  the 
Danube  is  in  its  favor.  Despite  present 
political  hindrances,  the  day  is  bound  to 
come  when  the  economic  needs  of  Europe 
will  construct  that  Vienna-to-Bagdad 
trade  route  that  had  so  much  to  do  with 
causing  the  World  War.  When  that  hap¬ 
pens,  Bulgaria’s  economic  future  will  be 
assured. 

Because  of  this  economic  promise,  Bul¬ 
garia  offers  an  attractive  prospect  for 
many  kinds  of  investment  just  now.  Not 
the  least  of  these  should  be  the  invest¬ 


ment  of  those  who  work  for  the  establish¬ 
ment  of  the  kingdom  of  God. 

The  Evangelical  Contribution 

A  mission  well  established. — The  out¬ 
break  of  the  World  War  found  the  Meth¬ 
odist  Episcopal  Church  well  established 
in  Bulgaria.  Founded  in  1857,  the  mis¬ 
sion  survived  years  of  discour¬ 
agement  and  opposition.  By 
1914  it  had  come  to  a  point 
where  it  was  nearly  self-sup¬ 
porting  and,  with  the  exception 
of  its  superintendent,  entirely 
Bulgarian  in  personnel. 

By  agreement  with  the  Amer¬ 
ican  Board  of  Commissioners 
for  Foreign  Missions  (the  Con- 
gregationalists ) ,  Methodist 
work  had  been  confined  to  the 
northern  half  of  the  kingdom; 
and  there,  in  Sofia,  the  capital, 
in  Varna,  the  chief  seaport,  in 
Plevna,  and  in  twenty-one  other 
centers,  the  church  had  been 
planted. 

During  the  World  War. — With 
the  coming  of  the  war,  and  es¬ 
pecially  when  the  United  States 
entered  on  the  side  of  the  Allies,  the  work 
was  terribly  embarrassed.  The  United 
States  never  declared  war  against  Bulga¬ 
ria,  but  the  Methodists  of  that  country 
were,  nevertheless,  in  a  dangerous  posi¬ 
tion.  In  some  way,  however,  the  work 
went  on.  When  peace  came,  the  property 
was  found  to  be  little  damaged,  and  the 
devotion  of  the  church  membership  stood 
proved. 

War  reconstruction. — In  the  interest  of 
Bulgaria,  as  one  of  the  war-swept  nations, 
it  was  possible  for  the  Methodist  Epis¬ 
copal  Church  immediately  to  undertake 
reconstruction  measures.  This  aid,  coupled 
with  the  popular  enthusiasm  for  the  aims 
with  which  America  entered  the  peace 
conference,  soon  gave  the  church  such  an 
opening  as  it  has  never  had  before.  Be¬ 
cause  this  opportunity  has  been  in  a 
slight  measure  grasped,  Methodism  is  now 
forced  to  determine  whether  the  resulting 
strategic  situation  shall  be  adequately  met. 


Macedonian  peasant, 
Bulgaria 


EUROPE  AND  NORTH  AFRICA 


193 


In  the  Bulgar  capital. — The  most  im¬ 
portant  step  made  possible  by  the  Cen¬ 
tenary  has  been  the  securing  of  land  in 
Sofia  upon  which  will  rise  the  Methodist 
headquarters  for  the  entire  country.  In 
fact,  so  valuable  was  the  property  at  first 
purchased  that  the  government  has 
taken  it  over  as  the  site  for  a  public 
building,  and  is  now  offering  in  exchange 
a  larger  plot,  even  more  centrally  and  ad¬ 
vantageously  located  for  the  work  which 
is  contemplated. 

In  this  new  plant  there  will  be  con¬ 
ducted  an  institutional  church  of  the  most 
modern  type,  as  well  as  a  center  for  the 
distribution  of  literature.  When  the 
plans  are  carried  out,  Methodism  will  at 
least  be  able  to  deal  with  the  problems  of 
“the  most  strategic  city  in  the  most 
strategic  country  in  the  most  strategic 
peninsula  in  the  world.” 

The  opportunity. — In  many  other  cities, 
notably  Tirnovo,  Sevlieve,  and  Gorna 
Metropolia,  new  or  enlarged  properties 
testify  to  the  increasing  vigor  of  Bulga¬ 
rian  Methodism.  Not  all  of  these  are  as  a 
result  of  Centenary  gifts.  In  fact,  it  is 
claimed  that  for  twenty-five  years  before 
the  Centenary  the  church  in  America  did 
not  provide  a  cent  for  additions  to  the 
property  holdings  in  Bulgaria.  The  home 
missionary  society  of  the  Bulgarians  has 
been  responsible  for  the  building  of  most 
of  the  present  Methodist  churches  in  that 
country. 

This  self-reliance  on  the  part  of  the 
Bulgarian  church  is  one  guarantee  for  the 


The  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  Varna 


future.  Without  it,  the  work  could  never 
have  survived  the  crisis  brought  by  the 
World  War.  With  it,  even  the  upset  state 
of  an  impoverished  land  will  not  prevent 
the  building  of  a  strong  indigenous 
church. 

During  the  last  year  the  church  in  Bul¬ 
garia  has  reported  a  growth  in  member¬ 
ship  of  seventy  per  cent.  The  American 
School  for  Girls,  conducted  at  Lovetch  by 
the  Woman’s  Foreign  Missionary  Society, 
has  far  surpassed  its  proper  capacity. 
Everywhere  there  are  evidences  of  wel¬ 
come  on  the  part  of  the  plain  people,  so 
much  so  that  all  sorts  of  peculiar  bodies — 
the  Spiritualists,  the  Russellites.  the  Holy 
Rollers  and  others — are  pressing  in.  The 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church  thus  finds 
itself  confronting  the  immediate  and 
pressing  necessity  of  representing  a  sane 
form  of  Protestantism  in  this  nation  of 
many  religions. 

The  program  presented  to  the  church 
in  America  is  not  large.  The  Bulgarian 
Methodists  are  themselves  ready  to  bear  a 
great  part  of  the  necessary  program. 
Help  from  America  is,  however,  essential. 


194 


WORLD  SERVICE 


If  Methodism  has  any  real  desire  to 
put  its  mark  on  the  Balkans,  here  is  the 
place,  and  this  is  the  time,  for  it  to  move 
forward. 

The  immediate  need. — After  careful 
consideration  of  all  the  elements  involved, 
the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  has  ap¬ 
proved  the  following  program  for  Bul¬ 
garia  in  1925 : 

Missionary  Staff  will  be  required  for 
Evangelistic  Work  . 2  couples  $  5,800 


JVork  Operations  will  be  conducted 
on  these  lines : 

Church  Work  from  28  Centers. ...$  9,440 

11  Industrial  Schools  .  2,40*0 

Other  and  General  Work .  2,500 


Total  for  Work  Operations .  $  14,340 


Property  Projects  to  make  possible : 

1  Church  Building  .  10,000 


Total — Property  Projects  . .  $  10,000 

Total  Program  (Bulgaria) .  $  30,140 


ALBANIA 


A  call  unanswered. — One  of  the  trag¬ 
edies  of  recent  years  has  been  the  failure 
of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  to 
answer  the  appeal  from  Albania.  Mis¬ 
sionary  history  pre¬ 
sents  no  parallel  to 
the  action  taken  by 
the  Regency  and 
Government  of  Alba¬ 
nia,  when,  on  Octo¬ 
ber  15,  1920,  they 
united  in  a  formal, 
official  appeal  to  the 
Methodists  to  enter 
that  Mohammedan 
country,  begin  a  full 
program,  and  partic¬ 
ularly  take  charge  of 
a  modern  system  of 
public  education.  The 
government  pro¬ 
posed  to  grant  all 
needed  equipment  for 
this  undertaking, 
with  the  church  sup¬ 
plying  the  educators. 

“In  the  providing  of 
sites,  of  farm  lands,  of  buildings — such 
as  we  have,  they  are  yours,  and  we  are 
your  servants,”  declared  the  official  Al¬ 
banian  appeal. 

Careful  investigation  by  the  bishop  of 
the  Paris  area,  by  representatives  of  the 
Board  of  Foreign  Missions,  and  by  Amer¬ 


ican  educational  experts,  brought  a  unani¬ 
mous  verdict  in  favor  of  entering  Albania. 
The  country  was  found  to  be  wide  open, 
conditions  more  than  favorable,  and  Prof. 

Elmer  E.  Jones,  of 
Northwestern  Uni¬ 
versity,  concluded  a 
dispassionate,  scien¬ 
tific  study  of  the  sit¬ 
uation  with  these 
words:  “I  cannot 
make  too  strong  a 
plea  for  an  immedi¬ 
ate  occupation  of 
this  field.  The  har¬ 
vest  is  ripe.  It  seems 
to  me  that  the  call  is 
so  urgent  and  so 
great  that  we  cannot 
decline.” 

Despite  this  wide 
open  door,  this  un¬ 
paralleled  spectacle 
of  Moslems  and 
Greek  Catholics  ap¬ 
pealing  to  a  Protes¬ 
tant  church  to 
occupy  their  land,  the  call  remains  un¬ 
answered.  The  reduction  in  foreign  mis¬ 
sionary  funds  has  made  it  impossible  for 
the  church,  in  view  of  its  previous  obliga¬ 
tions,  to  embrace  this  opportunity. 

Will  the  church,  in  the  face  of  such  a 
challenge,  turn  definitely  away? 


Come  and  plan  a  school  system  for  us! 


EUROPE  AND  NORTH  AFRICA 


195 


NORWAY 


Methodism’s  Farthest  North 

A  mission  that  founded  itself. — At  Ham- 
merfest,  the  most  northern  city  in  the 
world,  there  is  a  congregation  of  the  Meth¬ 
odist  Episcopal  Church.  Throughout 
Norway,  other  Meth¬ 
odist  congregations 
are  scattered.  Super¬ 
ficial  observers,  find¬ 
ing  them  in  this 
Protestant  country, 
have  sometimes  spo¬ 
ken  of  them  as  “in¬ 
terlopers.”  How  came 
they  there? 

The  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church 
was  established  in 
Norway  in  the  same 
way  that  it  was  es¬ 
tablished  in  the  other 
countries  of  Scandi¬ 
navia.  No  American 
body  planned  it.  A 
Norse  sailor  came  to  New  York,  found  a 
living  Christ  in  a  Methodist  service,  re¬ 
turned  to  his  native  land  to  testify.  Hearts 
were  so  stirred  by  this  testimony  that  they 
would  not  permit  the  sailor  permanently 
to  return  to  the  United  States  but  insisted 
that  he  give  his  life  to  taking  his  message 
to  his  fellow  countrymen. 

Out  of  this  evangelistic  crusade  there 
came  societies  of  those  who  were  unsatis¬ 
fied  by  the  formal  worship  of  the  state 
church.  And  from  those  societies  came 
the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  in  Nor¬ 
way. 

Present  conditions  in  Norway. — Modern 
Norway  stands  at  the  forefront  of  the 
democracies  of  Europe.  Politically,  there 
is  equal  suffrage  for  both  sexes,  with  all 
offices,  save  in  the  church,  open  to  women 
on  the  same  terms  as  to  men.  Socially, 
the  condition  of  the  laborer  is  protected 
by  the  most  modern  industrial  laws,  sur¬ 
passing  those  of  the  United  States,  and  old 
distinctions  of  rank  are  rapidly  being 
wiped  out.  In  education,  Norway  claims 


one  of  the  finest  systems  of  public  schools, 
with  one  of  the  lowest  rates  of  illiteracy, 
in  the  world. 

The  stress  of  post-war  days  has  made 
itself  felt  in  Norway,  even  though  that 

country  was  one  of 
the  few  in  Europe  to 
keep  out  of  the  fight¬ 
ing.  The  cost  of  liv¬ 
ing  has  risen  to 
staggering  heights, 
while  business  de¬ 
pression  has  thrown 
thousands  out  of 
work  and  reduced 
wages  in  almost 
every  industry.  The 
government  has  been 
forced  to  exercise  its 
powers  of  compul¬ 
sory  arbitration  to 
keep  the  industrial 
life  of  Norway  going 
during  recent  years. 

Political  control  now  lies  in  the  hands 
of  the  liberals,  with  conservatives  on  the 
one  hand,  and  the  socialists  and  commu¬ 
nists  on  the  other,  struggling  for  power. 
The  communists  show  great  strength,  and 
are  determinedly  anti-religious. 

Among  the  reforms  of  the  last  few 
years,  none  has  been  of  greater  signifi¬ 
cance  than  the  adoption  of  a  partial  form 
of  prohibition.  The  day  is  not  far  distant 
when  Scandinavia  will  be  dry. 

The  place  of  Methodism. — What  part  is 
the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  playing 
in  this  land?  Norway  has  the  system  of 
state-supported  Lutheran  Church  to  be 
found  elsewhere  in  Scandinavia.  Despite 
the  glory  of  its  past  and  the  regularity  of 
its  political  connections  there  is  often  a 
lack  of  present  spiritual  power. 

Because  of  this,  movements  have 
sprung  up  within  the  state  church,  such 
as  the  Inner  Mission  and  the  China  Mis¬ 
sion,  which  gave  their  followers  a  chance 
to  express  their  interest  in  a  more  search¬ 
ing  type  of  religious  experience  or  in  for- 


Northern  Lights 


196 


WORLD  SERVICE 


Methodist  hospital  at  Bergen 


eign  missions.  When  the  inevitable 
separation  of  church  and  state  comes, 
these  movements  may  be  relied  on  to 
supply  a  spiritual  vigor  sufficient  to  save 
what  is  now  a  tax-supported  institution. 

In  addition,  there  have  been  movements 
outside  of  the  church  resulting  in  the  for¬ 
mation  of  such  bodies  as  the  Free  Luther¬ 
ans,  the  Baptists,  the  Salvation  Army,  the 
Roman  Catholics,  and  some  smaller 
groups.  Of  all  these  “dissenters,”  how¬ 
ever,  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  is 
by  far  the  strongest. 

In  a  word,  the  work  of  Methodism  has 
been  to  set  up  an  example  of  fervent  piety 
that  is  now  acknowledged  to  be  a  main 
cause  for  the  stirrings  of  new  religious 
life  both  within  and  without  the  state 
church. 

The  Church  in  Norway 

Evangelistic  centers. — There  are  seven 
districts  in  the  Norway  Annual  Confer¬ 
ence  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church, 
and  a  study  of  their  location  will  show 
that  the  church  is  established  in  all  the 
principal  centers  of  the  country. 

The  most  recent  statistics  available 
(those  for  1920)  show  a  total  of  forty- 
seven  ordained  and  eighty-four  unor¬ 
dained  preachers  in  this  territory,  with  a 
membership  of  practically  8,000.  In  fifty- 
six  Sunday  schools,  12,351  scholars  are 
enrolled,  and  in  eighty-three  Epworth 
Leagues,  both  senior  and  junior,  there  are 
about  3,500  members. 

An  unceasing  evangelistic  program  is 
kept  going,  with  itinerating  evangelists, 


much  after  the  pattern  of  early  Metho¬ 
dism.  The  church  in  Norway  feels  that 
its  peculiar  responsibility  is  to  testify  to 
this  type  of  positive  evangelicalism. 

Woman’s  socializing  touch. — The  work 
of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  in 
Norway  is  definitely  social  as  well  as 
evangelistic  in  program.  In  large  meas¬ 
ure  this  is  due  to  the  Methodist  deaconess, 
who  has  made  a  deep  impression  upon  the 
entire  country. 

In  all  the  Methodist  work  in  Protestant 
Europe  the  work  of  the  deaconess  will  be 
found  to  be  of  great  importance.  These 
women,  who  generally  live  in  special 
homes,  sacrifice  to  an  unbelievable  extent 
in  their  service  for  the  poor.  Consequently, 
their  public  repute  is  high. 

There  are  two  deaconess  homes,  one  in 
Christiania  and  one  in  Bergen,  from 
which  more  than  a  hundred  deaconesses 
have  been  commissioned.  In  the  deacon¬ 
ess  hospital  at  Bergen,  and  in  many  other 
hospitals  and  homes  for  children,  these 
consecrated  women  carry  on  their  work. 

The  Epworth  League  is  also  helping  in 
conducting  summer  outings  for  children. 
Throughout  Norway,  Methodism  is  coming 
to  be  known  for  its  works  of  mercy. 

Present  lines  of  advance. — The  Cente¬ 
nary  period  in  Norway  has  been  marked 
by  the  purchase  of  the  Central  Church  in 
Christiania,  and  by  the  growth  in  self- 
support  on  the  part  of  the  Norse  church. 

In  the  new  church  in  the  national  capital 
there  is,  in  addition  to  the  regular  equip¬ 
ment  for  a  large  city  congregation,  room 
for  the  theological  seminary  and  a  book¬ 
store;  and,  as  soon  as  certain  temporary 
restrictions  because  of  post-war  housing 
conditions  are  removed,  there  will  be  dor¬ 
mitory  space  for  many  students. 

With  the  falling  off  in  business  affect¬ 
ing  most  adversely  the  classes  that  make 
up  the  Methodist  constituency,  there  is 
cause  for  rejoicing  in  the  advance  of  the 
church  from  a  contribution  in  1916  of 
$45,053  to  $139,508  in  1920.  The  day  of 
complete  self-support  will  come  quickly 
as  soon  as  Europe  returns  to  stability. 

At  present  there  is  likewise  a  signifi¬ 
cant  development  in  the  work  with  the 


EUROPE  AND  NORTH  AFRICA 


197 


children  and  young  people.  The  Sunday 
schools,  which  have  been  too  largely 
neglected,  are  being  carefully  graded  and 
brought,  under  close  supervision,  to  the 
place  where  they  can  do  work  of  the  most 
approved  type.  Expressional  activities 
for  young  people  are  being  developed  by 
the  Epworth  League. 

The  immediate  need. — To  carry  on  the 
work  in  Norway  during  1925  on  the 
needed  basis  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church  has  approved  this  program: 


Work  Operations  will  be  conducted  on 


these  lines : 

Church  Work  from  57  Centers.--.- . . . $24,667 

1  Theological  School  . . . . .  3,300 

Total — Work  Operations  . $27,967 


Property  Projects: 

3  Churches  . . $22, COO 

2  Parsonages  . . 2,000 

Other  Projects  .  3  000 

Total — Property  Projects  .  $27,000 

Total  Program  (Norway) . . $54,967 


SWEDEN 


How  Methodism  Reached  Sweden 

The  good  ship  “John  Wesley.”— Eighty 
years  ago  there  rode  the  waters  of  New 
York  harbor  a  ship  that  has  had  a  far- 
reaching  influence  in  Scandinavia.  This 
was  the  “John  Wesley,”  a  “Bethel”  ship, 
fitted  up  by  Methodists  in  New  York  to 
carry  on  evangelistic  services  among  sail¬ 
ors  in  port.  Olaf  Hedstrom  was  the 
skipper-evangelist. 

Men  were  converted  who  sailed  to  all 
parts  of  the  world.  Among  these  con¬ 
verts  a  young  Swede,  John  P.  Larsson, 
under  the  impulse  that  came  from  his  con¬ 
version,  returned  to  his  home  land.  There 
he  was  joined  by  a  fellow  countryman,  also 
converted  in  America.  As  laymen  the  two 
gave  their  testimony  and  great  crowds 
listened. 

The  Lutheran  State  Church  of  Scandi¬ 
navia  was  at  that  time  in  a  period  of  stag¬ 
nation  such  as  seems  easily  to  befall  state 
churches.  In  the  simple  testimony  of  these 
Methodist  sailors  there  was  a  warmth  and 
note  of  experience  for  which  thousands  of 
Swedes  had  been  waiting.  It  needed  but 
the  coming  of  an  ordained  Methodist 
preacher  from  Norway  to  bring  into  ex¬ 
istence  Methodist  societies,  with  subse¬ 
quent  formation  into  regular  churches  out 
of  which  the  Sweden  Annual  Conference 
has  grown. 

English  forerunners. — It  was,  perhaps, 
prophetic  that  the  founder  of  the  Metho¬ 
dist  Episcopal  Church  in  Sweden  should 
have  been  converted  aboard  a  ship  named 


the  “John  Wesley.”  Wesley’s  influence 
was  felt  in  Sweden  years  before  the  Meth¬ 
odist  movement  came  into  existence. 

A  Swedish  ambassador  to  England, 
a  Count  Wrangle,  was  an  intimate  friend 
of  the  great  preacher  and  was  moved  by 
him  to  take  a  large  part  in  the  formation 
of  a  society  in  Sweden  that  was  designed 
to  awaken  a  fervent  piety  within  the  state 
church.  This  Swedish  diplomat  had  greater 
success  in  remaining  within  the  estab¬ 
lished  church  than  had  Wesley. 


Trinity  Methodist  Episcopal  Church, 
Stockholm 


198 


WORLD  SERVICE 


Institution  for  feeble-minded 


At  the  beginning  of  the  nineteenth 
century,  another  wave  of  Methodist  in¬ 
fluence  came  to  Sweden.  An  English 
manufacturer,  an  ardent  Methodist  named 
Owen,  who  set  up  a  factory  in  the  country, 
soon  sent  for  Methodist  preachers  from 
England  to  carry  on  evangelistic  work. 
Of  these,  George  Scott  preached  in  Sweden 
for  more  than  ten  years,  until  finally  he 
was  driven  out  at  the  instigation  of  the 
established  church. 

The  work  of  these  English  pioneers  was 
not  entirely  lost,  however.  It  introduced 
many  liberal  elements  into  the  state 
church  and  did  much  to  prepare  the 
ground  for  the  success  that  attended  later 
Methodist  efforts. 

The  church  founded. — Sixty  years  ago 
the  first  ordained  Methodist  preacher  en¬ 
tered  Sweden  from  Norway.  A  year 
later  a  companion  reached  the  field,  having 
been  transferred  from  a  conference  in 
the  United  States. 

In  the  years  following,  the  interest 
aroused  by  the  Methodist  preachers  pene¬ 
trated  almost  all  circles  of  Swedish  life. 
One  of  them  was  even  invited  to  preach  in 
the  royal  palace. 

Reaction  followed,  during  which  some 
of  the  preachers  were  fined  and  others 
imprisoned.  The  permanent  establish¬ 
ment,  however,  went  on  without  interrup¬ 
tion.  A  theological  school  was  planted  at 
Upsala  and  various  other  institutions 
came  into  being. 

After  religious  liberty  had  been  granted 
in  Sweden,  other  denominations  outside 
the  state  church  were  formed.  There  are 


today  approximately  600,000  Protestants 
in  the  country  who  are  legally  known  as 
dissenters.  Among  them  all  the  Metho¬ 
dist  Episcopal  Church  occupies  an  out¬ 
standing  position.  Its  work  has  been  con¬ 
ducted  by  Scandinavians.  In  this  sense, 
therefore,  it  can  hardly  be  spoken  of  as  a 
foreign  missionary  enterprise. 

The  Work  in  Sweden 

The  present  state  of  the  church. — At  the 
last  session  of  the  Swedish  Annual  Con¬ 
ference  reports  from  140  churches  indi¬ 
cated  a  total  membership  of  19,015.  In 
the  more  than  200  Sunday  schools,  more 
than  21,000  children  are  under  instruc¬ 
tion.  The  church  in  Sweden  is  raising 
more  than  $350,000  a  year  for  the  support 
of  the  work.  All  these  figures  are  encour¬ 
aging  but  they  do  not  begin  to  give  a  pic¬ 
ture  of  the  strong  life  currents  that  are 
flowing  through  Swedish  Methodism. 

Preachers  for  Scandinavia. — One  of  the 
outstanding  results  of  the  Centenary  has 
been  the  establishment  of  a  Theological 
Seminary  at  Goteborg  (Gothenburg)  in 
which  a  high  type  of  preparation  can  be 
given.  By  closing  the  schools  that  have 
been  doing  effective,  but  limited,  work  in 
Finland,  Norway,  Denmark  and  Sweden, 
and  concentrating  in  this  easily  accessible 
center,  a  need  that  has  been  felt  with  in¬ 
creasing  force  will  be  met.  Moreover, 
such  a  school  will  make  Methodist  work 
throughout  Scandinavia  more  unified  than 
ever. 

The  Stockholm  center. — None  of  the 
Centenary  advance  in  Sweden  has  at¬ 
tracted  more  attention  than  the  securing 
of  a  headquarters  building  in  Stockholm. 
Here,  in  the  national  capital,  the  varied 
work  of  the  Central  Church  is  carried  on 
along  the  most  approved  institutional 
lines.  Offices  are  also  provided  for  the 
leaders  of  Methodism  throughout  Sweden, 
and  a  bookstore  for  the  Methodist  Book 
Concern. 

Practical  Christianity.  —  Of  particular 
importance  is  the  large  amount  of  com¬ 
munity  service  being  rendered.  When 
one  picks  up  reports  from  the  Swedish  An- 


EUROPE  AND  NORTH  AFRICA 


199 


nual  Conference  and  runs  through  the 
lists  of  churches,  one  finds  items  like  this : 

“An  extensive  work  is  carried  on  among 
children  throughout  the  country  under  the 
direction  of  the  Foreningen  For  Varnlosa 
Barn  Suppfostran  (Society  for  the  Bring¬ 
ing  Up  and  Training  of  Homeless  Chil¬ 
dren.) 

“The  Social  Mission  of  the  Methodist 
Church  in  Stockholm  serves  many  free 
meals,  gives  away  in  the  course  of  a  year 
clothing  valued  at  1,000  crowns,  shelters 
560  people,  provides  work  for  eighty-seven 
and  gives  summer  vacations  to  many  chil¬ 
dren. 

“The  Goteborg  Central  Mission  gave 
one  meal  a  day  to  150  children  through¬ 
out  the  winter,  100  children  were  clothed 
and  150  children  were  given  summer  out¬ 
ings.  A  summer  home  for  children  has 
been  opened  up,  two  winter  colonies  have 
been  conducted.  Forty  old  people,  unable 
to  work,  were  fed  and  forty  families  re¬ 
ceived  food,  fuel,  and  other  necessities. 

“Orgryte  Mission  fed  150  children  with 
one  meal  a  day,  sent  110  to  summer  homes, 
clothed  100,  and  helped  150  poor  families. 

“The  Malmo  Central  Mission  sheltered 
420  different  persons  over  night,  con¬ 
ducted  a  home  for  school  children  whose 
parents  are  forced  to  work,  caring  for 
them  in  the  interval  between  the  close  of 
school  and  the  return  of  their  parents  to 
the  home,  and  carried  on  many  other 
forms  of  social  service. 

“The  two  Methodist  Episcopal  Churches 
at  Gefle  cared  for  sixty-five  families  and 
clothed  twenty-five  children. 

“At  Falun  a  home  for  poor  children  is 
conducted. 

“At  Kiruna  a  day  nursery  is  carried  on 
for  babies. 

“At  Ostersund  there  is  also  a  day  nurs¬ 
ery. 

“About  15,000  meals  were  given  to  the 
poor  children  in  Norkoping.” 

And  so  the  list  might  be  extended. 

Much  of  this  work  is  under  the  active 
direction  of  the  consecrated  deaconesses 
who  are  trained  in  the  centers  at  Stock¬ 
holm  and  Goteborg.  The  deaconess  hos¬ 
pital  at  the  latter  city  is  one  of  the 


Children’s  home  at  Alingsas 


outstanding  institutions  of  Swedish 
Methodism. 

Methodism’s  great  contribution. — As  in 
so  many  other  places,  the  great  thing  that 
Methodism  has  accomplished  in  Sweden 
has  been  the  revival  of  other  churches. 
The  evangelistic  movement  within  the 
state  church,  with  a  large  interest  in  for¬ 
eign  missions,  is  in  no  small  degree  due 
to  the  influence  of  forces  set  in  motion  by 
the  Methodists.  It  cannot,  however,  be 
said  that  the  need  for  an  evangelistic  em¬ 
phasis  in  Swedish  Protestantism  outside 
the  state  church  is  at  an  end. 

While  Sweden  is  one  of  the  progres¬ 
sive  countries  of  Europe,  with  forward- 
looking  educational,  industrial  and  other 
social  legislation,  there  are  still  many  con¬ 
ditions  that  need  improvement. 

Too  frequently  the  state  church  seems 
bound  up  with  conservative  interests. 
During  the  recent  campaign  for  nation 
prohibition,  for  example,  when  the  plebi¬ 
scite  was  lost  by  only  35,000  votes  in  a 
total  of  1,800,000,  the  influence  of  the 
established  church  was  not  felt  strongly 
on  the  side  of  prohibition.  As  one  Swe¬ 
dish  magazine  writer  at  the  time  stated, 
“The  history  of  the  state  church  testifies 
to  the  sad  fact  that  it  has  usually  been 
on  the  wrong  side  when  great  social, 
religious  or  moral  questions  have  had  to 
be  decided.  It  has  once  more  missed  its 
opportunity  to  become  a  leader  of  the 
ethical  and  religious  movements  of 
Sweden.” 

In  conducting  a  vigorous  evangelistic 
program,  with  emphasis  as  suggested  upon 


200 


WORLD  SERVICE 


many  forms  of  social  betterment,  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church  shows  itself 
in  possession  of  a  type  of  piety  that  Swe¬ 
den  today  greatly  needs.  In  Sweden  the 
recognition  of  this  need  is  growing. 

The  immediate  need. — In  order  to  carry 
on  the  work  in  Sweden  during  1925,  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church  has  approved 
the  following  program : 


Work  Operations  will  be  conducted  on  these  lines: 


Church  Work  from  45  Centers. ...$20,100 

1  Theological  School  .  5,500 

Total — Work  Operations  .  $25,600 

Property  Projects: 

4  Churches  . $10,500 

1  Theological  School  Building _  5,000 

Total — Property  Projects  .  $15,500 


Total  Program  (Sweden) .  $41,100 


DENMARK 


A  Mission  That  Founded  Itself 

“Go  to  thy  friends.” — Wholly  without  its 
own  design,  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church  awoke  one  day  in  1857  to  find  a 
flourishing  work  in  Denmark.  Danes  had 
been  converted  in  Methodist  churches  in 
the  United  States;  some  of  them  had  re¬ 
turned  to  their  native  land;  there  they 
md  not  found  spiritual  satisfaction  in  the 
state  church ;  the  preaching  of  a  Danish 
minister  and  the  formation  of  Danish 
Methodist  congregations  was  the  inevi¬ 
table  result.  The  work  in  Denmark 
founded  itself. 

A  land  of  new  ideas. — The  influence  of 
Methodism  has  been  felt  in  many  portions 
of  the  life  of  Denmark.  Here  is  a  com¬ 


pact  little  country  (about  half  the  size  of 
Indiana)  with  a  population  half  urban 
and  half  agricultural. 

Much  of  the  progressiveness  of  North¬ 
ern  Europe  is  to  be  found  in  the  laws  pro¬ 
viding  universal  education,  abolishing 
child  labor;  prohibiting  prostitution; 
placing  the  liquor  traffic  under  severe  re¬ 
strictions;  opening  all  offices  to  women 
(save  the  ministry,  army  and  navy)  ;  se¬ 
curing,  through  organization  of  labor  and 
capital,  an  effective  method  of  dealing 
with  industrial  disputes. 

For  the  past  half  century  Denmark  has 
probably  contained  as  enlightened  a  citi¬ 
zenship,  taken  as  a  whole,  as  has  been 
found  in  Europe.  For  this  reason,  the  re¬ 
cent  extreme  revolution¬ 
ary  movements  have  made 
little  impression. 

Results  direct  and  indi¬ 
rect. — On  the  other  hand, 
the  state  church  has  fre¬ 
quently  fallen  prey  to  the 
formalism  that  besets 
such  institutions.  The 
theory  has  been  that 
every  Dane  belonged  to 
this  communion  unless  a 
definite  act  of  separation 
had  occurred.  In  1922  the 
daily  published  by  one 
branch  of  the  state  church 
at  Copenhagen  declared 
that  “A  man  or  woman  is 
a  member  of  the  People’s 
(state)  Church  even  if  he 


This  castle,  near  Aduire,  has  been  purchased  for  the 
Methodist  Children’s  Home 


EUROPE  AND  NORTH  AFRICA 


201 


or  she  has  committed  incest,  stolen,  or 
killed,  and  his  right  to  be  a  member  is 
not  lost  even  if  the  member  declare  Chris¬ 
tianity  to  be  falsehood  and  deceit.”  To¬ 
gether  with  this  conception  of  the  nature 
of  the  church  has  gone  a  lack  of  sympathy 
with  the  emerging  groups  of  labor,  and  a 
general  tendency  to  hold  back  the  forces 
of  social  reform. 

Keep  in  mind  these  elements  and  it  is 
easy  to  understand  why  the  Methodism  of 
Denmark  has  developed  as  it  has.  The 
national  interest  in  social  reform  has 
opened  the  way  for  a  large  institutional 
development.  The  conservatism  of  the 
state  church  has  left  the  laboring  group 
by  the  thousands  out  of  touch  with  reli¬ 
gion.  The  spiritual  longings  of  many  have 
found  their  supply  in  the  warm  evangelism 
of  Methodism,  leading  to  a  revival  move¬ 
ment  within  the  state  church  that  has 
raised  up  a  distinctly  Methodist  type  of 
Lutheranism. 

The  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  in 
Denmark 

An  indigenous  church. — “Indigenous”  is 
a  word  that  is  bound  to  crop  out  in  any 
discussion  of  mission  policies  in  any  part 
of  the  world  in  these  days.  To  plant  a 
work,  to  see  the  roots  go  down  deep,  to 
guard  the  growth,  until  at  last  there 
emerges  a  church  that  is  a  part  of  the 
soil  in  which  it  has  been  planted — this  is 
the  modern  missionary  ideal. 

The  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  in 
Denmark  comes  as  near  to  being  an  in¬ 
digenous  church  as  is  to  be  found  on  any 
of  our  mission  fields.  Its  churches  all 
have  Danish  pastors,  who  are  supervised 
by  Danish  district  superintendents,  who 
report  to  a  Danish  bishop.  The  place  of 
the  church  has  become  so  well-recognized 
in  Danish  life  that  the  authorities  of  the 
capital  make  possible  an  annual  “flower 
day”  by  which  funds  are  raised  for  its 
support.  In  1921  the  Methodists  of  Den¬ 
mark  contributed  $1,546,769  for  the  sup¬ 
port  of  the  Church,  thirty-two  times  as 
much  as  they  received  from  missionary 
funds.  Within  a  few  years  this  branch  of 
the  church  should  be  self-supporting. 

14 


The  first  two  children  to  be  received  into 
the  children’s  home,  Odense,  with 
one  of  the  sisters 


Evangelism  and  education. — The  first 
representative  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church  in  Denmark  gave  his  life  to  an 
evangelistic  ministry.  Naturally,  for  this 
seemed  the  form  of  work  most  needed  in 
a  country  where  spiritual  power  was  being 
endangered  by  formalism.  “Most  of  the 
people  of  Denmark  are  indifferent  to  reli¬ 
gion,”  says  a  Danish  observer.  “They 
have  their  children  baptized  and  con¬ 
firmed  in  a  church,  and  the  church  is  gen¬ 
erally  used  for  weddings  and  funerals.  But 
that,  for  the  largest  part  of  the  Danish 
people,  is  all  the  church  is  good  for.” 

The  response  to  the  evangelistic  mes¬ 
sage  of  Methodism  brought  about  the 
planting  of  churches  in  the  five  districts 
that  compose  the  present  Denmark  Con¬ 
ference.  It  helped  to  lead  to  the  rebirth 
of  zeal  within  the  state  church  that  has 
given  birth  to  the  so-called  Inner  Mission 
within  this  body.  Many  other  denomina¬ 
tions  have  followed  the  same  trail  in  be¬ 
ginning  work  in  Denmark,  among  them 
several  forms  of  Adventists,  Pentecostal- 
ists,  and  Mormons. 

It  was  not  necessary  to  undergird  the 
work  in  Denmark  with  schools.  The  sys- 


202 


WORLD  SERVICE 


tem  of  public  schools  is  the  pride  of  the 
country,  and  all  the  children  are  assured 
the  foundations  of  an  education.  In  re¬ 
cent  years,  however,  the  need  for  a  school 
wherein  Christian  workers  could  be 
trained  has  been  felt,  and  a  Bible  and 
normal  school  has  been  opened.  (This  is 
officially  known  as  the  Danish  Methodist 
High  School,  but  the  title  does  not  ac¬ 
curately  suggest  its  services.)  The  Lu¬ 
theran  church  has  many  such  schools  in 
Denmark,  the  Baptists  one,  and  the 
Roman  Catholics  one. 

In  this  school  it  is  now  possible,  by 
short  courses  as  well  as  by  regular 
courses,  to  train  the  young  Methodists  of 
Denmark  for  life  service,  as  well  as  for 
the  living  of  a  Christian  life  and  the  erec¬ 
tion  of  Christian  homes.  There  is  great 
eagerness  to  obtain  a  place  in  the  limited 
student  body. 

A  great  institutional  center. — A  visitor 
who  returned  from  Europe  not  long  ago 
said,  “I  believe  the  Jerusalem  Church  in 
Copenhagen,  with  its  Central  Mission,  to 
be  the  finest  piece  of  institutional  work 
now  conducted  by  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church  in  any  part  of  the  world.” 

T  is  thirteen  years  since  this  Central 
Mission  was  launched  by  Pastor  (now 
Bishop)  Anton  Bast.  There  is  no  space 
to  tell  the  full  story  of  its  development, 
and  statistics  are  too  often  mere  masses 


of  figures.  But  some  will  have  imagina¬ 
tion  to  see  what  lies  behind  the  statement 
that  more  than  12,000  meetings  have 
been  held  here;  that  free  lodgings  have 
been  given  to  125,466;  that  free  meals 
have  been  given  to  394,171  adults  and 
907,289  children;  that  6,126  have  re¬ 
ceived  work  within  the  Mission,  and  em¬ 
ployment  has  been  found  for  5,722  more 
outside;  that  a  home  has  been  provided 
as  a  refuge  for  old  people,  two  more  for 
children,  and  another  for  infants;  that 
an  income  of  a  million  dollars  has  been 
raised,  from  which  there  remains  property 
worth  more  than  8200,000  in  which  to 
carry  on  the  work. 

Central  Mission,  Copenhagen,  is  Meth¬ 
odism’s  outstanding  example  of  Christian 
social  service  to  the  needy  of  Northern 
Europe.  It  must  be  supported,  not  only 
because  its  service  merits  support,  but 
that  it  may  inspire  similar  enterprises 
elsewhere. 

Facing  the  Future 
Moving  toward  self-support. — Had  it  not 
been  for  the  World  War,  the  church  in 
Denmark  would  have  been  completely 
self-supporting  before  this.  As  it  is,  de¬ 
spite  the  poverty  that  has  come,  great  ad¬ 
vances  have  been  registered.  Between 
1916  and  1922  the  contributions  to  evan¬ 
gelistic  work  increased  by  333% ;  to  the 
support  of  preachers  by 
300% ;  to  the  disciplinary 
benevolences  by  281%  ; 
the  value  of  church  build¬ 
ings  by  100%  and  the 
value  of  parsonages  by 
369%.  During  the  same 
period,  gifts  to  foreign 
missions  increased  by 
more  than  300%,  reach¬ 
ing  $4,000  in  1922. 

With  this  sort  of  sup¬ 
port  it  can  be  seen  that 
the  day  is  not  far  off  when 
the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church  in  Denmark  will 
not  require  help  from  any 
other  land.  The  policy  of 
the  Danish  Methodists 


The  Central  Mission,  Copenhagen,  furnishes  a  Christmas  evening 
dinner  for  destitute  men 


EUROPE  AND  NORTH  AFRICA 


203 


The  day  nursery  of  the  Central  Mission,  Copenhagen 


calls  for  the  rapid  bring¬ 
ing  to  pass  of  this  ideal. 

Why  aid  and  what  aid? 

Some  may  ask,  in  the 
presence  of  such  strength 
as  this,  why  any  further 
aid  should  be  given  the 
work  in  Denmark.  This 
is  a  legitimate  question. 

Its  answer  lies  in  other 
conditions  in  this  country. 

In  the  first  place,  the 
membership  of  the  church 
is  not  large,  with  not  more 
than  6,000  in  the  total 
constituency.  These  are 
not  rich  people.  They  are 
poor.  The  Methodist  Epis¬ 
copal  Church  is  not  proselyting  among 
other  bodies.  It  confines  its  attention  to 
the  neglected  classes,  and  rejoices  in  the 
response  it  wins  from  them.  But  these 
are  not  people  with  the  ability  to  carry 
heavy  financial  burdens.  It  is  remarkable 
that  they  do  as  much  as  they  do. 

Again,  such  institutions  as  the  Bible 
School  and  the  Theological  Seminary, 
which  have  in  their  keeping  the  whole 
future  success  or  non-success  of  this  enter¬ 
prise,  are  still  too  undeveloped  to  be  left 
to  their  own  resources.  A  bit  more  sup¬ 
port,  until  they  are  in  a  position  to  do 
their  full  work,  will  increase  their  future 
service  many  times. 

Finally,  the  devotion  of  these  Metho¬ 
dists  in  Denmark  merits  support.  They 
are  not  asking  great  sums.  The  plans 
they  have  made  call  for  such  advance  as 
can  be  made  without  too  much  strain  on 


the  present  work.  Admiration  for  the 
achievements  of  the  past,  with  recognition 
of  the  opportunity  of  the  present,  should 
insure  such  aid  in  the  building  of  churches, 
the  extension  of  city  missions  and  the 
strengthening  of  schools  as  is  asked. 

The  immediate  need.  —  A  carefully 
worked  out  program  for  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church  in  Denmark  shows  that 
during  1925  the  work  will  require: 

Work  Operations  to  be  conducted  on 
these  lines : 


Church  Work  from  37  Centers- .  $  17,740 

1  High  School . $1,850 

1  Theological  School  - -  2,000  3,850 


Total — Work  Operations  .  $  21,590 


Property  Projects: 

6  Churches  . . . . $31,000 

1  Theological  Seminapy  Bldg _  2,000  33,000 


Total  Program  (Denmark) .  $  54,590 


204 


WORLD  SERVICE 


FINLAND 


Out  of  the  War 

A  new  Protestant  nation.  —  The  reli¬ 
gious  traditions  of  most  of  the  European 
nations  established  by  the  Treaty  of  Ver¬ 
sailles  are  Catholic,  either  Roman  or 
Greek.  Finland  is  Protestant.  Her 
3,335,237  people  are,  by  law,  members  of 
the  State  Church  (Lutheran)  and  could 
not,  until  recently,  belong  to  any  other 
without  vast  difficulty.  There  are,  to  be 
sure,  some  Greek  Catholics,  for  there  are 
about  50,000  Russians  in  this  republic  that 
was  once  a  province  of  the  Tsar.  Metho¬ 
dists,  Baptists,  Jews,  and  Mohammedans 
also  find  place  in  the  religious  census.  But 
the  overwhelming  majority  of  the  people 
belong  to  the  State  Church. 

Through  the  fire. — Although  the  World 
War  did  not,  according  to  the  commu¬ 
niques,  include  Finland  in  its  theatre,  this 
land  beside  the  Baltic  suffered  as  severely 
as  any  part  of  Europe.  Beginning  as  a 


Emanuel  Methodist  Episcopal  Church, 
Helsingfors 


duchy  of  the  Russian  Empire,  but  a  duchy 
where  disaffection  was  known  to  be  rife, 
Finland  had  to  make  her  contribution  to 
the  Russian  war  strength,  and  to  support 
700,000  Russian  soldiers. 

When  the  Russian  revolution  overthrew 
the  Tsar  in  1917,  Finland  asserted  her  in¬ 
dependence.  An  internal  struggle  for 
control  between  the  conservative  and  so¬ 
cialistic  forces  followed,  out  of  which  came 
the  bloody  civil  war  of  1918.  The  outside 
world  hardly  knows  yet  that  this  struggle 
between  the  “Reds”  and  “Whites”  was  so 
bitter  that  when,  after  a  year  of  fighting, 
the  conservatives  won,  the  little  republic 
found  herself  with  40,000  orphans  on  her 
hands ! 

Finland’s  problems.  —  Apparently  the 
control  of  the  Whites  over  Finland  is 
complete.  But,  beneath  the  surface,  there 
is  immense  dissatisfaction  among  the  la¬ 
boring  classes.  If  support  should  be 
offered  from  Russia  it  is  likely  that  the 
Reds  would  think  themselves  strong 
enough  to  renew  the  civil  war  tomorrow. 

Now  that  the  period  of  reprisals  follow¬ 
ing  the  war  of  1918  has  passed,  Finland  is 
being  given  a  fairly  good  government.  The 
school  system  is  functioning  well ;  national 
prohibition  has  come  to  stay ;  women  have 
won  a  place  of  equality,  legally,  politically, 
and  socially,  with  men.  Many  experi¬ 
ments  for  improving  conditions  of  indus¬ 
try  are  being  carried  on.  The  national 
finances  are  in  better  shape  than  in  most 
European  states.  It  is  necessary,  however, 
to  win  the  allegiance  of  thousands  of 
working  people  to  this  regime  in  order  to 
insure  its  stability.  It  cannot  be  said  that 
this  has  yet  been  accomplished. 

As  in  so  many  other  states,  the  political 
problem  roots  back  in  economic  conditions. 
Wages  have  risen  sharply  in  Finland,  a 
common  laborer  now  receiving  from  eighty 
cents  to  a  dollar  a  day.  A  few  years  ago 
this  would  have  been  a  princely  wage.  But 
the  cost  of  living  has  also  risen.  Most  of 
the  food  staples  of  Finland  are  imported, 
many  of  them  from  America.  Clothing 


EUROPE  AND  NORTH  AFRICA 


205 


has  reached  the  point  where  a  suit  will 
absorb  a  year’s  savings.  Rents  are  so  high 
that  few  workers  can  afford  more  than  a 
single  room,  no  matter  how  large  the 
family. 

Coupled  with  these  economic  and  politi¬ 
cal  problems,  the  religious  situation  de¬ 
mands  attention.  Most  of  the  privileges 
of  the  State  Church  have  been  abolished, 
and  freedom  of  worship  established.  Com¬ 
plete  separation  of  church  and  state  is 
coming  soon.  Yet  the  State  Church  is  as 
supine  as  in  many  other  countries  of 
northern  Europe.  The  grant  of  religious 
freedom  may  only  show  openly  the  drift 
toward  indifference  and  atheism  that  has 
been  going  on  within  the  church  for  years. 
Some  power  that  will  wake  to  life  warm 
spiritual  forces  within  the  Protestantism 
of  Finland  is  needed  if  that  land  is  to  be 
saved  from  the  same  religious  breakdown 
that  threatens  Russia. 

Methodism  in  Finland 

How  the  work  was  planted. — The  Meth¬ 
odist  Episcopal  Church  is  at  work  through¬ 
out  Finland.  How  did  it  come  there?  As 
in  the  other  European  states,  the  found¬ 
ing  of  this  work  was  not  planned  by  the 
church. 

The  year  after  the  American  Civil  War 
closed,  two  young  Finnish  sailors  were 
converted  in  a  Methodist  service  in  New 
York  City.  Under  the  inspiration  of  their 
new  spiritual  experience  they  returned  to 
Finland,  preaching  the  gospel.  Later, 
local  preachers  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church  came  from  Sweden  to  assist  them. 

By  1891  there  were  enough  members  of 
the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  in  Fin¬ 
land  to  secure  legal  recognition.  Since 
that  time  the  work  has  grown  steadily, 
although  there  has  never  been  a  foreign 
missionary  within  the  bounds  of  the  Fin¬ 
land  Conference. 

Present  occupation. — The  work  in  Fin¬ 
land  is  divided  between  two  districts,  one, 
concerned  wholly  with  the  Finns,  and  one 
confining  its  attention  to  Swedes,  of  whom 
there  are  350,000  in  Finland.  There  are 
churches  for  Finns  in  fourteen  of  the 
thirty-eight  cities  and  in  a  majority  of 


From  the  Emanuel  Methodist  Episcopal 
Sunday  school,  Helsingfors 


Swedish  centers.  In  addition,  there  are 
two  orphanages  for  Finnish  children, 
three  for  Swedish,  a  Swedish  nursery  and 
old  folks’  home  and  a  theological  semi¬ 
nary  for  Finns — the  only  Methodist  school 
for  Finns  in  the  world. 

A  growing  church. — Although  Finland 
has  been  passing  through  the  depression 
of  the  world  war  and  the  terrors  of  its  own 
civil  war,  church  growth  has  been  steady. 
There  were,  for  example,  679  Finnish 
members  in  1916,  when  the  Centenary  was 
launched;  today,  there  are  1,604.  There 
are  likewise,  1,078  Swedish  members.  In 
fifty-three  Sunday  schools,  there  are  4,352 
students,  and  there  are  Epworth  Leagues 
in  practically  all  the  churches  with  a  total 
membership  of  2,633  in  the  Junior  and 
Senior  branches. 

At  the  same  time  contributions  from  the 
membership  have  greatly  increased.  In 
1916  Finnish  Methodists  gave  8.072  Finn¬ 
ish  marks*  for  the  support  of  the  pastor- 

*It  is  impossible  to  report  these  justly  in  terms 
of  American  money  because  of  the  fluctuation  in 
value  of  the  Finnish  mark.  Normally,  this  is  worth 
about  nineteen  cents  in  American  money.  On  Jan¬ 
uary  1,  1923,  it  was  worth  approximately  two  and 
one  half  cents. 


206 


WORLD  SERVICE 


At  the  Children’s  Home,  Grankulla 

ate;  in  1922,  93,965  Finnish  marks.  At 
the  same  time  the  support  of  the  pastors 
on  the  Swedish  district  increased  from 
Fmk.  20,445  to  Fmk.  155,750.  For  mis¬ 
sions  and  benevolences,  contributions  of 
Finnish  Methodists  rose  from  Fmk.  5,792 
in  1916  to  Fmk.  126,720  in  1922.  The 
Swedish  district  increased  its  offering  for 
foreign  missions  during  the  same  period 
from  Fmk.  4,840  to  Fmk.  28,425  and  other 
benevolences  grew  proportionately.  In 
1916  church  properties  on  the  Finnish  dis¬ 
trict  were  valued  at  Fmk.  337,300,  upon 
which  there  was  a  debt  of  Fmk.  207,118. 
At  present  the  value  of  properties  has  in¬ 
creased  to  Fmk.  1,281,408  while  the  debt 
has  been  reduced  to  Fmk.  69,854.  The 
value  of  the  churches  and  parsonages  on 
the  Swedish  district  has  risen  from  Fmk. 
685,583  to  Fmk.  4,162,870. 

While  the  loss  in  exchange  value  must 
be  considered,  this  amazing  growth  rep¬ 
resents  a  real  advance  on  the  part  of  the 
church,  both  Finnish  and  Swedish,  in  Fin¬ 
land.  The  income  of  the  Methodists  in 
that  country  has  not  kept  pace  with  the 
change  in  the  value  of  the  Finnish  mark. 


So  that  while  the  increase  in  pastoral  sup¬ 
port,  for  example,  is  about  800  per  cent 
in  terms  of  Finnish  marks,  it  likewise  rep¬ 
resents  at  least  200  per  cent,  probably 
more,  in  terms  of  increased  proportion  of 
income  contributed. 

What  is  the  future  to  be? — The  line  of 
advance  in  Finland  is  very  plain.  For 
most  of  this  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church  in  that  country  will  provide.  Help 
is  asked  from  America  for  the  provision 
of  a  headquarters  building  in  the  capital, 
Helsingfors;  a  deaconess  hospital  in  the 
same  city;  and  churches  and  chapels  in 
five  other  cities  and  several  smaller  towns. 

The  building  in  Helsingfors  is  especially 
important.  In  it  there  will  be  not  only  a 
varied  institutional  church  work,  but  the 
Theological  Seminary  and  a  center  for 
the  distribution  of  evangelical  literature. 

The  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  is  in 
a  position  promising  unusual  success  for 
an  institutional  program.  In  the  internal 
struggle,  it  has  been  able  to  win  the  con¬ 
fidence  of  both  Reds  and  Whites.  No 
matter  which  party  finally  controls  Fin¬ 
land,  Methodist  work  will  be  free  from  in¬ 
terference  and  will  have  the  sympathy  of 
the  authorities. 


The  projected  Methodist  Central  Building, 
Helsingfors 


EUROPE  AND  NORTH  AFRICA 


207 


The  opening  of  churches  and  chapels  is 
always  in  response  to  invitations,  which 
are  coming  in  increasing  numbers  now 
that  Finland  has  religious  freedom.  There 
is  every  indication  that  Methodism  can 
expand  its  work  in  Finland  many  times 
during  the  next  few  years. 

The  immediate  need.— By  far  the  larger 
part  of  the  advance  program  in  war- 
stricken  Finland  will  be  borne  by  the 
Finnish  Methodists  but  they,  in  their  pov¬ 
erty,  call  upon  their  American  brethren 


for  support  in  1925  to  the  following  ex¬ 
tent  : 

Work  Operations  will  be  conducted  on 


these  lines : 

Church  Work  from  40  Centers . $  21,900 

1  Theological  Seminary  .  2,724 


Total — Work  Operations  . $  24,624 

Property  Projects: 

2  Churches  . $  27,500 

Other  Projects  .  .  25,000 

Total — Property  Projects  .  $  52,500 

Total  Program  (Finland) . - . $  77,124 


GERMANY 


After  the  War 

An  agent  of  international  good  will. — 
When  Richard  Wobith,  superintendent  of 
the  Southern  District  of  the  South  Ger¬ 
many  Conference  came  to  answer  the  ques¬ 
tion  in  the  Post-Cente¬ 
nary  Survey  asking  for 
“the  urgent,  significant 
movements  creating  a 
special  opportunity  for 
Christianity,”  he  wrote : 

“The  greatest  challenge 
in  these  days  is  that 
the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church  is  the  only  one  of 
all  the  Protestant  churches 
of  the  world  which  is  in¬ 
ternational  and  is  able 
with  the  help  of  God,  to 
give  her  interests  to  the 
reconciliation  of  the  na¬ 
tions.  For  there  is  no  peace  now;  only 
war.  Many  of  the  best  men  in  our  nation 
hope  that  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church 
will  do  this  work.” 

Of  course,  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church  can  not  alone  assuage  the  wounds 
of  the  war.  It  is  true,  however,  that  the 
peculiar  position  of  the  church,  with  its 
international  organization,  gives  it  a 
unique  opportunity  as  well  as  an  inescapa¬ 
ble  responsibility. 

Throughout  the  war  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church  continued  its  work  in 
Germany,  as  well  as  on  the  other  side  of 


the  fighting  lines.  Under  the  leadership 
of  Bishop  Nuelsen,  it  was  the  first  body 
to  bring  relief  to  many  parts  of  the  coun¬ 
try  after  the  signing  of  the  armistice. 
Today,  its  membership  in  Germany  is  in 


the  midst  of  a  great  spiritual  advance.  If 
the  opportunity  can  be  grasped,  the  Meth¬ 
odist  Episcopal  Church  may  become  an 
instrument  to  show  the  new  Germany  the 
good  will  of  the  Christians  of  other  na¬ 
tions,  as  well  as  to  furnish  a  rallying 
point  for  a  rekindled  Protestantism  in 
that  land. 

Cross-currents. — It  is  impossible  in  the 
limits  of  this  volume  to  depict  the  internal 
condition  of  Germany  after  the  war. 
Moreover,  so  rapidly  are  events  occurring 
that  any  statement  is  likely  to  be  out  of 
date  before  this  can  be  published.  In  the 


These  youngsters  at  Ludwigsburg  were  fed  by  the  Christmas 
offering  of  American  Sunday  schools 


208 


WORLD  SERVICE 


main,  however,  it  may  be  said  that  Ger¬ 
many  finds  herself  in  the  grip  of  disillu¬ 
sionment  because  of  the  failure  of  the 
promises  made  her  by  her  militaristic  lead¬ 
ers;  of  resentment  because  of  what  she 
holds  to  have  been  a  betrayal  of  the  condi¬ 
tions  of  the  armistice  in  the  Versailles 
Treaty;  of  desperation  because  of  the 
mounting  cost  of  living  combined  with  the 
falling  value  of  the  currency;  and  of  be¬ 
wilderment  because  no  way  of  escape  is 
seen  from  the  present  chaos. 

No  one  believes  that  a  people  with  the 
energy  and  resources  of  the  Germans  can 
permanently  be  reduced  to  a  secondary 
position.  Up  to  the  present,  however,  it 
has  been  impossible  for  the  government 
or  any  other  agency  to  unite  the  Germans 
behind  any  one  program.  Those  who 
might  be  willing,  in  an  effort  to  recover 
from  the  losses  of  the  war,  to  work  long 
hours  for  low  wages  can  hardly  be  ex¬ 
pected  to  give  many  weeks  of  hard  labor 
when  wages  deemed  satisfactory  at  the 
beginning  of  a  week  may  not  be  found, 
when  pay  day  comes,  sufficient  to  provide 
food,  clothing,  and  shelter. 

This  is  the  condition  in  Germany  and 
it  is  producing  its  inevitable  result.  Ex¬ 
asperation,  cynicism,  and  irresponsibility 
mix  together  in  all  classes.  What  their 
final  product  may  be  no  man  can  say. 
Some  declare  that  it  will  be  revolution. 
All  that  can  safely  be  predicted  is  that 
Germany  for  the  next  few  years  is  likely 
at  almost  any  time  to  be  a  victim  of 
sudden  convulsion. 


In  the  Deaconess  Home,  Nurnberg 


Germany’s  spiritual  needs. — In  the  midst 
of  this  confusion,  an  appalling  amount  of 
spiritual  need  is  manifesting  itself  in  Ger¬ 
many.  The  downfall  of  the  monarchy 
brought  about  the  separation  of  church 
and  state.  In  North  Germany  the  Lutheran 
State  Church  has  held  millions  in  a  nomi¬ 
nal  membership.  Thousands  have  with¬ 
drawn.  The  agnostic  elements  so  often 
found  in  continental  socialism  have  gath¬ 
ered  great  strength.  Some  pessimists 
have  seen  all  Germany  drifting  into  infi¬ 
delity. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  Roman  Catholics 
of  South  Germany  have  experienced  a  re¬ 
vival,  and  have  on  several  occasions  since 
the  establishment  of  the  republic  held  the 
balance  of  political  power. 

In  addition,  there  have  been  strange 
outcroppings  of  exotic  religious  beliefs. 
Buddhism  has  been  strongly  pushed,  and 
various  occult  bodies  have  claimed  thou¬ 
sands  of  supporters.  Post-war  Germany 
comes  near  to  being  a  happy  hunting 
ground  for  the  religious  faddist  and  char¬ 
latan. 

The  true  spiritual  hunger  of  the  nation, 
however,  is  evidenced  by  an  outburst  of 
religious  passion  on  the  part  of  the  young. 
Hundreds  of  students  in  schools  and  uni¬ 
versities  have  pledged  themselves  to  sim¬ 
plicity  and  cleanness  of  life  and  are  carry¬ 
ing  on  a  passionate  propaganda  for  the 
salvation  of  their  nation  from  the  social 
ills  that  have  swept  in  on  her  like  a  flood. 

Germany  seems  to  have  done  with 
formal  religion.  Only  a  vital  spiritual 
awakening  can  meet  her  need.  If  she  does 
not  find  this,  she  is  likely  to  give  her  re¬ 
sources  to  a  stark  materialism  that  spells 
disaster  for  the  future. 

Methodism  in  Germany 

Where  the  church  is  planted. — WThen  the 
first  preacher  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church  arrived  in  Bremen  in  1849,  having 
been  stirred  to  effort  in  the  fatherland  by 
his  conversion  in  the  United  States,  he 
found  Germany  just  entering  upon  reaction 
following  abortive  revolution.  It  was  the 
failure  of  the  uprisings  of  ’49  that  made 
possible  the  German  empire  of  the  Hohen- 


EUROPE  AND  NORTH  AFRICA 


209 


zollerns.  But  even  under  the  restrictions 
of  that  empire,  Methodism  grew. 

Today,  with  all  restrictions  removed, 
the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  has  two 
annual  conferences  in  Germany,  with  con¬ 
gregations  in  most  of  the  cities.  The  last 
available  reports  show  182  members  of 
conferences,  forty-seven  local  preachers 
and  589  exhorters  and  lay  preachers. 
There  are  more  than  25,000  full  members, 
more  than  7,000  probationers,  more  than 
8,000  baptized  children,  more  than  500 
Sunday  schools  with  35,000  enrolled 
pupils.  The  Epworth  League  is  organized 
in  most  of  the  large  centers.  Incomplete 
reports  say  that  it  has  a  membership  of 
about  10,000. 

Types  of  work  conducted. — As  in  other 
Protestant  countries  of  Europe,  the  main 
effort  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church 
has  been  evangelistic.  This  has  led  to 
the  formation  of  a  distinct  church.  To  an 
even  larger  extent,  it  has  led  to  the  awak¬ 
ening  of  evangelical  zeal  in  many  of  the 
pastors  of  the  state  church.  In  truth,  the 
work  of  Methodism  in  Germany  has  not 
been  unlike  that  in  England,  save  that  in 
England  the  disciples  of  Wesley  were 
forced  generally  outside  the  established 
church,  and  in  Germany  a  majority  of 
them  have  remained  within  the  older  com¬ 
munion. 

The  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  has 
always  been  distinguished  by  a  vital  piety 
and  zeal  for  good  works  which  have  made 
it,  in  these  post-war  days  the  center  of 
relief  activities  in  many  cities. 

It  is  unnecessary  in  a  country  such  as 
Germany  to  conduct  educational  work,  ex¬ 
cept  for  specialized  theological  training. 
Neither  are  distinctive  medical  enter¬ 
prises  needed.  The  deaconess  movement 
has  been  unusually  powerful  and  provides 
the  staff  whereby  several  homes  for  the 
helpless,  as  well  as  other  benevolences,  are 
conducted. 

The  entire  work  in  Germany  would  be 
upon  a  self-supporting  basis  today  if  it 
had  not  been  for  the  war  and  for  the  fall¬ 
ing  value  of  German  currency.  As  it  is, 
it  will  be  necessary  to  provide  some  help 
for  this  work  until  conditions  are  more 


Malnutrition,  the  war’s  contribution  to  Eu¬ 
ropean  children — Measure  the  nine-year- 
old  boy  at  the  right  and  the  eight- 
year-old  girl  at  the  left  with  the 
normal  four-year-old  girl 
in  the  center 

nearly  stabilized.  German  Methodists 
have  increased  their  contributions  by 
many  millions  of  marks  within  the  last 
few  years.  As  soon  as  this  currency 
reaches  stabilization,  they  will  make  the 
entire  work  self-supporting. 

Young  people  to  the  fore. — In  this  criti¬ 
cal  period  it  is  encouraging  to  see  how 
rapidly  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church 
in  Germany  is  increasing  in  its  ministry 
to  the  young. 

Until  recently  it  could  hardly  be  said 
that  there  has  been  Sunday-school  work  in 
the  sense  in  which  it  is  known  in  America. 
The  so-called  Sunday  schools  were  largely 
groups  or  classes  in  catechism,  to  which 
the  pastors  also  preached.  At  twelve 
years  of  age  the  children  dropped  out 
automatically. 

With  modern  Sunday-school  literature, 
institutes,  teacher-training  classes  and 
well-trained  general  leadership  all  this  is 
changing.  The  Epworth  League,  too,  is 
proving  an  organization  by  which  the 
awakening  youth  of  the  church  can  give 
expression  to  its  religious  zeal.  Epworth 


210 


WORLD  SERVICE 


Faculty  and  some  of  the  students  of  Martin 
Mission  Institute 


League  conventions  are  reported  as  over¬ 
flowing  the  largest  halls  available. 

Many  of  the  young  people  are  giving 
impetus  to  the  temperance  propaganda 
which  is  carried  on  by  the  church,  particu¬ 
larly  from  Augsburg  and  Mannheim. 

The  deaconess  in  action. — Some  of  the 
outstanding  deaconess  institutions  of  the 
Methodist  world  are  in  Germany.  In 
Hamburg,  Stettin,  Berlin,  Leipzig,  Dres¬ 
den,  Nagold,  Chemnitz,  Frankfort,  Plauen, 
Mannheim,  Nuremburg,  Heilbronn,  Stutt¬ 
gart,  Freudenstadt,  and  Munich  are  to  be 
found  philanthropic  institutions  staffed 
by  the  distinctively-garbed  “sisters”  of  the 
church.  Indeed,  it  is  the  social  service 
conducted  by  the  deaconesses  that  may  be 
said  to  have  made  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church  known  to  thousands  who  would 
have  remained  indifferent  to  all  other 
forms  of  approach.  The  church  is  fortu¬ 
nate,  in  this  period  of  social  upheaval,  to 
have  such  trained  and  effective  agents  for 
carrying  its  ministries  among  the  needy. 

A  school  that  reaches  far. — In  Frankfort  - 
on-Main  one  of  the  most  important  insti¬ 
tutions  in  all  Methodism  is  located.  Here 
in  the  Theological  Seminary,  known 
locally  as  Marti-n’s  Institute,  seventy- 
eight  students  are  preparing  to  preach. the 
gospel  in  Switzerland,  Austria,  Hungary, 
the  Baltic  Republics,  Russia,  Yugo-Slavia, 
Bulgaria,  as  well  as  in  Germany. 

When  the  buildings  of  this  school  were 
completed,  in  the  same  month  that  the 
World  War  broke  out,  it  was  expected  that 


they  would  prove  ample  for  the  needs  of 
at  least  a  generation.  Already  they  are 
so  overcrowded  that  students  are  forced 
to  sleep  in  classrooms  and  members  of  the 
faculty  can  not  be  given  accommodations 
for  their  families.  Because  its  success  is 
so  necessary  for  the  future  growth  of  the 
church  in  Europe,  the  theological  semi¬ 
nary  in  Frankfort  demands  support. 

Help  in  Time  of  Need 

A  moment  of  promise. — It  is  hard  to  vis¬ 
ualize  the  situation  in  German  Methodism. 
On  the  one  hand  there  is  the  life  of  the 
nation  largely  in  flux,  with  hundreds  of 
thousands  cutting  loose  from  former  re¬ 
ligious  affiliations.  On  the  other  hand 
stands  a  church  with  an  international  out¬ 
reach,  feeling  within  itself  the  fires  of 
vigorous  revival. 

From  city  after  city  come  reports  of 
congregations  that  have  completely  out¬ 
grown  their  available  quarters.  In  many 
centers,  edifices  of  the  old  state  church, 
which  have  not  seen  more  than  a  handful 
at  their  own  services,  when  generously 
offered  to  the  Methodists  have  been 
crowded  to  the  doors. 

It  seems  possible  to  go  ahead  to  almost 
any  sort  of  an  ingathering  in  Germany 
under  the  present  conditions.  However, 
the  post-war  poverty  makes  it  impossible 
for  the  Methodists  of  Germany  to  provide 
the  churches  with  which  to  take  advantage 
of  this  opportunity. 

With  the  help  of  the  Centenary,  German 
Methodism  has  secured  a  few  new 
churches,  notably  in  Berlin,  Stuttgart, 
Munich,  Frankfort,  as  well  as  homes  in 
five  places  for  the  old  and  for  under¬ 
nourished  children.  The  devotion  of  the 
church  can  be  seen  in  the  contributions 
for  mission  work  that  have  piled  up  when, 
under  the  terms  of  the  Treaty  of  Ver¬ 
sailles,  Germans  are  excluded  as  mission¬ 
aries  from  most  of  the  world,  and,  at  the 
same  time,  there  has  been  no  guarantee 
but  that  a  further  fall  in  the  mark  would 
wipe  out  the  value  of  the  collections  thus 
sacrificially  given. 

With  a  people  with  this  sort  of  practical 
piety  and  a  situation  of  this  compelling 


EUROPE  AND  NORTH  AFRICA 


211 


character,  surely  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church  will  not  hesitate  to  move  forward 
to  a  new  position  of  power. 

The  immediate  need. — The  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church  is  proceeding  very  care¬ 
fully  in  its  advance  in  all  the  war-torn 
countries  of  Europe.  But,  in  view  of  the 
remarkable  opportunity,  it  has  recognized 
that  during  1925  the  program  in  Germany 
should  include : 


Work  Operations  to  be  conducted  on 


these  lines : 

Church  Work  from  214  Centers . - . .....$  72,635 

2  Hospitals  .  6,000 

2  Orphanages . 7,860 

Other  General  Work  .  .  13,050 


Total — Work  Operations  . . . $  99,545 

Property  Projects: 

15  Churches  . $  37.750 

Other  and  General  Work .  57,000 


Total — Property  Projects  . ...$  94.750 

Total  Program  (Germany) . $194,295 


SWITZERLAND 


A  Free  Church  in  a  Free  Land 

Where  Protestantism  came  to  power. — 
In  the  city  of  Geneva  stands  a  great  me¬ 
morial  to  the  Protestant  reformers  who 
broke  the  power  of  the  papacy.  It  is  hard 
to  think  of  Switzerland  without  thinking 
of  Calvin,  Farel,  Zwingli,  and  the 
streams  of  influence  that  have  flowed  out 
of  that  little  mountain-girt  home  of  free¬ 
dom  to  make  a  new  Europe. 

Today  the  traveler  in  Switzerland  finds 
himself  in  a  land  where  two-thirds  of  the 
population  is  Protestant  but,  as  in  so  many 
other  European  countries,  where  the 
establishment  of  a  state  church  has  tended 
toward  a  species  of  formalism  in  religion. 
As  a  result  there  has  been  room  for  the 
ministry  of  a  foreign  Protestant  church 
and  the  response  to  the  service  rendered 
by  Methodism  has,  in  proportion  to  the 
population,  been  larger  in  Switzerland 
than  in  any  other  European  country. 

The  contribution  of  Methodism. — The 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church  entered 
Switzerland  from  Germany  and  its  work 
has  been  largely  confined  to  the  German¬ 
speaking  portion  of  the  confederacy.  It 
required  thirty-two  years  before  the  laws 
of  the  country  and  the  strength  of  the 
church  made  possible  any  legal  standing. 
During  that  period,  however,  so  vital  an 
evangelistic  program  was  conducted  that 
the  state  church  felt  its  influence  and 
began  likewise  to  establish  Sunday  schools, 
conduct  revival  meetings  and  employ 
house-to-house  visitation  by  laymen. 


As  in  other  Protestant  countries  of  Eu¬ 
rope,  this  stirring  of  the  established 
church  may  be  regarded  as  among  the 
most  important  contributions  made  by 
Methodism. 


Swiss  peaks 


Swiss  Methodism 

The  church  today. — In  the  two  districts 
of  the  Switzerland  Annual  Conference 
there  are  more  than  10,000  church  mem¬ 
bers  worshiping  in  250  congregations. 


212 


WORLD  SERVICE 


Methodist  Publishing  House,  Zurich 


Great  attention  is  being  given  to  the 
Christian  nurture  of  youth,  with  more 
than  21,000  Sunday-school  pupils  and  more 
than  100  chapters  of  the  Epworth  League. 

The  latest  reports  available  show  that, 
despite  post-war  conditions  that  have 
greatly  reduced  the  income  of  most  of 
the  members  of  the  church,  Swiss  Metho¬ 
dists  contributed  an  average  of  more  than 
$25.00  per  member  for  the  support  of  the 
church  in  1921. 

Offerings  for  foreign  missions  and 
other  benevolent  purposes  have  been  gen¬ 
erous.  In  the  days  of  post-war  readjust¬ 
ment,  these  and  American  funds,  have 
provided  hundreds  of  children  in  Germany, 
Austria,  Italy,  and  Yugo-Slavia  with  food 
and  vacations  in  health  resorts. 

At  the  central  headquarters  in  Zurich 
there  is  not  only  a  flourishing  congrega¬ 
tion,  with  many  forms  of  institutional 
service,  but  a  book  concern  which  is  one 
of  the  best  known  evangelical  agencies  in 
Europe. 


Social  Christianity. — As 
elsewhere  in  Europe,  the 
Methodist  Episcopal 
Church  combines  with  an 
evangelistic  zeal  a  per¬ 
sistence  in  good  deeds 
that  is  winning  the 
confidence  and  support  of 
the  communities  in  which 
it  is  working.  In  the  pres¬ 
ent  effort  to  establish 
temperance  in  Switzer¬ 
land,  the  Temperance  Al¬ 
liance  of  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church  is  doing 
a  real  work. 

There  are  150  deaconesses,  stationed  in 
seven  centers,  conducting  a  great  hospital 
in  Zurich  and  much  other  nursing  and  car¬ 
ing  for  children,  the  aged,  the  sick,  the 
poor  in  other  parts  of  the  country.  As 
already  stated,  the  past  two  or  three  years 
have  been  marked  by  much  work  under¬ 
taken  in  behalf  of  needy  children  in  other 
European  nations.  Swiss  Methodism  is 
known  for  its  good  works  throughout  Cen¬ 
tral  Europe. 

The  immediate  need.— During  1925  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church  has  approved 
the  following  program  for  Switzerland: 

Work  Operations  will  be  conducted 
on  these  lines : 

Church  Work  from  62  Centers. ...$15,000 


1  Hospital  .  1,500 


Total — Work  Operations  .  $  16,500 

Property  Projects: 

1  Church  . .' .  10,000 

General  Work  .  25,000 


Total— Property  Projects  . .  $  35,000 


Total  Program  (Switzerland)....  $  51,500 


EUROPE  AND  NORTH  AFRICA 


213 


AUSTRIA 


The  Aftermath  of  War 
Just  to  be  kept  alive. — So  stern  are  con¬ 
ditions  in  Austria  that  there  is  little  plan¬ 
ning  for  the  future. 
It  is  enough  if  food 
and  shelter  for  the 
day’s  needs  can  be 
supplied. 

Accordingly,  when 
the  Methodist  Epis¬ 
copal  Church  opens 

Austna-Hungary  oPhool  fhp  dirpc 

in  1914  and  Aus-  a  scnool>  tne  allec 
tria  today  tors  feel  that  practi¬ 

cally  the  only  matter 
with  which  they  can  now  deal  is  the  saving 
of  the  children’s  lives.  We  must  wait,  they 
say,  until  another  generation  is  born  be¬ 
fore  it  will  be  possible  to  do  much  educa¬ 
tional  work.  Years  of  starvation  have 
killed  thousands  of  children  who  would  be 
in  schools  today,  and 
left  the  rest  so  weak¬ 
ened  that  they  can 
not  maintain  the 
strain  of  class  room 
work. 

In  every  line  the 
forces  that  would 
build  the  future  Aus¬ 
tria  feel  that  their 
present  efforts  must 
be  centered  upon  the 
fundamental  service 
of  keeping  folks 
alive.  After  that  is 
done,  it  will  be  time 
enough  to  consider 
other  things. 

What  hope  has 
Austria? — The  treaty 
of  St.  Germaine  re¬ 
duced  Vienna  to  a 
position  as  head  of  a 
petty  state  with  only 
6,500,000  people.  Rich  iron  deposits  were 
taken  away  and  the  major  part  of  the  food 
supply  must  now  be  obtained  from  peoples 
who,  in  past  years,  learned  to  hate  Austria. 


The  state  has  printed  paper  money  in 
such  quantities  that  it  now  has  lost  prac¬ 
tically  all  value.  Common  laborers  re¬ 
ceive  between  forty  and  fifty  thousand 
crowns  in  a  day.  By  the  time  this  book  is 
printed  they  may  be  receiving  between 
eighty  and  a  hundred  thousand  crowns  a 
day  and  still  not  have  sufficient  to  feed 
their  families. 

Austria’s  hope  for  the  future  lies  in  her 
superb  position  athwart  the  trade  routes 
between  north  and  south  and  east  and 
west  Europe.  In  addition,  she  still  has 
large  forests  and  with  sufficient  capital 
could  develop  four  million  horsepower 
from  available  water  supply. 

The  League  of  Nations  is  interesting 
itself  in  Austria.  There  is  some  hope  that 
under  its  lead  Austria  may  be  rescued 
from  the  awful  fate  that  has  befallen  it. 

Religious  freedom 
newly  won.  —  From 
the  midst  of  all  this 
misery,  Austria  can 
report  at  least  one 
religious  advance  as 
a  result  of  the  World 
War.  Ten  years  ago 
the  most  Roman 
Catholic  country  in 
Europe,  and  still  the 
center  of  a  strong 
Catholic  movement, 
the  new  state  has 
proclaimed  religious 
freedom. 

This  has  not  come 
as  a  result  of  any  lib¬ 
eralizing  on  the  part 
of  the  Catholic 
Church,  but  rather 
because  of  the  Social 
Democrats.  Them¬ 
selves  largely  anti- 
religious,  and  in  many  cases  even  atheistic, 
the  Socialists  and  Communists  have  been 
forced  to  proclaim  religious  tolerance  to 
break  the  grip  of  the  old  hierarchy. 


Child  of  the  streets,  Vienna 


214 


WORLD  SERVICE 


From  the  Day  Nursery,  Vienna — And  they 
don’t  like  to  have  their  picture  taken 

are  crowded  and  reports  come  of  Sunday 
schools  forced  to  hold  many  of  their  classes 
in  the  streets  because  of  the  lack  of  room. 

There  is  no  proselyting  from  other 
Protestant  groups,  for  practically  all  con¬ 
verts  have  been  either  nominal  Catholics 
or  atheists.  One  of  the  congregations  in 
Vienna  is  composed  of  Czecho-Slovaks,  of 
whom  there  are  at  least  400,000  in  the 
capital. 

Much  of  the  interest  in  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church  is  a  result  of  relief 
measures  undertaken  under  Centenary 
auspices  in  the  days  immediately  follow¬ 
ing  the  war.  This  relief  work  has  been 
carried  on  largely  through  the  Metho¬ 
dists  of  Scandinavia  and  Switzerland, 
with  additional  supporting  funds  from 
America,  and  has  won  for  the  church  both 
popular  esteem  and  government  recogni¬ 
tion. 

Tuernitz — haven  of  refuge.— The  out¬ 
standing  contribution  of  Methodism  to 
Austria’s  most  pressing  problem  is  the 
home  for  children  at  Tuernitz.  Here  in 
the  Tyrolean  Alps  a  small  sanitarium  has 
been  purchased  and  in  it  children  between 
four  and  fourteen  years  of  age  receive  an 


Under  these  circumstances  the  Prot¬ 
estants,  of  whom  the  Lutheran,  the  Re¬ 
formed,  the  Baptist,  and  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Churches  are  the  leaders,  can 
prosecute  their  work  with  a  success  that 
was  totally  impossible  under  the  old  re¬ 
gime. 

The  Religious  Outlook 
How  Methodism  is  advancing. — The 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church  was  estab¬ 
lished  in  Austria  by  workers  from  Ger¬ 
many.  Its  work  has  been  largely  in  and 
about  the  city  of  Vienna.  As  political 
conditions  now  stand  this  is  an  advantage, 
because  the  Peace  Treaty  has  left  Vienna, 
as  a  recent  magazine  article  phrases  it, 
“a  capital  without  a  nation.” 

Of  the  twenty-one  districts  that  com¬ 
prise  the  city,  seven  have  some  form  of 
Methodist  occupation.  One  well-equipped 
new  church  in  particular  stands  as  a  monu¬ 
ment  to  the  Centenary.  All  the  churches 


Feeding  an  emaciated  child  at  Tuernitz — 
Centenary  offerings  made  this 
service  possible 


EUROPE  AND  NORTH  AFRICA 


215 


Waiting  for  the  distribution  of  Methodist  relief  supplies  in  Vienna, 
in  the  winter  of  1919 


average  of  four  weeks  in 
which  to  recover  from  un¬ 
dernourishment  and  mal¬ 
nutrition.  All  the  children 
admitted  give  evidence  of 
rickets,  although  no  hos¬ 
pital  or  bed-ridden  cases 
are  taken.  Six  hundred 
and  fifty  of  these  children 
are  aided  in  a  year.  This 
does  not  seem  many  amid 
the  thousands  of  needy 
youngsters  in  Austria, 
but  it  is  a  form  of  service 
that  is  making  a  deep  im¬ 
pression  upon  the  Aus¬ 
trian  people  in  their  time  of  great  need. 

There  are  also  in  Tuernitz  some  accom¬ 
modations  for  the  very  old  and  for  young 
people,  of  whom,  it  is  reported,  at  least 
sixty  per  cent  in  Austria  today  are  tuber¬ 
cular.  The  work  of  this  center  is  carried 
on  largely  by  a  corps  of  Methodist 
deaconesses. 

Fighting  intemperance. — The  church  is 
also  emphasizing  the  promotion  of  tem¬ 
perance.  Following  the  war  there  has 
been  in  Austria,  as  in  other  parts  of 
Europe,  a  sad  let-down  in  moral  habits. 
Such  an  outbreak  of  drunkenness  has  come 
as  to  frighten  the  authorities.  With  full 
government  backing,  therefore,  and  with 
co-operation  from  several  other  bodies,  in¬ 
cluding  Socialists,  Nationalists,  and  Cath¬ 
olics,  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  has 
carried  its  traditional  fight  against  intem¬ 
perance  to  Austria. 

Observers  speak  of  the  Austrian  Ep- 
worth  League  as  “the  fighting  troops  of 
the  prohibition  movement,”  and  the  rec¬ 
ognition  by  all  bodies  of  the  vower  of  the 
temperance  propaganda  conuucted  by  the 
Methodists  is  hearty. 

Not  only  in  the  fight  against  drink,  but 
also  in  the  general  evangelistic  work, 
large  use  is  being  made  of  posters  and 
hand  bills,  tracts,  newspaper  advertise¬ 
ments,  and  Bible  distribution. 


What  the  future  holds. — It  is  impossi¬ 
ble  under  the  present  circumstances  to 
plan  for  any  very  distant  future  in  Aus¬ 
tria. 

In  two  or  three  centers  congregations 
have  gathered.  Because  of  the  conditions, 
it  is  impossible  for  them  to  contribute 
largely.  Edifices  that  can  be  used  as 
churches  for  them  should  be  purchased. 

As  rapidly  as  possible  other  sections  of 
Vienna  should  be  entered.  Now  seems  the 
best  of  all  times  because  of  the  high 
value  of  American  money,  to  purchase  the 
central  headquarters  so  long  needed.  Cer¬ 
tainly  the  humanitarian  work  must  not  be 
allowed  to  decrease. 

The  immediate  need. — In  view  of  all  the 
conditions  in  Austria  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church  has  approved  this  pro¬ 
gram  of  work  for  1925  : 


Work  Operations  will  be  conducted  on 
these  lines : 

Church  Work  from  17  Centers . 

$  8,913 

4  Churches  . 

1  Hospital  _ _  _ 

Other  and  General  Work . 

...$1,167 
...  460 

...  2,650 

4,277 

Total — Work  Operations 

$  13,190 

Property  Projects: 

2  Churches  . 

1  Orphanage  . . . 

1  Dispensary  . 

Other  Projects  . 

...$6,600 
...  3,800 
...  3,000 
...  2,000 

$  15,400 

Total  Program  ( Austria ) . 

$  28,590 

216 


WORLD  SERVICE 


HUNGARY 


A  Nation  in  the  Making 

The  political  situation  in  Hungary. — -In 
the  break-up  of  the  Austro-Hungarian 
Empire,  following  the  World  War,  Magyar 
aspirations  for  independence  found  their 
realization.  To  be  sure,  heavy  penalties 
were  imposed,  such  as  the  loss  of  many 
coal  mines,  most  of  the  iron  works,  and 
all  forests,  for  participation  in  the  war. 
But  this  state  was  left  in  a  much  more 
advantageous  position  than  was  Austria, 
and  the  evolution  of  a  lasting  nation  with 
present  boundaries  seems  assured. 

Since  the  end  of  the  war  Hungary  has 
been  the  scene  of  several  political  over¬ 
turns.  The  decision  of  the  Allies  ban¬ 
ished  the  Hapsburgs,  rulers  in  Central 
Europe  for  a  millennium.  But  the  mon¬ 
archy  made  two  attempts  at  a  restoration, 
and  the  fear  of  a  Hapsburg  coup  is  not 
yet  entirely  gone.  The  first  liberal  gov¬ 
ernment  set  up  did  not  prove  strong 
enough  to  cope  with  the  fierce  passions  at 
large,  and  was  followed  by  a  communist 
regime.  Against  this  all  the  conservative 
forces  in  the  country  rallied,  and  it  was 
overthrown  with  a  vast  amount  of  blood¬ 
shed. 


The  “blue  Danube”  is  the  key  to  much  of 
the  history  of  Central  Europe 


The  dictatorship  under  Admiral  Horthy, 
set  up  following  the  communists,  still  per¬ 
sists.  At  present,  Hungary  is  fairly  tran¬ 
quil,  although  it  is  claimed  that  this  is  a 
tranquillity  inspired  by  fear  rather  than 
by  complete  satisfaction  with  the  govern¬ 
ment. 

Living  and  labor  conditions. — Socially, 
Hungary  is  having  as  hard  a  time  recover¬ 
ing  from  the  war  as  any  of  her  central 
European  neighbors.  The  salaried  classes 
are  in  a  desperate  dilemma,  because  of  the 
decrease  in  the  value  of  the  paper  money 
of  the  state,  while  professional  incomes 
have  not  increased  enough  to  make  up  the 
difference.  There  are  thousands  of  un¬ 
employed  among  the  laboring  groups,  and 
many  other  thousands  who  are  not  paid 
enough  to  live  under  present  conditions. 
Relief  work,  such  as  has  been  conducted 
by  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  has 
been  the  only  means  of  keeping  hundreds 
alive.  The  Methodists  of  Scandinavia 
have  had  a  fine  part  in  this  work  of  relief. 
The  larger  share,  however,  has  been  pro¬ 
vided,  rightly,  from  America. 

Social  conditions  are  bound  to  feel  the 
effect  of  such  a  period.  The  increase  in 
vice,  already  bad  enough,  is  appalling. 
The  craving  for  stimulation  results  in  in¬ 
creased  drunkenness.  Even  in  the  dis¬ 
tricts  outside  Budapest,  where  the  farmers 
have  sufficient  food,  increase  in  intemper¬ 
ance  and  lowering  of  the  moral  standards 
are  reported. 

Religious  vigor  needed. — -Such  conditions 
call  for  a  strong  program  on  the  part  of 
the  churches.  Unfortunately,  the  Re¬ 
formed  and  Lutheran  churches,  which 
might  have  been  looked  to  for  Protestant 
leadership  in  such  a  time,  seem  content 
with  a  formal  program.  Dwindling  con¬ 
gregations  and  a  general  spiritual  stupor 
characterize  many  of  their  parishes. 

The  Roman  Catholic  Church  has  seized 
upon  this  as  a  day  of  oppurtunity.  Prot¬ 
estantism,  with  its  freedom  of  thought,  is 
depicted  as  the  soil  in  which  political  rad¬ 
icalism  can  flourish,  while  Catholicism  is 


EUROPE  AND  NORTH  AFRICA 


217 


urged  as  the  bulwark  of 
the  conservative  order.  As 
the  conservatives  now 
control  Hungary,  this 
helps  forward  the  Catho¬ 
lic  reaction.  State  schools 
are  under  the  domination 
of  Rome.  Masonic  lodges 
are  forbidden.  There  is  a 
strong  anti-Semitic  move¬ 
ment,  wfith  Catholic  sup¬ 
port.  Such  a  reaction, 
upon  such  a  foundation, 
cannot  last  long.  It  does, 
however,  hinder  present  advance. 

The  vigor  of  Protestantism  is  repre¬ 
sented  in  Hungary  by  the  Baptists,  the 
Methodists,  the  Adventists,  and  a  group 
of  pastors  within  the  Reformed  and  Lu¬ 
theran  Churches  who  have  been  touched 
by  evangelical  fervor.  This  whole  group 
is  small,  however,  when  compared  with 
the  forces  against  which  they  must  work. 

Methodism  in  Hungary 

Wesley’s  spirit  still  at  work. — The  work 
of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  in  Hun¬ 
gary  reminds  one  of  the  work  of  Wesley 
in  England.  Begun  as  recently  as  1906, 
by  workers  sent  from  Germany,  and  con¬ 
fining  itself  until  recently  to  the  German¬ 
speaking,  the  best  result  up  to  the  present 
is  to  be  seen  in  the  fifty  pastors  of  the 
Reformed  Church  (one  of  the  churches 
recognized  by  the  state)  who,  although 
taunted  by  their  colleagues  as  Methodists, 
are  preaching  the  necessity  for  conversion 
and  a  new  birth. 

It  cannot  be  said  that  relations  with 
other  Protestant  bodies  have  been  cordial 
in  Hungary.  Insistence  among  other  bod¬ 
ies  upon  certain  forms  as  a  necessity  for 
salvation  has  provoked  opposition  to  the 
Methodists,  with  their  broad  attitude 
toward  these  things.  But  a  better  spirit 
of  understanding  is  emerging,  as  it  be¬ 
comes  clear  that  Methodism,  the  latest 
arrival,  has  no  intention  of  proselyting 
from  other  Protestant  bodies. 

Methodist  centers. — Budapest,  Baranya 
and  Tolna,  Nyiregyhaza,  Kegad,  and 
Lapron  are  centers  planned  for  Methodist 


must  be  the  center  for  work  in  Hungary 

work.  The  last  two  cities  have  not  yet 
been  occupied. 

Budapest  must  be  the  center  for  any 
work  in  Hungary.  Here  are  about 
3,000,000  people  to  be  reached,  of  whom 
fifty  per  cent  are  Catholics,  forty  per  cent 
members  of  the  Lutheran  and  Reformed 
churches,  and  ten  per  cent  Jews.  The 
work  until  two  years  ago  was  largely  con¬ 
fined  to  Germans,  but  recent  advances 
toward  the  Hungarians  have  resulted  in 
the  formation  of  two  flourishing  congre¬ 
gations.  The  temperance  propaganda  of 
the  church  in  Budapest,  made  possible  by 
a  grant  from  America,  has  been  particu¬ 
larly  effective  in  winning  public  attention. 
The  type  of  ministry  in  this  region  has 
been  high,  and  the  church  can  be  said  to 
be  well  established.  The  contributions  of 
the  churches  have  been  generous,  par¬ 
ticularly  in  view  of  the  currency  chaos. 
One  congregation  in  Budapest  has 
achieved  self-support. 

In  the  province  of  Baranya  and  Tolna, 
in  southern  Hungary,  the  work  is  among 
the  peasantry.  The  work  is  only  a  year 
old,  but  a  hundred  members  and  proba¬ 
tioners  have  already  been  gathered.  There 
are  a  million  people  in  this  region. 

In  northern  Hungary  our  present  center 
is  Nyiregyhaza,  from  which  we  hope  ulti¬ 
mately  to  reach  two  million  people.  After 
a  year  of  work  the  church  membership 
numbers  one  hundred  fifty. 

Types  of  effort. — In  Budapest  and  its 
environs,  the  church  must  conduct  a  di¬ 
versified  social  program,  with  emphasis 
upon  the  teaching  of  temperance,  upon 


Budapest 


218 


WORLD  SERVICE 


the  development  of  Sunday  schools  and 
other  work  for  young  people,  night  classes 
for  laborers,  and  classes  in  home  econom¬ 
ics  for  women,  and  upon  a  widespread  dis¬ 
tribution  of  literature.  An  industrial 
school  for  women  and  girls  is  planned  in 
one  town,  and  a  home  for  laborers  in 
another.  Churches  are  called  for  in  sev¬ 
eral  places.  Equipment  for  aggressive 
evangelistic  campaigns  is  required. 

On  the  other  districts,  much  the  same 
line  of  advance  is  to  be  followed.  The 
towns  to  be  entered  have  been  carefully 
chosen.  Everywhere  the  emphasis  is  to 
be  upon  evangelism,  in  order  to  arouse  as 
speedily  as  possible  the  forces  latent  in  the 
Protestant  churches,  and  to  give  the 
gospel  to  the  multitudes  who  have  actual 


contact  with  no  church  o«*  are  mere  for¬ 
malists  in  religion. 

The  immediate  need. — The  inadequacy 
of  our  present  program  makes  advance  in 
Hungary  imperative.  For  1925  the  church 
has  approved  the  following  program : 

Work  Operations  will  be  conducted 


on  these  lines : 

Church  Work  from  15  Centers. ...$  5,500 

1  Theological  Seminary  .  870 

Other  and  General  Work .  3,350 


Total — Work  Operations  .  $  9,720 

Property  Projects: 

2  Churches  . $13,500 

1  Parsonage  .  2,000 


Total — Property  Projects  .  $  15,500 


Total  Program  (Hungary) .  $  25,220 


RUSSIA 


Closed  or  Open 

“When  Russia  opens.” — Since  the  down¬ 
fall  of  the  Tsar  it  has  become  the  habit 
of  forward-looking  Protestants  to  say, 
“When  Russia  opens,  we  must  go  into  that 
country  with  one  of  the  strongest  advance 
movements  the  church  has  ever  launched. 
Russia  is  hungry  for  vital  religion.  When 
she  opens,  then  is  our  chance.” 


American  Methodists  sent  these  food 
supplies  to  Russia 


But  is  this  kind  of  talk  longer  permissi¬ 
ble?  Bishop  Nuelsen,  on  his  last  trip  to 
America,  after  spending  weeks  in  Russia, 
said,  “Soviet  Russia  is  open.  Soviet  Rus¬ 
sia  is  open  to  the  Methodist  message.  So¬ 
viet  Russia  is  open  to  a  large  evangelistic 
and  reform  movement  in  the  Russian 
Church  and  outside  the  Russian  Church. 

. I  had  all  of  our  pastors  in  Russia 

together,  and  every  one  of  these  pastors 
reported  that  in  the  town  where  he  is 
preaching  the  gospel  our  chapels  are  too 
small  to  contain  the  crowds.  I  inquired 
of  them  whether  there  was  any  interfer¬ 
ence  on  the  part  of  the  government.  They 
said  to  me,  ‘There  is  not  the  slightest  inter¬ 
ference  ;  we  are  absolutely  at  liberty  to 
preach  the  gospel,  and  we  have  more  calls 
than  we  can  answer.’  ” 

In  the  face  of  such  a  situation  it  is 
hardly  possible  longer  to  escape  responsi¬ 
bility  for  the  evangelization  of  Russia  by 
talking  about  what  may  be  done  “when 
Russia  opens.”  That  hour  is  here.  How 
will  the  church  meet  it? 

What  is  happening  in  Russia. — At  the 
outbreak  of  the  World  War,  Russia  seemed 
to  pass  behind  a  veil.  The  veil  lifted  for 
a  moment  when  the  autocracy  was  over- 


EUROPE  AND  NORTH  AFRICA 


219 


thrown,  but  soon  descended  again.  Only 
fleeting,  broken  flashes  have  been  given 
since  1917.  Few  Americans  today  believe 
that  they  know  completely  what  is  hap¬ 
pening  in  Russia. 

It  is  important,  however,  that,  without 
longer  delay,  events  in  Russia  be  made 
clear  to  the  rest  of  the  world.  For,  be 
the  Bolsheviki  ever  so  mistaken,  it  is  none 
the  less  true  that  in  Russia,  at  this  mo¬ 
ment,  there  is  being  carried  on  the  vastest 
political  and  economic  experiment  the 
world  has  ever  seen.  The  two  are  so 
closely  interrelated  that  they  cannot  be 
considered  separately. 

Future  generations  will  hardly  be  able 
to  understand  how  we  have  been  content 
to  live  in  ignorance  in  the  presence  of 
the  phenomenon  of  Russia.  They  will 
hold  it  a  folly  past  belief  that  we  have 
allowed  our  prejudices  or  our  fears  or  a 
censorship  or  any  other  factor  to  with¬ 
hold  from  us  the  facts  concerning  this  ex¬ 
periment  in  a  land  that  sweeps  from  the 
Baltic  to  the  Pacific. 

Russian  confusions.  —  So  contradictory 
are  the  reports  that  come  out  of  Russia 
that  many  have  almost  stopped  reading 
them,  thinking  frank  ignorance  safer  than 
hopeless  confusion.  There  is  no  room  here 
to  enumerate  all  the  matters  concerning 
which  testimony  disagrees. 

Some  of  them  are  economic.  To  what 
extent  has  the  soviet  government  aban¬ 
doned  its  communistic  principles?  Has 
it  acknowledged  that  trade  is  impossible 
without  the  motive  of  private  profit?  Is 
Russia  sinking  deeper  into  distress,  or  is 
it  climbing  toward  economic  rehabilita¬ 
tion? 

Some  of  them  are  humanitarian.  Are 
there  starving  people  left  in  Russia?  Is 
tuberculosis  as  common  as  has  been 
charged  among  Russian  children? 

Some  of  them  are  religious.  Is  the 
soviet  government  aggressively  anti- 
Christian?  Will  there  be  any  place  for 
the  church  in  the  soviet  state  when  and 
if  that  is  finally  established?  Will 
Protestant  churches  be  allowed  to 
conduct  work  from  bases  in  capitalistic 
countries? 


Choir  at  Petrograd 


Russian  facts. — In  contrast  to  these  con¬ 
fusions  there  are  some  facts  that  chal¬ 
lenge  attention. 

There  are  the  enormous  resources  of 
Russia,  both  in  people  and  in  other  sources 
of  wealth.  No  country  with  such  poten¬ 
tialities  can  forever  be  kept  in  a  secondary 
position.  The  centers  of  world  influ¬ 
ence  are  moving  north.  Once  they  were 
on  the  Euphrates  and  the  Nile;  then  they 
were  on  the  Mediterranean ;  now  they 
are  on  the  Hudson  and  the  Thames,  to¬ 
morrow —  ? 

There  is  the  stability  of  the  Russian 
government.  Even  reactionary  news¬ 
papers  have  stopped  predicting  the  fall  of 
Lenin.  He  has  been  in  power  now  longer 
than  any  other  important  premier  in 
Europe.  Even  should  he  be  removed  from 
the  stage  personally,  the  theory  of  govern¬ 
ment  that  he  represents  will  continue.  “If 
anybody  wants  to  wait  for  the  overthrow 
of  the  present  regime  in  Russia,’’  Bishop 
Nuelsen  has  said,  “he  will  have  to  wait  for 
a  long  time.  I  think  the  present  govern¬ 
ment  in  Russia  is  as  firmly  established  as 
any  government  in  Europe.” 

There  is  the  spiritual  responsiveness  of 
the  people.  Despite  the  sterility  of  the 
Orthodox  Church,  a  part  of  the  Tsar’s 
bureaucracy  since  the  days  of  Peter  the 
Great,  and  despite  the  persecutions  of  the 
soviet  period,  the  masses  in  Russia  remain 
the  most  inherently  religious  people  in 
the  West.  Badly  as  they  have  been  de¬ 
ceived  by  their  spiritual  shepherds  in  the 
past,  they  still  hunger  and  thirst  after 


220 


WORLD  SERVICE 


righteousness.  Is  it  possible  that  they  are 
not  to  be  filled? 

Facing  the  Opportunity 

Where  Methodism  now  stands. — The 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church  entered  Rus¬ 
sia  in  1907.  This  was 
at  the  time  when 
the  empire  of  the 
Tsar  was  showing  its 
first  response  to  pop¬ 
ular  demand  for  re¬ 
form,  but  restric¬ 
tions  were  still  severe 
enough  to  make 
rapid  expansion  im¬ 
possible.  It  cost  the 
pioneers  years  to  win 
the  confidence  of  the 
authorities.  In  Pe- 
trograd,  for  example, 
it  took  six  months  of 
cultivation,  after 
property  had  been 
purchased,  before  it 
could  be  used  for  re¬ 
ligious  purposes. 

When  the  war 
broke  out  in  1914  the 
strongest  Methodist 
churches  were  in  the 
Baltic  provinces, 
where  they  now 
continue  to  flourish  in  independent  states. 
(See  Finland  and  The  Baltic  Republics .) 
Much  of  the  Protestant  work  in  Russia 
was  prohibited,  but  the  Methodist  Episco¬ 
pal  Church  was  allowed  to  carry  on. 

With  the  Revolution  of  1917  another 
stage  began.  The  American  Superintend¬ 
ent  of  the  Russian  mission,  with  all  other 
Americans,  was  ordered  out  of  Russia  by 
his  own  government.  But  during  all  the 
disorders  that  followed,  the  church  held 
its  ground.  In  Petrograd  the  Methodist 
deaconess,  Sister  Anna  Ecklund,  became 
an  angel  of  mercy  to  thousands.  In 
churches,  in  schools,  in  other  government 
institutions  she  distributed  relief  from 
abroad.  By  her  courage  she  held  the  prop¬ 
erty  of  the  church  in  Petrograd  inviolate 
when  all  other  wooden  buildings  in  the 


city  were  being  torn  down  for  firewood. 

There  are  now  about  ten  organized  cir¬ 
cuits  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church 
in  Russia,  with  many  other  preaching 
points  where  permanent  occupation  will 
be  welcomed.  Trained  pastors  are  needed, 

but  as  these  are  pro¬ 
vided  the  church  in 
Russia  should  go  for¬ 
ward  with  great 
rapidity. 

The  strategic  hour. 
— Every  indication, 
however,  shows  that 
Methodism  is  to  ren¬ 
der  its  greatest  serv¬ 
ice  by  helping  to 
revive  vital  religion 
within  the  Russian 
Church.  With  the 
coming  to  power  of 
the  Bolsheviki,  the 
old  church  placed  it¬ 
self  in  violent  oppo¬ 
sition.  Most  of  the 
communist  leaders 
are  agnostics  or 
atheists,  with  little 
sympathy  for  the 
church  under  any 
circumstances.  Find¬ 
ing  it  an  agent  of 
reaction,  the  soviet 
leaders  set  about  disciplining  it. 

It  has  proved  impossible  to  suppress  the 
church.  Tales  of  the  saints  have  been 
proved  myths;  miracles  proved  hoaxes; 
some  priests  proved  degenerates.  But  the 
faith  of  the  masses  has  lived  on.  Yet  out 
of  the  trial  to  which  the  church  has  been 
subjected  has  come  a  new  group  of  church 
leaders,  priests  who  seek  a  revitalizing  of 
the  whole  ecclesiastical  structure  of 
Russia. 

To  this  new  party  has  been  given  the 
name  of  “The  Living  Church.”  It  has 
found  a  platform  upon  which  it  may  work 
without  trouble  from  the  government.  In 
fact,  so  favorable  have  been  its  relations 
with  the  government  that  it  has  been 
called,  by  other  elements  in  the  old  Rus¬ 
sian  church,  a  creature  of  the  soviets. 


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Facsimile  of  the  invitation  from  “The  Living 
Church,”  translated  on  page  221 


EUROPE  AND  NORTH  AFRICA 


221 


This  progressive  group  is  seeking  help 
in  its  stupendous  task  of  reforming  a 
church  that  never  felt  the  stirrings  that 
came  to  the  other  churches  of  Europe 
through  the  Renaissance,  the  Reforma¬ 
tion,  or  the  Evangelical  Revival.  And, 
wonder  of  wonders,  it  passes  by  advances 
made  from  Rome  and  elsewhere,  deliber¬ 
ately  to  seek  aid  from  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church!  This  is  a  translation 
of  part  of  the  official  appeal  recently  re¬ 
ceived  : 

In  conformity  with  ancient  ecclesiastical  laws,  the 
Orthodox  Church  of  Russia  intends  to  meet  for  its 
second  territorial  council  on  the  tenth  of  February, 
1923,  in  Moscow. 

The  group,  “Living  Church,’’  which  is  at  present 
engaged  in  the  work  of  preparing  for  and  convok¬ 
ing  the  council,  invites  the  friendly  American  Metho¬ 
dist  Episcopal  Church  to  send  at  that  time  dele¬ 
gated  brethren  who  through  their  experience  in  the 
organization  of  a  free  church  under  a  republican 
form  of  state  government  could  render  aid  in  ac¬ 
complishing  the  task  of  elevating  the  faith  and  the 
morals  of  the  Russian  people. 

The  group.  “Living  Church,’’  has  every  reason  to 
hope  that  the  possibility  of  taking  part  in  the  work 
of  the  council  will  be  given  to  the  brethren  whom 
you  may  delegate. 

In  directing  to  the  one  great  Bishop  of  all  Chris¬ 
tians,  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  our  prayers  for  the 
union  of  all  those  who  believe  in  his  name,  we  beg 
you  to  accept  our  respects  and  our  cordial  fraternal 
greetings. 

Group  of  the  Orthodox  White  Clergy, 

“The  Living  Church" 

Central  Committee 

Central  Committee,  group  “Living  Church” 

Honorary  President,  Joann  Albinsky, 

Archbishop  of  Kruty. 

President,  Archpriest  Vladimir  Krasnitzky, 

Responsible  Secretary,  Priest  Dimitry  Solovyeff. 

The  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  is 
feeling  its  way  with  great  care  in  Russia. 
But  wffio  could  hold  back  in  the  face  of 
such  an  appeal?  The  three  bishops  resi¬ 
dent  in  Europe  have  been  authorized  to 
investigate  and  to  suggest  methods  of  co¬ 
operation.  It  takes  no  great  flight  of 
faith  to  believe  that,  within  the  next 
decade,  Methodism,  under  God,  will  not 
only  be  able  to  establish  congregations 
that  will  prove  centers  of  Scriptural  holi¬ 
ness,  but  also  will  be  an  agent  for  the 
renewal  of  the  spiritual  powers  of  the 
Russian  Church. 


Advance  projected. — It  must  be  under¬ 
stood  that  the  expanded  program  for  Rus¬ 
sia  approved  by  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church  is  tentative.  Such  readjustments 
as  careful  study  show  wise  will  be  made. 
But  for  the  immediate  present,  to  take  ad¬ 
vantage  of  the  opportunity  of  this  hour, 
the  following  lines  of  advance  are  con¬ 
templated  : 

A  central  plant  in  Moscow,  with  not 
only  full  equipment  for  church  w’ork,  but 
a  night  school,  a  student  hostel,  a  train¬ 
ing  school  for  preachers,  and  a  small  pub¬ 
lishing  plant. 

A  similar,  but  smaller,  occupation  in 
Petrograd. 

Five  industrial  schools  in  various  cities. 
Buildings  to  be  furnished  by  the  govern¬ 
ment  ;  repair  and  equipment  by  the  church. 

Three  agricultural  schools,  on  land  fur¬ 
nished  by  the  government. 

Deaconess  hospitals  in  Moscow  and  Pe¬ 
trograd,  with  buildings  furnished  by  the 
authorities. 

The  immediate  need. — During  1925  it  is 
proposed  to  carry  out  the  following  fea¬ 
tures  of  this  program : 


Missionary  Staff  will  be  required  for: 

Evangelistic  Work-  -.  4  Couples  1  Single 

Educational  Work .  4  Couples  0  Single 

Other  Work .  1  Couple  0  Single 


9 

1 

$  27,550 

Work  Operations  will  be  conducted  on  the 
following  lines : 

Church  Work  from  5  Centers . 

12,000 

2  Commercial  Schools  . 

1  Industrial  School  . 

1  Agricultural  School  . 

1  Training  School  . 

..$11,000 
..  7,500 
.  10,000 
..  2,000 

30,500 

1  Hospital  . 

10,000 

Other  and  General  Work . 

9,500 

Total — Work  Operations 

$  62,000 

Property  Projects  to  make  possible  the 


following : 

1  Parsonage  .  $  10,000 

3  School  Projects  .  130.000 

1  Hospital  .  . .  40,000 


Total — Property  Projects  .  $180,000 

Total  Program  (Russia) , $269,550 


222 


WORLD  SERVICE 


THE  BALTIC  REPUBLICS 

(Esthonia,  Latvia,  Lithuania) 


Three  Nations:  One  Problem 

Between  Russia  and  Germany. — Out  of 
the  upheaval  of  the  World  War  have  come 
the  three  republics  along  the  western 
shore  of  the  Baltic  Sea — Esthonia,  Latvia, 
Lithuania.  Formerly  a 
part  of  the  Russian  Em¬ 
pire,  the  three  seized 
the  opportunity  pre¬ 
sented  by  the  downfall 
of  the  Tsar  to  proclaim 
their  independence  and, 
largely  under  the  lead¬ 
ership  of  men  who 
have  lived  abroad,  they 
are  seeking  a  perma¬ 
nent  place  in  the  family 
of  nations. 

A  glance  at  the  map 
will  show  the  difficul¬ 
ties  that  beset  them. 

On  the  one  hand  looms 
the  mighty  bulk  of 
Russia ;  on  the  other, 

Prussia  and  Poland. 

The  latter  in  particular 
has  shown  her  jealousy 
of  these  Baltic  States 
and  is  regarded  as  a 
menace  to  the  inde¬ 
pendence  of  at  least  one 
of  them.  Moreover,  since  a  large  part 
of  the  prosperity  of  these  countries  de¬ 
pends  upon  their  carrying  trade  from  the 
Baltic  ports  to  Russia,  they  are  in  fear 
lest  she  absorb  them  back  into  herself. 

Can  independence  be  maintained? — This 
political  condition  keeps  alive  the  debate 
as  to  whether  the  Baltic  Republics  can 
permanently  maintain  their  independence. 
Although  they  are  larger  than  such  coun¬ 
tries  as  Holland,  Belgium,  Denmark,  or 
Switzerland,  they  are  hardly  strong 
enough  to  maintain  themselves  against  all 
their  neighbors.  Their  political  future 
thus  depends  upon  the  outcome  of  present 
events  in  Europe  as  a  whole,  including 
the  future  power  of  the  League  of 


Nations  to  maintain  international  peace. 

Whatever  the  issue,  a  new  conscious¬ 
ness  has  been  given  to  these  three  repub¬ 
lics,  which  are  bound  to  have,  therefore, 
a  rapid  material  and  social  development. 

For  this  reason  the 
large  religious  oppor¬ 
tunity  is  not  dependent 
upon  political  even¬ 
tualities. 

The  religious  sit¬ 
uation.  —  While  the 
Tsar  ruled,  the 
Greek  Catholic 
Church  was  of  course 
favored.  But  none  of 
the  Baltic  Republics 
is  dominantly  Greek 
Catholic.  Esthonia  is  no 
more  Catholic  than  its 
kindred  state,  Finland. 
Latvia  is  predomi¬ 
nantly  Protestant  and 
/Lithuania  Roman  Cath¬ 
olic.  It  must  be  con¬ 
fessed,  however,  that 
much  of  the  Protestant¬ 
ism  has  been  largely 
formal. 

Bishop  Nuelsen  has 
said:  “The  church  is 
broken  down.  Both  materially  and  spir¬ 
itually  the  economic  situation  of  the 
churches  and  pastors  is  very  precarious, 
since  the  government  has  placed  its 
hands  on  and  confiscated  the  greater  part 
of  the  funds  from  which  the  pastors  re¬ 
ceived  their  income.  The  men  in  influ¬ 
ential  positions  take  no  interest  in  church 
affairs  and  would  not  turn  their  finger  to 
change  the  conditions  in  the  churches.” 

In  the  face  of  this  condition  one  finds 
everywhere  on  the  part  of  the  masses  of 
common  folk  a  readiness  to  receive  the 
vital  truths  of  religion.  Latvia  and  Lith¬ 
uania  were  part  of  the  battleground  of 
the  war.  Esthonia  was  used  as  a  base  for 
several  of  the  expeditions  launched 


EUROPE  AND  NORTH  AFRICA 


223 


The  grain  and  flour  ship  arrives  at  Reval, 
Esthonia 


against  the  bolshe- 
vist  government  in 
Russia.  The  relief 
afforded  to  war  suf¬ 
ferers  has  won  the 
confidence  of  the 
people.  A  warm 
evangelical  message 
from  the  same  source 
is  proving  its  power 
to  win  their  hearts. 

Esthonia 

Methodism’s  place. 

— Two  of  the  impor¬ 
tant  ports  of  Estho¬ 
nia- -Reval,  the  cap¬ 
ital  and  Haapsal — 
have  already  been  occupied  by  the  Metho¬ 
dist  Episcopal  Church.  The  occupation  of 
this  territory  began  in  the  days  of  the  old 
Russian  Empire,  but  a  large  increase  in 
the  work  has  come  under  Centenary  auspi¬ 
ces.  In  a  central  headquarters  in  Reval, 
work  of  a  social  as  well  as  evangelistic 
nature  has  been  begun.  Particular  atten¬ 
tion  is  being  given  to  needy  children.  As 
elsewhere  facilities  have  been  overloaded 
from  the  day  when  they  were  made  avail¬ 
able. 

Esthonia  is  made  up  of  a  few  Russians, 
a  few  Germans,  and  a  mass  of  Esthonian 
peasantry  who  are  of  the  same  blood  as 
the  Finns.  Until  recently,  a  large  part  of 
the  land  has  been  owned  by  Germans 


known  as  the  Baltic  Barons.  During  the 
war  this  aristocracy  seemed  ready  to  sup¬ 
port  any  side  that  would  guarantee  its 
position.  Now  the  infant  republic  has 
passed  an  agrarian  law  by  which  estates 
of  more  than  four  hundred  acres  have 
been  taken  over  by  the  government  and 
let  out  under  strict  control  to  farmers 
who  will  be  allowed  to  remain  in  posses¬ 
sion  only  as  long  as  they  properly  culti¬ 
vate  the  land.  The  forests  have  likewise 
been  taken  over. 

When  Methodism  entered  this  region 
a  good  many  years  ago,  she  came  in 
mostly  by  the  way  of  Germany,  where  her 
work  was  strongly  planted.  For  this 

reason  the  work  in 
Esthonia  in  the  be¬ 
ginning  was  mainly 
a  German  -  speaking 
work.  Now,  how¬ 
ever,  it  is  clear  that 
primary  attention 
must  be  given  to  the 
Esthonians.  This  will 
lead  more  quickly 
to  an  indigenous 
church. 

Portents  of  success. 
— While  the  work 
has  hardly  begun, 
and  political  condi¬ 
tions  make  it  impos¬ 
sible  to  report  with 


Above,  Methodist  European  relief  supplies 
ready  for  distribution.  Below,  the 
grateful  recipients 


224 


WORLD  SERVICE 


any  accuracy  as  to  its  success,  the  opening 
of  the'enlarged  plants  at  Reval  and  Haap- 
sal  has  caught  the  public  attention.  In 
other  centers  the  Lutheran  churches  have 
shown  their  interest  by  making  available 
large  auditoriums  in  which  to  hold  meet¬ 
ings  that  would  overflow  any  hall  that  the 
Methodists  can  now  provide. 

As  this  country  has  been  made  a  sepa¬ 
rate  district  of  the  Baltic  Mission,  under 
the  leadership  of  an  Esthonian  District 
Superintendent,  it  is  believed  that  by 
emphasizing  the  social  as  well  as  the  evan¬ 
gelistic  implications  of  the  Methodist  pro¬ 
gram  a  large  and  ultimately  self-support¬ 
ing  church  will  be  raised  up  within  a  short 
period. 

Latvia 

The  Lettish  Methodist  Church. — The  es¬ 
tablishment  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church  in  Latvia  constitutes  one  of  the 
romantic  stories  of  European  Methodism. 
More  than  ten  years  ago  the  pastor  of  an 
independent  congregation  of  Moravians 
in  Libau,  a  leading  port,  discovered  the 
Methodists  through  their  church  litera¬ 
ture.  Later  he  found  a  Methodist  preacher 
in  Riga,  where  an  attempt  was  made  to 
establish  work  which  had  to  be  abandoned 
with  the  outbreak  of  the  World  War. 

When  peace  came,  this  Moravian  pastor 
again  put  himself  in  communication  with 
Methodist  authorities,  and  in  1921  he  and 
his  entire  congregation  of  about  150  mem¬ 
bers  were  formally  received  into  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church. 

Out  of  this  beginning  has  come  one  of 
the  most  promising  pieces  of  work  in  Eu¬ 
rope.  It  must  be  remembered  that  the 
atmosphere  of  Latvia  is  dominantly  Prot¬ 
estant  and  that  there,  as  elsewhere,  the 
people,  dissatisfied  with  the  mere  forms 
of  religion,  are  seeking  a  satisfactory 
spiritual  experience. 

How  the  work  advances. — -From  the 
modest  beginning  in  1921  the  church  has 
gone  forward  rapidly.  Relief  work,  such 
as  that  carried  on  in  Riga,  where  during 
the  school  year  900  students  of  the  unR 
versity  had  their  only  substantial  meal 
each  day  in  the  Methodist  Central  Mis¬ 
sion,  has  convinced  the  people  of  the  prac¬ 


tical  nature  of  the  Methodist  program. 
The  constituency  of  the  church  has  more 
than  trebled. 

Sunday-school  development  is  proving 
as  successful  as  in  other  parts  of  Europe. 
The  purchase  in  Riga,  at  an  unbelievably 
low  price  on  account  of  economic  depres¬ 
sion,  of  a  central  headquarters  facing  a 
prominent  park  has  gone  far  toward  in¬ 
creasing  the  enthusiasm  of  the  workers. 
In  Libau  the  Methodist  congregation  has 
been  moved  from  its  little  chapel  (it  was 
located  between  a  slaughter  house  and 
glue  factory)  to  a  fine  property  where  it 
will  be  possible  to  carry  on  an  extensive 
social  work.  With  a  large  group  of  native 
pastors  already  enlisted,  rapid  progress 
in  Latvia  seems  certain. 

The  Catholic  challenge. — The  most  dis¬ 
turbing  element  in  the  situation  in  Lat¬ 
via  is  the  political  intrigue  of  the  Roman 
Catholic  Church.  The  country  is,  as  has 
been  said,  overwhelmingly  Protestant. 
Not  more  than  one-quarter  of  the  inhabi¬ 
tants  can  be  classed  as  Roman  Catholics, 
with  perhaps  an  additional  one-sixth 
members  of  the  Greek  Catholic  commun¬ 
ion.  The  rest  are  Protestants.  In  the 
city  of  Riga  only  eight  per  cent  of  the 
population  is  Catholic. 

The  Reformation  came  to  Latvia  in 
1522,  when  John  Calvin  was  only  thirteen 
years  old.  It  was  confirmed  in  that  coun¬ 
try  by  Gustavus  Adolphus.  Yet,  today, 
when  the  young  republic  is  desperately 
seeking  all  possible  sources  of  political 
stability,  the  Vatican  has  concluded  an 
agreement  whereby  the  Roman  Catholic 
Church  is  to  have  a  complete  ecclesiastical 
organization,  including  archbishops,  bish¬ 
ops,  cathedrals,  and  all  the  rest,  supported 
by  state  taxation.  The  church  of  St. 
James,  the  most  famous  Protestant  edifice 
in  the  Baltics,  has  been  surrendered  under 
the  terms  of  this  agreement  to  the  Roman 
Catholic  Church.  It  will  take  more  than 
a  formal  Protestantism  to  deal  with  a 
situation  of  this  kind. 

Lithuania 

A  difficult  field. — In  entering  Lithuania 
the  church  finds  itself  confronting 


EUROPE  AND  NORTH  AFRICA 


225 


The  birthplace  of  Lettish  Methodism 


strongly  entrenched  Ca¬ 
tholicism,  together  with  a 
large  Jewish  population. 

At  the  present  time  the 
work  is  largely  among  the 
German -speaking  inhabi¬ 
tants,  of  whom  the  major¬ 
ity  have  been  unchurched. 

The  country  is  almost 
exclusively  agricultural. 

Kovno,  the  capital,  can 
hardly  be  said  to  be  a  city 
in  the  modern  sense.  Po¬ 
litical  intrigue  between 
Poland  on  one  hand  and 
Russia  on  the  other,  com¬ 
plicated  by  the  Lithua¬ 
nian  seizure  of  what  was  to  have  been  the 
neutral  port  of  Memel,  makes  the  whole 
situation  so  confused  that  it  is  hard  to 
outline  a  definite  program  at  this  time. 

The  churches  already  planted  are  re¬ 
ported  as  crowded  to  the  doors,  and  in 
some  places  a  large  part  of  the  congrega¬ 
tion  has  to  meet  in  the  open  air.  With  the 
return  of  any  kind  of  normalcy,  Lithua¬ 
nia  should  become  a  prosperous  nation 
and  the  church  should  be  able  to  carry 
forward  an  important  work. 


profit  toward  the  running  expenses  of  the 
Russian  Empire.  Their  geographical  lo¬ 
cation  insures  that  they  will  do  the  same 
thing  again.  If  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church  will  take  advantage  of  the  oppor¬ 
tunity  to  enter  the  centers  now  open,  it 
will  find  itself  in  a  position  of  large  reli¬ 
gious  influence  within  a  generation. 

The  immediate  need. — The  work  in  the 
Baltic  Republics,  according  to  the  program 
approved  by  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church,  during  1925  will  be: 


The  Future  Around  the  Baltic 
What  may  be  expected. — So  rapidly  is 
the  church  growing  in  the  three  Baltic  Re¬ 
publics  that,  whatever  the  political  out¬ 
come,  a  Methodist  Conference  should 
come  into  being  within  a  short  time.  It 
may  be  that  this  will  prove  the  center 
from  which  most  effectively  advance  can 
be  made  into  Russia.  The  present  affords 
a  unique  opportunity  in  this  territory.  Be¬ 
cause  of  economic  depression,  property 
can  be  secured  at  unbelievably  low  prices. 
This  economic  condition  will  not  continue 
forever. 

Before  the  war  these  three  states  were 
among  the  provinces  that  returned  a 


Missionary  Staff  will  be  required  for: 

Evangelistic  Work  . . . 2  couples  $  5,800 


Work  Operations  will  be  conducted  on 
the  following  lines : 

Church  Work  from  20  Centers.. ..$  18,850 
Other  and  General  Work .  3,750 


Total  for  Work  Operations .  $  22,600 


Property  Project  to  make  possible  the 
following : 

1  Church  . . $10,000 

Total  for  Property  Project .  $  10,000 


Total  Program  (Baltic 
Republics)  .  $  38,400 


226 


WORLD  SERVICE 


NORTH  AFRICA 


(Algeria,  Tunisia,  Tripoli,  Cyrenaica,  Morocco) 


Attacking  a  Moslem  Base 

What  is  North  Africa? — A  strip  of  terri¬ 
tory  along  the  Mediterranean  including 
Morocco,  Algeria,  Tunisia,  Tripoli,  and 
Cyrenaica,  varying  from  five  hundred 
miles  in  depth  on  the  west  to  no  depth  at 
all  at  the  Egyptian  border,  offers  the  Meth¬ 
odist  Episcopal  Church  a  battleground  for 
its  North  African 
mission.  Here  lives 
one  of  the  hardiest  of 
Moslem  populations. 

North  Africa  is 
the  base  from  which 
Mohammedan  ad¬ 
vance  is  going  for¬ 
ward  with  such 
power  into  Central 
Africa.  In  conduct¬ 
ing  Christian  work 
here,  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church 
has  attacked  Christianity’s  most  vigorous 
rival  in  a  supremely  important  position. 
The  importance  of  this  effort  becomes 
more  clear  when  it  is  remembered  that 
there  are  no  other  large  Protestant  bodies 
carrying  on  aggressive  work  among  Mos¬ 
lems  in  this  region. 

An  ancient  Christian  base.  —  North 
Africa  presents  one  of  history’s  most  sol¬ 
emn  warnings  to  the  Christian  church. 
Fifteen  hundred  years  ago  a  Christian 
church  held  this  entire  territory.  From 
the  time  of  Simon  of  Cyrene,  who  bore  the 
cross  for  the  Lord,  until  that  of  Athana¬ 
sius  and  Augustine,  North  Africa  pro¬ 


duced  towering  figures  in  the  church.  But 
the  church  sank  into  formalism,  lost  its 
vigor,  and  proved  an  easy  prey  to  the 
Arabs  who  carried  Islam  toward  the 

West  in  the  sixth  century.  Forty  thou¬ 

sand  churches  were  destroyed  and  600 
bishoprics  disappeared.  For  1,100  years 
the  prophet  of  Mecca  ruled  supreme  along 

the  southern  shore 
of  the  Mediterra¬ 
nean. 

The  missionary  im¬ 
portance  of  N  orth 
Africa. — During  this 
long  period  there 
were  many  who,  like 
Raymond  Lull,  that 
devoted  missionary 
of  the  thirteenth  cen¬ 
tury,  felt  called  to  a 
Christian  crusade 
for  the  reclamation 
of  North  Africa.  Various  Protestant  bod¬ 
ies  and  individual  missionaries  attempted 
work,  but  with  small  success.  Even  the 
Catholic  missions  proved  disappointing. 

In  1908  Bishop  Hartzell  aroused  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church  to  enter  Al¬ 
geria  and  Tunisia.  This  has  become  the 
strongest  Protestant  work  on  the  coast. 
Much  of  this  strength  is  due  to  the  isolated 
but  deeply  earnest  groups  of  English  and 
Scotch  missionaries  who  preceded  the 
Methodists  and  in  many  cases  joined  the 
missionary  forces  of  our  church. 

Mohammedanism  constitutes  the  most 
vigorous  challenge  to  Christianity  today. 


Ruins  of  an  ancient  Christian  church, 
Carthage 


EUROPE  AND  NORTH  AFRICA 


227 


In  Central  Africa  the  Mohammedans  are 
increasing  among  the  uncivilized  tribes 
many  times  faster  than  are  the  Christians. 
In  fact,  the  missionary  situation  in  Cen¬ 
tral  Africa  is  to  be  conceived  as  a  struggle 
with  Mohammedanism  rather  than  with 
paganism,  with  the  signs  at  present  point¬ 
ing  to  Mohammedan  victory. 

As  has  been  said,  the  main  source  of 
this  Mohammedan  advance  is  North 
Africa.  Its  vigor  can  be  checked  more 
quickly  by  capturing  a  base  than  by  at¬ 
tacking  the  outposts.  It  is  impossible, 
however,  to  believe  that  the  present  Chris¬ 
tian  forces  in  North  Africa  are  enough  to 
deal  with  the  problem  presented  by  the 
15,000,000  Moslems.  For  the  sake  of 
Christian  work  throughout  the  world,  it 
is  imperative  that  the  Protestant  enter¬ 
prise  in  North  Africa,  which  is  largely  in 
the  hands  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church,  be  immediately  and  greatly 
strengthened. 

Present-Day  North  Africa 

Races  and  conditions. — There  are  almost 
as  many  racial  divisions  within  Islam  as 
within  Christianity.  Among  the  15,000,000 
Moslems  of  North  Africa  not  more  than  a 
fourth  are  of  Arab  origin.  The  remainder 
are  “Berbers”  who  are  Caucasian  de¬ 
scendants  of  the  Christians  conquered  by 
the  Arabs  in  the  sixth  century. 

At  present  the  Berbers  are  stronger 
than  the  Arabs,  although  so  great  is  tra¬ 
dition  that  they  do  not  so  consider  them¬ 
selves.  Among  the  Berbers  the  most  vig¬ 
orous  are  the  hill  tribes,  known  as  the 
Kabylcs. 

In  addition,  there  are  more  than  a  mil¬ 
lion  Europeans  scattered  along  the  coast, 
of  whom  the  greater  part  are  French. 
Many  of  these  are  Protestants  who  left 
Alsace  and  Lorraine  at  the  time  of  the 
German  occupation  in  1870.  They  thus 
provide  a  foundation  for  Protestant  mis¬ 
sion  work  in  North  Africa. 

In  some  of  the  cities,  notably  Algiers, 
Tunis,  Oran  and  Constantine,  the  Euro¬ 
pean  colonists  are  in  many  cases  finding 
wealth  and  the  native  population  suffering 
greatly  in  the  attempt  to  adapt  them- 


Jewish  girl  at  Tunis 


selves  to  the  economic  requirements  of  a 
new  day.  In  the  rural  regions  there  is 
immediate  demand  for  improved  methods 
of  agriculture. 

European  colonies. — France,  Italy,  and 
Spain  have  found  in  North  Africa  scope 
for  much  of  their  colonial  ambition.  Of 
the  three  France,  controlling  Algeria  and 
Tunisia  with  the  major  part  of  Morocco, 
has  been  the  most  successful.  Since  her 
entry  into  North  Africa  in  1830,  she  has 
built  good  roads,  connected  the  principal 
cities  by  rail,  introduced  a  public  school 
system  in  which  natives  and  French  are 
trained  with  exact  equality,  and  conducted 
agricultural  experiments  until  it  is  re¬ 
ported  that  the  increase  in  cultivation  in 
recent  years  has  reduced  the  average 
drought  from  five  to  four  months. 

During  the  World  War,  500,000  natives 
of  North  Africa  served  in  the  trenches 
and  munition  factories.  As  a  reward  for 
this  loyalty,  citizenship  in  the  French  Re¬ 
public  is  now  offered  on  the  same  basis 


228 


WORLD  SERVICE 


A  Kabyle  girl 

as  to  Frenchmen  and,  although  the  unrest 
that  characterizes  the  Moslem  world  is 
felt,  the  states  of  North  Africa  have,  in 
the  main,  fared  so  well  under  European 
control  that  there  does  not  seem  immedi¬ 
ate  danger  of  any  wide-spread  revolt.  It 
should  not  be  thought,  however,  that  the 
administrations  of  Spain  or  Italy  are  as 
successful  as  that  of  France. 

How  Methodism  Faces  Moham¬ 
medanism 

Centers  of  occupation. — The  great  cen¬ 
ters  of  Methodist  work  along  the  North 
African  coast  have  been  Tunis,  Algiers, 
Constantine,  and  Oran.  Missionaries  are 
also  stationed  at  Fort  National,  the  ad¬ 
ministrative  center  of  the  so-called  Great 
Kabylia,  and  Sousse. 

While  the  program  for  the  North  Afri¬ 
can  mission  calls  for  eventual  occupation 
of  Morocco  and  Tripoli,  it  seems  the  part 
of  wisdom  at  the  present  time  to  confine 
advance  largely  to  the  linking  of  these 
widely  separated  centers.  It  will  be  seen 


An  Arab  girl  from  the  Girls’  Hostel,  Tunis 


that  these  provide  the  natural  centers 
from  which  to  carry  on  work  in  Algeria 
and  Tunisia. 

Types  of  work. — It  has  been  found  nec¬ 
essary  to  deal  with  two  problems  in 
North  Africa.  On  the  one  hand  there  are 
the  Moslems,  the  most  fanatical  of  all 
non-Christians.  On  the  other  are  the 
nominal  Roman  Catholics  who,  trans¬ 
planted  from  home,  rarely  have  any  inter¬ 
est  in  vital  religion.  These  present  a  re¬ 
ligious  problem  almost  as  difficult  as  that 
of  Islam. 

The  government  is  neutral  in  its  atti¬ 
tude,  but  the  active  opposition  of  Moham¬ 
medan  and  Catholic  leaders  precludes  any 
hope  of  immediate  large  numerical  re¬ 
sults.  This  does  not,  however,  discourage 
the  mission  from  conducting  work  for 
Europeans  in  the  large  centers  and  for 
Mohammedans  both  in  the  cities  and  in 
the  country  towns. 

In  thinking  of  the  work  in  North  Africa, 
it  is  necessary  to  keep  this  three-fold 


EUROPE  AND  NORTH  AFRICA 


229 


Methodist  headquarters,  Algiers 


Four  young  men  from  the  Boys’  Hostel,  Con¬ 
stantine,  Algeria — They  were 
recently  baptized 

Methods  of  work  proposed.  —  To  deal 
with  the  present  demanding  situation  in 
North  Africa  it  is  proposed  that  the  work 
in  the  cities  be  put  upon  an  institutional 
basis.  This  will  include : 

1.  Provision  for  culture  and  relaxation 
through  libraries  and  reading  rooms. 

2.  Provision  for  recreation  through 
games,  both  outdoor  and  indoor. 

3.  Provision  for  physical  culture. 

4.  An  efficient  medical  department, 
especially  for  Moslems. 

5.  Commercial  training*  or  provision 
for  help  for  those  learning  a  trade. 

6.  Rooming  accommodations  for  stu¬ 
dents,  clerks,  and  other  young  men  away 
from  home. 

7.  Employment  Bureaus. 

8.  Domestic  science  training  for 
young  women. 


distinction  in  mind,  namely  the  city  work 
for  Europeans,  the  city  work  for  Moslems 
and  the  country  work  for  Moslems.  Each 
requires  distinctive  treatment. 

Portents  of  success. — Although  the  Meth¬ 
odist  Episcopal  Church  has  been  at  work 
in  this  territory  less  than  twenty  years 
and  the  number  of  church  members  in  the 
North  African  Mission  Conference  is  still 
small  (the  latest  report  shows  a  native 
constituency  of  but  a  little  more  than 
200),  there  are  victories  already  to  be 
reported  that  have  amazed  missionaries 
among  Moslems  in  other  parts  of  the 
world. 

Most  impressive  are  the  seventeen  Arab 
and  Kabyle  Christian  workers,  with  half 
as  many  more  in  training.  No  other  mis¬ 
sion  in  the  world  at  work  in  distinctly 
Moslem  territory  has  been  able  to  secure 
anything  like  such  a  group  of  former 
Moslems  as  workers.  Moreover,  there  is 
today  a  greater  response  to  the  work  of 
the  mission,  which  makes  possible  a  fair 
hearing  in  secluded  villages  as  well  as  in 
cities.  This  in  itself  marks  an  advance 
stage  in  the  work. 


230 


WORLD  SERVICE 


Building  for  Boys’  Home,  Algiers — a  $10,000  Centenary  project 
In  the  country  the  projected  program  in¬ 


cludes  : 

1.  Model  churches  and  community 
service  buildings  in  which  will  be  carried 
on  such  features  of  the  city  program  as 
are  found  applicable  to  the  rural  problems. 

2.  Educational  work,  including 

a.  A  creche  for  abandoned  or  desti¬ 
tute  babies; 

b.  Homes  for  older  children  in  prep¬ 
aration  for  higher  grade  institutions ; 

c.  Industrial  training  schools  to  be 
divided  into  two  classes: 

(1)  Elementary  school  with  short 
classes  teaching  improved  methods  in 
native  trades  and  arts; 

(2)  Modern  industrial  school  for  the 
training  of  expert  workmen  who  will  be 
superior  to  all  others  in  the  region. 

3.  Agricultural  schools, 
likewise  of  two  classes: 

a.  To  teach  more  ef¬ 
fective  methods  for  use 
in  the  hill  country; 

b.  To  teach  modern 
agriculture  to  those  liv¬ 
ing  in  the  valley  and 
plains.  Research  work 
will  be  a  feature  of 
these  latter  schools. 

4.  Medical  work  will 
be  of  two  types : 

a.  That  conducted  by 


a  doctor  from  a  central 
well-equipped  dispen¬ 
sary,  this  dispensary 
later  to  develop  into  a 
hospital ; 

b.  Training  school 
for  nurses  which  will 
provide  the  personnel 
by  which  the  work  may 
be  extended  into  village 
communities. 

5.  The  teaching  of  do¬ 
mestic  science,  emphasiz¬ 
ing  home  making,  is  much 
needed  among  the  young 
women. 

6.  Each  of  our  central 
rural  stations  should  con¬ 
tain  a  widows’  home,  because  of  the 
peculiar  social  disabilities  attaching  to 
widowhood.  In  fact,  it  is  almost  impossi¬ 
ble  for  a  Christian  widow  to  live  in  peace 
in  a  Moslem  community. 

7.  It  may  seem  wise  to  plant  business 
schools,  likewise. 

Coupled  with  this  evangelistic,  educa¬ 
tional  and  medical  advance,  there  must  be 
a  large  increase  in  production  and  distri¬ 
bution  of  literature.  Primary  considera¬ 
tion  ought  to  be  given  to  questions  that  are 
found  most  frequently  in  the  Moslem  mind. 
It  is  not  expected  that  this  program  can  be 
carried  into  effect  immediately.  It  should, 
however,  be  undertaken  as  rapidly  as  there 
are  workers  to  man  it.  The  Methodist 
mission  is  fortunate  in  having  men  ready 
for  this  exacting  work. 


Teaching  the  boys  to  farm,  Boys’  Hostel,  Tunis 


EUROPE  AND  NORTH  AFRICA 


231 


The  church  has  had  sufficient  experience 
to  know  that  such  a  program  will  work 
successfully  in  this  region.  If  the  church 
envisages  the  importance  of  the  North 
African  campaign,  it  is  certain  that  there 
will  be  no  delay  in  setting  up  this  advance. 

The  need. — In  view  of  the  issues  at 
stake  in  North  Africa,  the  present  pro¬ 
gram  seems  almost  pitiful  in  its  insuffi¬ 
ciency.  It  goes  without  saying  that  this 
will  be  continued.  A  much  larger  pro¬ 
gram  might  be  projected,  but  during  1925 
the  approved  plans  have  been  held  to  this 
minimum : 

Missionaries  will  be  required  for: 

Evangelistic  Work  ....  8  Couples  3  Single 
Educational  Work.  ..  6  Couples  1  Single 

Medical  Work .  1  Couple  0  Single 

Other  Work  .  3  Couples  0  Single 

Total  . 18  4  $50,000 


Work  Operations: 


Church  Work  from  69  Centers .  $  33,647 

5  Central  Schools .  ) 

1  Training  School .  >  38,296 

1  Industrial  School .  . ) 

3  Medical  Centers  .  6,722 

Other  and  General  Work . .  13,873 


Total  for  Work  Operations .  $  92,538 


Property  Projects: 

3  Churches  .  $  45,750 

5  Central  School  Buildings . $26,762 

1  Training  School  . . .  5,950 

1  Agricultural  School  . .  2,000  34,812 


Medical  Equipment  .  225 

Other — 1  Home  Building  .  5,000 


Total  for  Property  Projects .  $  85,787 


Total  Program  (North 
Africa)  .  $228,325 


MADEIRA  ISLANDS 


Portugal’s  Garden  Colony 

An  Atlantic  crossroads. — Off  the  north¬ 
west  coast  of  Africa  lie  five  islands — two 
of  them  inhabited — that  form  Portugal’s 
garden  colony.  Here  ocean  liners  stop 
while  en  route  from  Europe  to  South 
Africa  or  South  America,  and  here  tourist 
steamers  break  the  voyage  between  Amer¬ 
ica  and  the  Mediterranean.  There  are 
probably  170,000  people  in  the  islands, 
living  under  extremely 
primitive  conditions,  with 
only  two  or  three  towns  of 
any  size. 

For  the  most  part  the 
Madeirans  live  in  scat¬ 
tered  houses,  often  little 
better  than  huts,  perched 
on  the  hillsides.  At  least 
eighty  per  cent  of  them 
are  illiterate  and  little  is 
being  done  to  remedy  this 
condition.  Drinking  is  a 
general  evil,  as  might  be 
expected  in  islands  noted 
for  their  export  of  wine. 


Wages  are  low  but  there  is  little  incentive 
to  earn  more.  Altogether  the  islands  pre¬ 
sent  the  spectacle  of  a  care-free  people  con¬ 
tent  with  what  would  seem  to  the  Ameri¬ 
can  or  European  a  backward  sort  of  life. 

The  familiar  obstacles. — The  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church  faces  the  same  sort  of 
difficulties  in  the  Madeira  Islands  that  are 
found  in  all  Roman  Catholic  countries. 
Although  there  has  been  liberty  of  wor- 


Mount  Faith  Mission  House,  Madeira 


232 


WORLD  SERVICE 


ship  since  the  establishment  of  the  Portu¬ 
guese  Republic,  the  power  of  the  priest¬ 
hood  remains  strong  among  the  poorly 
educated  inhabitants  of  the  island. 

The  Rev.  W.  G.  Smart  tells  this  story: 
“In  Santa  Anna  a  Christian  man  was 
converted  through  a  Bible  left,  many 
years  ago,  by  a  passing  visitor.  For  years 
he  held  the  fort  alone,  surrounded  by  hos¬ 
tile  neighbors  worked  up  against  him  by 
the  priest.  Finally  he  was  cast  out  and 
on  the  scattered  occasions  when  we  could 
get  across  to  visit  him,  we  found  Maciel 
in  a  straw  roofed  hut.  He  had  his  Bible 
and  other  books  and  he  read  them  daily. 

“Finally  Maciel  grew  old  and  deaf.  Con¬ 
tinued  persecution  worked  on  his  mind 
and  he  became  mentally  deranged.  He 
believed  that  everyone  who  called  at  his 
hut  meant  to  hurt  him.  When  last  we 
called  at  his  hut  in  1921,  he  realized  who 
we  were  and  seemed  to  come  to  himself. 
He  read  his  portions  of  scriptures  and 
with  his  withered  hands  clasped  he  recited 
the  hymn  which  he  had  learned  many 
years  before.  Later  we  found  out  that 
after  this  incident,  of  which  many  neigh¬ 
bors  were  witnesses,  Maciel  used  to  read 
the  scriptures  to  them  and  they  listened 
more  readily. 

“The  result  of  years  of  isolation  and 
persecution  came  recently.  Maciel,  men¬ 
tally  deranged,  wandered  out  to  the  rocks 
by  the  seashore  and  either  threw  himself 
over  or  fell  over  the  cliffs.  He  was  given 
the  burial  of  a  dog.” 

One  unusual  difficulty  in  the  Madeiras 
is  the  fear  of  the  government  lest  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Mission  undermine 
the  loyalty  of  the  people.  This  has  re¬ 
sulted  in  a  law  refusing  sanction  for  any 
school  in  which  there  are  teachers  who 
have  not  had  government  approval.  Since 
this  approval  is  restricted  to  graduates  of 
government  normal  schools,  it  is  very  diffi¬ 
cult  to  find  teachers  who  can  properly 
fit  in  with  the  program  of  a  Protestant 
mission.  For  this  reason,  it  is  necessary 
to  carry  on  the  educational  work  in  a  pri¬ 
vate  and  unofficial  manner. 

Methodism’s  present  occupation.  —  The 
principal  occupation  at  the  present  time 


is  in  the  city  of  Funchal,  the  capital,  in 
Machico,  and  in  Mount  Faith.  The  work 
is  of  the  familiar  evangelistic  and  educa¬ 
tional  nature.  Up  to  the  present  time, 
there  has  been  no  medical  effort. 

In  Funchal  there  is  a  sailors’  head¬ 
quarters  that  has  done  a  social  work  of 
value.  The  distribution  of  the  Bible  and 
of  a  monthly  paper,  “Voz  de  Madeira” 
(Madeira  Voice)  has  proved  an  evangel¬ 
istic  factor  of  importance. 

Emigration  has  been  heavy  from  the 
Madeiras  recently  and  the  Methodist  work 
has  lost  many  of  its  best  converts  who, 
because  of  their  progressive  nature,  have 
been  among  the  first  to  strike  out  for 
lands  where  there  seem  to  be  greater  op¬ 
portunities.  However,  there  are  still 
more  than  200  members  of  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church,  with  schools  enrolling 
about  seventy  per  cent,  all  of  whom  are 
under  religious  instruction. 

The  future  of  Madeira.— The  program, 
as  worked  out  for  advance  in  the  Ma¬ 
deiras,  calls  for  the  opening  of  schools 
and  evangelistic  work  in  four  new  points 
with  an  immediate  increase  in  the  social 
aspects  of  the  work.  Medical  work  is  to 
be  started  in  connection  with  a  home  for 
aged  and  children.  Since,  however,  the 
elementary  schools  offer  the  key  to  future 
influence  in  the  islands,  they  are  to  re¬ 
ceive  primary  emphasis. 

The  immediate  need/— The  program  ap¬ 
proved  for  1925  is  as  follows : 

Missionary  Staff  will  he  required  for: 

Evangelistic  Work  .  2  Couples 

Work  Operation  will  be  conducted  on 
these  lines: 

Church  Work  from  4  Centers . 

3  Schools  . $1,844 

1  Sailors’  Home  .  881 

1  Dispensary  .  2,550 

Other  and  General  Work .  ...  180 

Total — Work  Operations  . 

Property  Projects  to  make  possible  : 

1  School  . $2,450 

1  Sailors’  Home  .  100 

Other  Projects  .  630 

Total  . . 

Total  Program  (Madeira 
Islands)  . 


$ 

4,200 

$ 

4,089 

5,455 

$ 

9,544 

$ 

3,180 

$ 

16,924 

NEW  ENGLAND  STATES 


iiiiiiiiiiiiHiiMiimmiiiiimiiiii 


MAINE 

NEW  HAMPSHIRE 
VERMONT 
MASSACHUSETTS 
RHODE  ISLAND 
CONNECTICUT 


MORGAN  MEMORIAL,  BOSTON 


The  blood  of  the  people!  changeless  tide  through  century ,  creed , and  race., 
Still  one,  as  the  sweet  salt  sea  is  one,  though  tempered  by  sun  and  place  ... 
One  love,  one  hope,  one  duty  theirsl  no  matter  the  time  or  kin, 

There  never  was  a  separate  heart-beat  in  all  the  races  of  men. 


THE  NEW  ENGLAND  STATES 


Vivid  Contrasts 

The  cradle  of  a  new  Americanism. — His¬ 
toric  New  England  is  today  a  land  of 
striking  contrasts.  Overflowing  cities  and 
abandoned  farms,  classic  halls  and  con¬ 
gested  tenements,  roaring  factories  and 
picturesque  resorts,  Mayflower  descend¬ 
ants  and  foreign-speaking  multitudes, 
poets  and  peasants — these  are  the  ele¬ 
ments  which  have  been  thrown  together 
in  one  of  the  greatest  melting  pot  sections 
of  the  New  World. 

The  sweeping  social,  industrial,  and  re¬ 
ligious  changes  which  have  taken  place 
from  the  far  reaches  of  northern  Maine  to 
the  densely  populated  sections  of  Rhode 
Island  and  Connecticut  fling  out  to  the 
church  a  challenge  for  heroic 
service  to  win  unreached  and 
needy  multitudes  for  Christ.  A 
new  Americanism  is  being 
cradled  in  the  old  home  of  Colo¬ 
nial  tradition.  The  task  of  the 


church  is  to  instil  in  the  new  life  the  God¬ 
fearing  spirit  which  gripped  the  old. 

New  England’s  people.— The  growth  in 
population  alone  has  been  sufficient  to 
challenge  the  expansive  activities  of  the 
self-supporting  church,  while  the  shift  of 
the  predominant  type  from  the  native 
American  to  the  European  summons  every 
denomination  to  aggressive  and  intelligent 
missionary  service. 

The  six  states  of  New  England  com¬ 
prise  one  of  the  most  heavily  populated 
sections  of  the  country.  Here  are  to  be 
found  7,400,909  people,  by  the  1920  census, 
with  a  gain  of  848,228  registered  in  the 
decade  since  1910.  Of  the  total,  5,865,073, 
or  79.2  per  cent,  live  in  the  cities,  while 
1,535,836,  or  20.8  per  cent,  live 
in  the  small  villages  and  open 
country.  In  other  words,  the 
urban  population  of  New  Eng¬ 
land  is  practically  four  times  as 
large  as  the  rural. 


235 


236 


WORLD  SERVICE 


Located  near  the 
principal  ports  of 
entry,  its  growing 
industrialism  offer¬ 
ing  employment  to 
an  ever  -  increasing 
number  of  workers, 

New  England  has 
been  the  destination 
of  a  large  proportion 
of  the  foreign-born 
who  have  come  to 
America.  They  have 
not  only  settled  in 
great  colonies  in  the 
cities,  but  also  in  the 
rural  industrial  com¬ 
munities.  Many  have 
gone  to  farming,  groups  of  Italian,  Lithu¬ 
anian,  Polish,  and  even  Jewish  farmers 
being  found  scattered  throughout  New 
England.  More  than  4,500,000,  or  ap¬ 
proximately  sixty-two  per  cent  of  all  New 
England  people  today  are  foreign-born,  or 
of  foreign  or  mixed  parentage. 

Negroes  are  making  a  noticeable  migra¬ 
tion  to  the  section,  the  1920  census  show¬ 
ing  79,051  colored  people,  a  registered 
increase  of  19.2  per  cent  being  made  in 
the  decade. 

Social  and  economic  changes. — Changes 
in  the  social  and  economic  life  of  New 


England  have  been 
many  and  varied 
during  the  era  of  its 
population  shifts,  se¬ 
riously  affecting  the 
strength  and  accom¬ 
plishments  of  the 
established  churches 
and  at  the  same  time 
creating  greater  mis¬ 
sionary  needs.  While 
the  steady  streams 
of  European  immi¬ 
grants  have  been 
pouring  into  the  cit¬ 
ies,  villages,  and 
country,  New  Eng¬ 
land  has  been  send¬ 
ing  its  own  virile  sons  and  daughters  by 
the  scores  of  thousands  to  settle  the  plains 
and  conquer  the  mountains  that  stretch 
westward  to  the  Pacific.  Since  the  Civil 
War,  the  land  of  the  Pilgrim  Fathers  has 
given  to  the  western  empires  of  the  United 
States  more  colonists  than  the  present  pop¬ 
ulation  of  New  Hampshire  and  Vermont. 
They  have  builded  the  churches  of  the 
middle  west  into  towers  of  strength — but 
the  church  “back  home”  has  paid  the 
price  in  its  own  life’s  blood. 

Changes  of  population  also  have 
brought  illiteracy,  something  practically 
unknown  in  the  old  New 
England.  New  England 
has  289,700  illiterate  per¬ 
sons  or  4.9  per  cent  of  the 
total  population.  Practi¬ 
cally  all  of  it  is  among 
the  foreign-born.  Rhode 
Island  and  Connecticut 
register  the  highest  illit¬ 
eracy,  in  excess  of  six  per 
cent;  and  Vermont  the 
lowest,  with  three  per 
cent.  The  illiteracy  of 
the  native  whites  of  Mas¬ 
sachusetts  is  .4  of  one  per 
cent,  while  that  of  the  for¬ 
eign-born  is  12.8  per  cent. 

A  fundamental  eco¬ 
nomic  change  is  marked 
in  the  process.  Not  many 


Many  are  the  Mayflowers  that  have 
made  the  New  England  of  today 


NEW  ENGLAND 


237 


decades  ago  agriculture  was  the  dominant 
occupation  in  spite  of  mountains  and  stony 
soil.  Today,  while  farming  still  flourishes 
in  such  sections  as  the  Connecticut  valley, 
large  parts  of  Maine,  and  Northern  Ver¬ 
mont,  and  while  there  is  something  of  a 
revival  of  agriculture  throughout  New 
England,  especially  on  the  part  of  the 
foreign-born,  agriculture  has  given  over 
its  primacy  to  industry.  Thousands  of 
farms  have  been  abandoned  and  the  rural 
population  has  decreased,  while  a  vast  net¬ 
work  of  industries  has  spread  throughout 
New  England,  until  many  of  the  pictur¬ 
esque  towns  and  villages  far  back  in  the 


Portuguese  fisherman,  Long  Wharf,  Boston 


hills  have  their  manufacturing  plants  and 
their  colonies  of  foreign-speaking  people. 

The  Church  Amid  Change 
The  church’s  new  task. — Such  changes  in 
emphasis  from  the  classic  old  New  Eng¬ 
land  of  Colonial  days  to  the  New  England 
of  smoking  factories  and  sweating  toilers, 
from  the  language  of  the  poet  to  the 
strange  jargon  of  a  myriad  commingling 
tongues,  mean  that  the  conventional  work 
of  the  church  among  the  native-born 
American  people  will  not  suffice  for  the 
future.  The  metamorphosis  brings  to  the 
church  the  challenge  of  a  heterogeneity  of 
races  and  of  meeting  the  acute  social  and 
religious  problems  of  people  of  differing 
languages,  ideas,  and  ideals.  The  Metho¬ 
dist  Episcopal  Church  is  fitted  for  that 
transcendent  task,  and  should  be  enabled 
to  do  it. 


Agriculture  is  giving  way  to  industry — as 
witness  these  tenement  homes  for  the 
employees  of  woolen  mills 


New  England  Methodism  past  and  pres¬ 
ent. — Although  it  was  the  last  settled  sec¬ 
tion  of  Colonial  America  to  be  entered  by 
the  Methodist  itinerant,  an  entrance  which 
was  resented  by  churches  which  barred 
their  doors,  New  England  has  had  written 
into  its  history  the  romantic  story  of  great 
Methodist  achievement.  From  this  virile 
section  of  the  new  world  came  a  leader¬ 
ship  which  found  a  rich  expression  in  cre¬ 
ating  the  organic  law  of  the  church;  in  the 
founding  of  the  Methodist  press;  in  ex¬ 
panding  the  work  of  the  Methodist  Book 
Concern;  in  pioneering  missionary  terri¬ 
tory;  and  in  education. 

From  New  England  came  the  founders 
of  Methodist  missions  in  Africa,  in  South 
America,  in  India,  and  in  Mexico.  As  a 
matter  of  fact,  to  quote  Bishop  Blake, 
“the  men  who  founded,  or  inspired  the 
founding  of  Methodism  in  every  major 
foreign  mission  field  are  sons  of  New 
England  by  birth  or  adoption.  Isaac 
Owens,  who  laid  the  foundation  of  Meth¬ 
odism  on  the  California  coast;  Jason  Lee, 
who  established  Methodism  in  the  Pacific 
Northwest;  and  William  Case,  the  founder 
of  Canadian  Methodism,  were  New  Eng¬ 
landers  every  one.  It  was  in  the  city  of 
Boston  that  a  handful  of  resolute  and 
daring  women,  having  a  vision  of  the 
needs  of  the  world’s  womanhood,  organ¬ 
ized  the  Woman’s  Foreign  Missionary  So¬ 
ciety  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church. 

The  story  is  told  on  page  629 


238 


WORLD  SERVICE 


The  house  of  worship  which  is  typical  of 
older  New  England 


.  .New  England  soil  may  be  sterile, 
her  farms  rocky,  her  hill  sides  bleak,  her 
output  poor,  but  as  yet  New  England  has 
never  failed  in  her  crop  of  men.” 

At  the  centennial  of  Wilbraham  Acad¬ 
emy,  one  of  the  speakers  affirmed  that 
Jason  Lee  with  the  group  he  led  had  de¬ 
termined  the  holding  of  the  Oregon  coun¬ 
try  within  the  United  States  and  that  the 
financial  results  of  that  missionary  work 
would  have  more  than  endowed  the  col¬ 
leges  of  Methodism. 

The  spirit  of  victory. — This  spirit  of 
New  England  Methodism  lives  today  in 
crossroads  churches  of  the  countryside, 
the  village  houses  of  worship,  and  in  the 
city  centers  which  are  battling  destructive 
and  oppressive  conditions.  It  is  this  spirit, 
rather  than  numbers  or  wealth,  which 
equips  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church 
for  the  vast  missionary  task  within  the 
borders  of  this  historic  section.  This 
spirit  is  at  present  exemplified  in  a  small 
group  of  Portugese-speaking  worship¬ 
pers  who  dwell  in  the  shadow  of  Plymouth 
Rock.  They  form  a  little  Methodist  Epis¬ 
copal  congregation,  with  no  church  in 


which  to  worship.  In  the  summer  time 
they  hold  divine  services  by  the  seashore, 
in  the  winter  wherever  they  can  secure  a 
place.  Their  dream,  for  which  they  toil 
and  sacrifice,  is  a  temple  of  their  own  in 
which  to  worship  God. 

The  vitality  of  present-day  Methodism 
in  New  England  may  be  noted  in  these 
facts :  the  number  of  churches  has 
doubled  and  its  membership  has  more 
than  trebled  in  three-quarters  of  a  cen¬ 
tury;  Boston  University,  with  its  10,000 
students,  has  passed  both  Yale  and  Har¬ 
vard  ;  Boston  School  of  Theology  has  grad¬ 
uated  the  largest  body  of  theological 
students  in  the  world;  hundreds  of  little- 
heralded  churches  have  sent  a  stream  of 
recruits  into  the  ranks  of  ministers  and 
missionaries  the  world  over;  and  the 
fervor  of  old-time  Methodism  still  lives  in 
sixteen  successful  camp  meetings. 

Centennial  celebrations  are  common 
among  New  England  Methodist  Episcopal 
churches  and  woven  into  the  stories  of 
these  churches  are  the  thrills  of  deep  devo¬ 
tion  and  sacrificial  life.  The  Little  River 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church  at  Columbia, 
Maine,  in  its  century  of  life  has  sent  six 
sons  into  the  ministry.  The  Waitsfield, 
Vermont,  church  has  contributed  twelve 
men  to  Christ’s  service  in  church  leader¬ 
ship.  The  Centre  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church  at  Malden,  Massachusetts,  has 
dedicated  thirty  men  and  women  to  spe¬ 
cial  Christian  work.  It  is  far  indeed  from 
the  little  class  of  twelve  meeting  in  a  shoe¬ 
maker’s  house  in  Malden  to  the  present 
great  organization  of  1,400  members  and 
supporting  an  annual  budget  of  $40,000 — 
but  it  is  characteristic  of  the  spirit  of  New 
England  Methodism.  The  stories  of  the 
churches  cited  are  not  records,  just  illus¬ 
trations. 

The  Methodist  Episcopal  story  in  figures. 
— While  New  England  for  300  years  has 
been  the  center  of  Congregationalism’s 
strength,  and  while  the  hundreds  of  thou¬ 
sands  of  immigrants  pouring  in  from 
Europe  and  from,  the  French-Canadian 
settlements  of  the  north  have  made  it  a 
great  Roman  Catholic  stronghold,  never¬ 
theless  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church 


NEW  ENGLAND 


239 


SUMMER  SCHOOLS  AND  INSTITUTES 


Epworth  League  Institutes. 

Maine 

1  Bucksport,  East  Maine  Conference. 

2  Kents  Hill,  Maine  Conference  (Maine 
Wesleyan). 

New  Hampshire 

3  Tilton,  Tilton  Seminary. 

Vermont 

4  Montpelier,  Montpelier  Seminary. 

5  Poultney,  Poultney. 

Massachusetts 

6  Auburndale,  New  England  Conference 
(Lasell  Seminary). 

7  Northampton,  Laurel  Park. 

Connecticut 

8  Middletown,  Wesleyan. 

Schools  for  City  Pastors. 

Conference  Institutes 

Massachusetts 

9  Malden. 


Rhode  Island 

10  Pawtucket. 

Summer  Schools  for  Town  and  Rural  Pastors. 
Massachusetts 

11  Boston,  Boston  School  of  Theology. 

Summer  Schools  of  Theology. 

Maine 

12  Lake  Cobbosseecontee,  Y.  M.  C.  A.  Train¬ 
ing  Camp  (Maine  and  East  Maine  Con¬ 
ferences). 

Missionary  Summer  Conferences. 

Missionary  Education  Movement 

Maine 

13  Ocean  Park. 

Woman’s  Home  Missionary  Society 

Massachusetts 

14  Northfield  (Interdenominational). 

Woman’s  Foreign  Missionary  Society 

Massachusetts 

13  Northfield  (Interdenominational). 


240 


WORLD  SERVICE 


has  made  a  steady  advance.  Today  it 
registers  174,185  members,  with  1,027 
pastoral  charges,  1,242  church  buildings, 
and  a  property  valuation  of  churches  and 
parsonages  of  $20,478,688.  During  1922, 
the  Methodist  Episcopal  churches  of  New 
England  paid  out  for  local  expenses 
$4,036,488,  for  benevolences  $1,124,383,  a 
total  of  $5,160,871.  Per  capita  giving 
was  $29.63,  next  to  the  highest  of  all  the 
geographical  divisions  of  the  United 
States. 

The  Missionary  Field 

Its  variety. — An  adequate  program  to 
meet  the  vast  missionary  needs  of  New 
England  must  be  varied,  indeed.  Proba¬ 
bly  the  greatest  task  for  the  church  is  in 
carrying  personal  and  social  evangelism 
into  the  teeming  cities.  Here  by  far  the 
greatest  number  of  people  is  to  be  found 
and  the  most  demoralizing  conditions. 
Here  the  influences  that  oppose  the  king¬ 
dom  of  God  are  concentrated  and  here  the 
church  finds  it  most  difficult  to  upbuild  the 
kingdom. 

The  marked  trend  toward  industrialism 
also  has  produced  altered  conditions  which 
have  made  a  greater  missionary  task.  It 
has  meant  the  crowding  of  hundreds  of 
thousands  of  the  foreign-born  and  their 
large  families  into  congested  quarters  of 
the  cities ;  the  development  of  working  and 
living  conditions,  of  insanitation  and  hard¬ 
ship,  long  hours  and  exhausting  toil,  the 
consequence  of  which  is  a  situation  mili¬ 
tating  against  bodily  and  spiritual  vigor. 
There  is  also  a  rural  industrialism  of  fac¬ 
tories  and  manufacturing  plants  which 
are  strung  along  the  railroads,  rivers  and 
water  power  streams.  These  concerns  at¬ 
tract  groups  of  Italians,  Poles,  Finns,  Lith¬ 
uanians,  and  other  foreign  born,  who  need 
the  ministry  of  the  church. 

Industrial  communities. — But  the  great 
task  of  the  church  in  the  industrial  com¬ 
munities,  whether  large  or  small,  is  not 
only  to  improve  social  conditions  but  to 
bring  about  a  spirit  of  Christian  fraternal- 
ism  among  the  groups.  In  few  places  in 
America  are  class  lines  drawn  more  rig¬ 
idly  or  is  feeling  more  intense  than  in  the 


industrial  sections  of  New  England.  Great 
problems  which  threaten  the  life  of  the 
church  itself  because  of  the  unchristian 
spirit  engendered  by  them  are  to  be  found 
in  various  centers.  Perhaps  nowhere  in 
America  has  industrial  strife  been  more 
relentless.  Capital  and  labor  have  been 
at  sword’s  points  for  decades.  Strikes  and 
bloodshed  and  bitterness  are  an  old,  old 
story  in  many  mills  and  shops  and  facto¬ 
ries.  Old  ideas  that  wealth  is  a  possession 
and  not  a  trust,  that  labor  is  a  commodity 
and  not  a  service  are  still  rampant, 
battling  the  ideals  of  Christ  which  the 
church  seeks  to  instil. 

Colonies  of  Americans  from  other  lands. 
—A  still  further  field  of  service  lies  in  a 
personal  ministry  to  the  great  colonies  of 
foreign  born,  both  in  city  and  country.  It 
is  not  enough  that  material  conditions  be 
improved  and  that  inter-group  relations 
be  mollified.  Whatever  the  nationality  or 
the  language  spoken,  the  church  is  finding 
a  magnificent  opportunity  in  the  ministry 
of  kindness  to  the  foreign  born,  whose  con¬ 
tacts  too  often  have  given  them  a  per¬ 
verted  and  sinister  conception  of  America. 
By  rendering  aid  in  a  myriad  different 
ways  in  the  Christian  spirit,  the  forces  of 
the  church  are  winning  the  confidence  and 
then  the  devotion  of  these  strangers  from 
many  lands,  which  is  the  first  step  to  their 
personal  acceptance  of  Christ  as  Saviour. 
Thus  far  only  a  beginning  has  been  made 
and  the  effort  must  be  multiplied  many 
times  before  the  work  will  be  commensu¬ 
rate  with  the  needs. 

Decadent  rural  sections. — Into  the  deca¬ 
dent  rural  fields  the  church  must  go,  back 
into  Vermont  where  farms  are  being  aban¬ 
doned  or  where  foreign  elements  are 
taking  them  up;  into  the  hills  of  Maine 
and  New  Hampshire  where  the  emigration 
of  the  more  vigorous  type  to  the  west  or 
to  the  cities  has  left  an  exhausted  stock. 
Its  message  must  be  one  of  revitalizing 
community  life  and  revivifying  the  church. 

The  nation’s  playground. — A  great  mis¬ 
sionary  opportunity  is  that  of  the  summer 
resorts  scattered  throughout  New  Eng¬ 
land,  especially  among  the  mountains  and 
lakes  and  along  the  sea  shore,  where  vis- 


NEW  ENGLAND 


241 


itors  come  in  throngs  for  several  months 
each  year.  Village  churches  which  can 
care  for  their  few  communicants  during 
the  other  seasons  find  themselves  swamped 
in  the  summer  time,  turning  many  away. 
It  should  not  be  so,  because  vacation  time 
is  often  thought-provoking  time,  and  is 
conducive  to  a  spiritual  quickening. 

Bishop  Hughes  well  exhorts  visitors 
from  other  sections  of  Methodism  and  his 
own  people  as  well,  not  to  be  “summer 
heathen”  but  rather  to  confess  their  Lord 
and  encourage  the  small  churches  by  regu¬ 
larly  attending  church  services  in  the  va¬ 
cation  period. 

Student  centers.— In  the  student  centers 
of  New  England  the  church  faces  an  op¬ 
portunity  which  it  must  needs  improve. 
In  spite  of  the  great  industrial  develop¬ 
ment,  New  England  is  still  a  land  of  cul¬ 
tural  emphasis  and  strength,  and  its 
cities  and  towns  and  villages  are  dotted 
with  academies,  seminaries,  colleges,  pri¬ 
vate  training  schools,  and  universities. 
Here  multitudes  of  young  men  and  young 
women,  not  only  from  New  England  but 
from  all  over  America,  who  are  to  furnish 
the  leadership  of  tomorrow,  are  securing 
their  education. 

The  Service  of  Methodism  to  the  Cities 

“As  go  the  cities.”— It  is  well  that  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church  has  launched 
a  program  to  capture  the  cities  of  America 
for  Christ.  For  the  cities,  with  their  con¬ 
stantly  accruing  population,  point  that  “as 
go  the  cities,  so  goes  the  nation.”  In  few 
sections  of  the  United  States  is  there  a 
more  pressing  need  for  a  far-visioned, 
modern  city  ministry  than  in  New  Eng¬ 
land. 

The  southern  section  of  New  England  is 
becoming  one  vast  city.  Rhode  Island, 
with  97.5  per  cent  of  its  population  living 
in  cities,  is  the  most  densely  settled  state 
of  the  union.  In  Massachusetts,  only  five 
per  cent  live  in  the  villages  and  open 
country,  while  ninety-five  per  cent  are 
urban.  These  two  states  are  almost  as 
thickly  populated  as  Belgium.  The  pop¬ 
ulation  of  Connecticut  is  eighty-five  per 
cent  urban. 


In  the  parish  of  Morgan  Memorial  Church, 
Boston 


The  church  faces  in  New  England  a  ter¬ 
ritory  where  seven  per  cent  of  the  total 
population  of  the  United  States  reside, 
and  yet  which  has  sixteen  per  cent  of  the 
cities  of  more  than  100.000  population. 
In  other  words,  eleven  out  of  sixty-eight 
American  cities  over  100,000  are  in  New 
England.  Boston,  with  748,000  people,  is 
the  metropolis  of  New  England,  followed 
by  Providence,  Rhode  Island,  with  237,595 
inhabitants.  The  other  nine  cities,  rang¬ 
ing  between  100,000  and  200,000,  are 
Cambridge,  Fall  River,  Lowell,  New  Bed¬ 
ford,  Springfield,  Worcester,  Bridgeport, 
Hartford,  and  New  Haven. 

The  most  vivid  fact  showing  the  growth 
of  cities  in  New  England  is  that  the  New 
England  cities  have  grown  faster  during 
the  past  thirty  years  than  the  whole  of 
New  England  itself.  In  other  words,  from 
1890  to  1920,  New  England  cities  gained 
2,725,000  in  population,  while  New 
England  itself  only  increased  2,700,000. 
The  explanation  is  while  the  cities  have 
been  gaining  2,725,000,  the  country  has 
lost  25,000  population  in  thirty  years. 

Methodism  in  Boston. — Boston,  the 
metropolis  of  New  England  and  a  city  of 
traditional  culture  and  education,  has 
become  a  great  foreign-speaking,  indus¬ 
trial  center.  Boston  Common  has  become 
a  meeting  place  for  many  races,  while  his¬ 
toric  churches  of  other  days  find  them¬ 
selves  surrounded  by  old  dwellings  turned 
into  tenements  swarming  with  Latin  and 
Slavic  peoples.  Seventy-two  per  cent  of 
Boston’s  population  is  of  foreign  birth  or 


242 


WORLD  SERVICE 


of  foreign  or  mixed  parentage.  As  it  has 
been  said,  “the  languages  of  the  world  are 
spoken  on  the  streets  of  Boston,  and  ideas 
and  ideals  gathered  from  the  ends  of  the 
earth  are  being  steadily  built  into  her 
social  fabric.” 

Into  this  polyglot  center  of  turbulent, 
toiling  humanity,  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
church  has  thrown  its  forces,  and  the 
effort  to  bring  the  kingdom  of  God  to  pass 
is  well  begun.  Reinforcements  of  prayer, 
personnel,  and  resources  are  needed  to  win 
the  victory. 

Evangelism  in  eleven  languages. — Meth¬ 
odism  carries  on  its  evangelistic  and  social 
program  in  Boston  in  eleven  languages. 
The  Boston  Missionary  and  Church  Exten¬ 
sion  Society  and  the  Board  of  Home  Mis¬ 
sions  and  Church  Extension  are  related  in 
a  great  city  wide  program  by  which  work 
is  carried  on  by  seventy .  missionaries  at 
twenty-three  different  centers.  Eleven 
distinct  racial  or  language  groups  are 
served.  One  may  attend  churches  or  mis¬ 
sions  conducted  by  the  Methodist  church 
where  the  Gospel  of  Christ  is  preached  in 
Chinese,  Lithuanian,  Portuguese,  Italian, 
Greek,  Syrian,  Norwegian,  Danish,  Swed¬ 
ish,  German,  and  English.  There  is  also 
a  service  for  Jews  and  one  for  Negroes. 

The  story  of  old  “First  Church.” — 
Romance  and  inspiration  unite  in  the 
story  of  old  First  Church,  Boston,  which 
has  adapted  itself  to  serve  the  changing 
neighborhood  in  which  it  is  located.  Its 
history  goes  back  to  the  summer  of  1792 
when  Jesse  Lee  preached  on  Boston  Com¬ 
mon.  In  1912,  the  West  End  Rescue  Mis¬ 
sion  was  founded  in  connection  with  the 
church,  and  in  1918  the  Beacon  Hill  Com¬ 
munity  Center  was  organized.  Located 
in  a  lodging-house  section  on  the  edge  of 
a  great  foreign-speaking  neighborhood, 
there  is  scarcely  a  spiritual  or  social  need 
of  the  thousands  who  live  within  short 
walking  distance  of  its  doors  which  First 
Church  does  not  attempt  to  meet  by  its 
variegated  ministry.  It  is  among  the  peo¬ 
ple  as  a  servant. 

Its  social  ministry  includes  classes  in 
housekeeping,  nursing,  millinery,  stenog¬ 


raphy,  and  music;  it  has  its  Boy  Scouts, 
Camp  Fire  Girls,  women’s  societies,  young 
people’s  gatherings,  its  gymnasium  and 
kindergarten  and  Bible  classes,  all  of 
which  fill  not  only  every  available  hour, 
but  every  available  inch  of  space.  It  has 
a  constantly  expanding  program  of  spir¬ 
itual  regeneration  and  community  uplift. 
The  church  maintains  dormitories,  a  med¬ 
ical  and  dental  clinic,  and  has  a  center  for 
sailors  from  the  Charlestown  Navy  Yard. 
Real  progress  is  being  made  toward  reach¬ 
ing  this  congested,  cosmopolitan  popula¬ 
tion  for  Christ. 

A  challenging  opportunity. — Yet  old 
First  Church,  one  of  the  most  majestic 
givers  of  leadership,  needs  that  some  of 
the  life  blood  which  it  has  yielded  to  build 
new  churches  shall  flow  back  into  its  own 
arteries  to  give  renewed  life  for  its 
problems.  A  survey  of  its  parish  in  the 
West  End  of  Boston  reveals  that  in  two 
years  thirty  per  cent  of  the  population 
had  shifted,  and  in  five  years  seventy  per 
cent  had  totally  changed !  In  one  ward, 
three  out  of  four  foreign-born  are  Russian 
Jews,  and  in  another  ward  two  out  of 
four.  Out  of  260  members  of  First 
Church,  only  106  live  in  the  parish.  Yet 
the  church’s  share  of  the  community 
responsibility  embraces  405  non-Sunday- 
school  attending  Protestant  children, 
2,310  children  of  no  religious  affiliation, 
2,719  in  need  of  an  Americanization  train¬ 
ing,  and  634  illiterates!  It  is  a  field  of 
tremendous  significance  because  of  its  his¬ 
torical  connections,  its  present  constitu¬ 
ency  of  many  races  and  its  demonstration 
of  the  adaptation  of  the  time-honored,  city 
residential  church  to  meet  the  problems  of 
the  modern  industrial  city. 

Italian  work. — A  sweep  of  Boston  would 
bring  into  purvue  the  five  centers  where 
the  Methodist  Episcopal  church  carries 
on  a  ministry  for  the  thousands  of 
Italians — one  person  in  every  twelve 
in  Boston  being  an  Italian.  At  the 
First  Italian  Methodist  Episcopal  Church 
in  the  formerly  fashionable  North  End  of 
Boston,  now  a  congested  tenement  neigh¬ 
borhood  of  30,000  Italians,  between  250 


NEW  ENGLAND 


243 


and  300  children  and  young  people  are 
being  reached  by  its  religious,  educational, 
social  and  recreational  activities.  A  sum¬ 
mer  camp  and  a  daily  vacation  Bible 
school  are  conducted.  There  is  a  well 
graded  Sunday  school,  each  class  of  which 
is  organized  as  a  club,  meet¬ 
ing  week  days.  The  Sunday 
school  carries  on  a  pro¬ 
gram  of  religious  education 
throughout  the  week. 

Lithuanian  work. — In  the 
old  St.  John’s  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church  of  South 
Boston,  at  one  time  having 
a  membership  of  more  than 
a  thousand,  there  worships 
today  a  Lithuanian  congre¬ 
gation,  with  a  former  priest 
as  its  minister.  There  are 
8,000  Lithuanians  in  South 
Boston  and  12,000  in  the  en¬ 
tire  city.  Three  Sunday 
schools  are  maintained  for 
the  Chinese,  the  oldest  at  the 
Old  Broomfield  church,  now 
absorbed  into  the  new 
United  Church.  In  ten  years, 
forty-four  Chinese  have  been  converted  in 
this  one  school,  one  of  whom  was  gradu¬ 
ated  recently  from  Boston  University. 
Others  are  scattered  throughout  the  world. 

Negro  work. — A  work  for  Negroes  is 
conducted  by  the  Woman’s  Home  Mission¬ 
ary  Society  at  the  Hattie  B.  Cooper  Com¬ 
munity  Center  in  connection  with  the 
Fourth  Methodist  Episcopal  Church.  The 
progtram  ranges  from  dressmaking  class 
and  choral  clubs  to  Sunday  school  and 
Epworth  League.  For  lack  of  space,  the 
Sunday  school  must  meet  in  three  sections. 
Though  inadequate,  it  is  the  only  Negro 
Methodist  church  in  the  city. 

Morgan  Memorial  Church.* — No  story  of 
Methodism  in  Boston,  New  England  or  the 
United  States  would  be  complete  without 
the  mention  of  Morgan  Memorial.  Here 
the  Gospel  is  applied  to  modern  life !  Here 
was  founded  the  Goodwill  Industries,  and 
here  several  hundred  regularly  employed 
and  “opportunity  workers”  are  kept  busy. 

*See  picture  on  p.  235. 


A  social  ministry  and  program  of  religious 
education  are  carried  on  which  reaches  the 
thousands,  young  and  old,  every  year. 
Here  also  are  English-speaking,  Italian, 
Syrian,  Portuguese,  and  Negro  depart¬ 
ments.  Once  a  month  these  various 
departments  and  their  min¬ 
isters  join  in  an  “interna¬ 
tional  service.”  Fifteen  hun¬ 
dred  children  of  twenty-five 
nationalities  are  ministered 
to  in  the  children’s  settle¬ 
ment.  Twenty-eight  differ¬ 
ent  languages  are  spoken 
within  a  mile  of  this  church. 

Boston  a  pattern  for  New 
England. — The  problems  and 
activities  of  Boston  as  here 
chronicled  are  the  problems 
and  activities  of  the  other 
cities  of  New  England  on  a 
smaller  scale.  Important 
beginnings  are  registered 
among  the  hundreds  of 
thousands  of  foreign-speak¬ 
ing  peoples  scattered  else¬ 
where.  In  Lowell,  Mas?., 
there  is  work  for  the  Greeks 
and  Syrians  in  the  factories.  At  Man¬ 
chester,  N.  H.,  there  is  a  French  Meth¬ 
odist  Episcopal  church,  the  only  one  in 
New  England,  ministered  to  by  an 
engineer  who  is  employed  in  industry  six 
days  a  week.  There  are  important  pieces 
of  Italian  Methodist  work  at  Portland, 
Maine,  Middletown  and  New  Haven, 
Conn.,  Providence,  R.  I.,  Barre,  Vt.,  and 
Fall  River,  Mass. 

Among  the  100,000  Portuguese  in  New 
England  a  splendid  program  of  missionary 
activity  is  being  carried  on  at  East  Cam¬ 
bridge,  Plymouth,  New  Bedford,  East 
Wareham  and  other  points  in  Massachu¬ 
setts,  and  at  Valley  Falls,  and  other  cen¬ 
ters  in  Rhode  Island. 

Here  also  is  published  “Aurora,”  a 
Methodist  Portuguese  paper  of  large 
circulation. 

Bishop  Hughes  has  said,  “If  we  con¬ 
sider  Boston  University,  the  Deaconess 
Hospital,  and  Morgan  Memorial,  it  is 
apparent  that  no  Protestant  church  is 


Wesleyan  Association  Building, 
Boston — Methodist  headquar¬ 
ters  in  New  England 


244 


WORLD  SERVICE 


While  they  make  over  old  shoes,  they  are 
themselves  remade  by  productive  em¬ 
ployment — Goodwill  Industries, 

Morgan  Memorial,  Boston 

today  doing  more  or  better  work  in  New 
England  than  is  the  Methodist  Episcopal. 
We  need  a  representative  and  outstanding 
church  in  the  city.  We  have  the  funds  for 
getting  it  and  we  are  trying  to  get  the 
wisdom  and  the  patience  for  the  enter¬ 
prise.” 

Typical  new  program  churches. — A  suc¬ 
cessful  “melting  pot”  church  is  the  Central 
Methodist  Episcopal  of  Lowell,  whose 
program  is  partially  sustained  by  the 
Board  of  Home  Missions  and  Church 
Extension.  Here  six  years  ago  the  work 


Our  church  at  Hamden  Plains,  Connecticut, 
(new  residential  section  of  New  Haven) 
was  alert  to  the  problems  of  rapid 
suburban  growth,  and,  with 
Centenary  help,  put  up 
this  adequate  plant 


was  at  so  low  an  ebb  it  seemed  the  church 
would  have  to  close.  Today,  under  an  ade¬ 
quate  leadership,  will  be  found  nine 
nationalities  represented  in  the  church 
activities.  There  are  Greeks,  Chinese, 
Armenians,  Syrians,  White  and  Negro 
Americans,  Germans,  Irish  and  French. 
Syrians,  French,  Greeks,  and  Americans 
can  be  found  kneeling  together  at  the  same 
communion  service.  Public  worship,  Sun¬ 
day  school,  Epworth  League,  and  prayer 
meeting  are  all  well  attended.  A  Syrian 
school  of  sixty  boys  and  girls  is  carried 
on  in  connection  with  Central  Church. 

The  meteoric  growth  of  modern  city 
suburbs  often  throws  out  a  challenge  too 
great  for  the  local  church  to  meet.  Such 
was  the  situation  in  Hamden  Plains,  one 
of  the  newer  residential  sections  of  New 
Haven,  Conn.  Hamden  Plains  increased 
15,000  in  population  in  two  or  three  years, 
most  of  the  newcomers  being  workers  in 
nearby  industrial  plants.  The  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church  at  large  co-operated 
with  the  faithful  congregation  to  meet  the 
challenge,  and  a  splendid  church  was  built. 
On  the  day  of  dedication,  a  large  number 
of  people  was  received  into  membership. 
Already  the  congregation  and  Sunday 
school  crowd  the  building  to  the  doors. 

Goodwill  Industries. — Two  of  the  Good¬ 
will  Industries  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church  are  located  in  New  England,  at 
Boston  and  Lowell,  Mass.  More  than  fif¬ 
teen  years  ago,  a  praying  and  far-visioned 
pastor  saw  the  need  of  helping  discouraged 
and  desperate  homeless  men  to  help  them¬ 
selves.  He  conceived  the  idea  of  collecting 
cast-off  clothing,  broken  furniture,  and 
other  articles,  reconstructing  them  and 
selling  them  at  a  low  price,  furnishing 
employment  to  unfortunates,  and  estab¬ 
lishing  a  partially  self-supporting  enter¬ 
prise  to  help  others.  So  marvellous  has 
been  the  success  that  today  at  Morgan 
Memorial,  the  Goodwill  Industries  occupy 
two  large  six-story  buildings  and  about 
5,000  needy  people  find  self-respecting 
employment  every  year. 

The  Goodwill  Industries  at  Lowell  are 
located  in  an  industrial  city  of  more  than 


NEW  ENGLAND 


245 


120,000  people,  of  whom  eighty  per  cent 
are  foreign  born  or  of  foreign  or  mixed 
parentage. 

Self-sustaining  churches. — Many  achieve¬ 
ments  might  also  be  registered  of 
English-speaking  churches  which  are  win¬ 
ning  out  against  the  difficulties  of  the 
modern  city.  For  instance,  the  First 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church  of  Man¬ 
chester,  N.  H.,  nearly  doubled  its  member¬ 
ship  in  two  years,  increased  its  Sunday- 
school  enrolment  until  it  is  one  of  the 
largest  in  New  Hampshire,  built  a  splendid 
church  and  community  center  and  entered 
upon  a  program  to  meet  the  many  varied 
spiritual  and  social  needs  of  its  neigh¬ 
borhood. 

Methodist  Service  to  Rural  New 
England 

Agricultural  New  England. — A  narra¬ 
tive  of  abandoned  farms  and  decreasing 
rural  populations  is  not  a  pleasant  one, 
nor  is  it  conducive  to  an  optimistic  frame 
of  mind.  Yet  there  are  phases  of  agri¬ 
cultural  New  England  which  are  distinctly 
hopeful. 

Decreasing  population  means  a  devital¬ 
ized  country  church.  The  movement  west 
or  to  the  cities  of  much  of  the  more  vigor¬ 
ous  Yankee  stock  of  rural  New  England 
has  robbed  many  a  historic,  virile  country 
church  of  its  very  life  strength.  It  has 
meant  that  many  churches  should  die,  and 
hundreds  of  them  have,  or  they  should 
become  missionary  projects.  One  aban¬ 
doned  church  is  now  being  used  by  the 
village  fire  department.  A  boy  in  a  village 
with  closed  churches  directed  some  tour¬ 
ists  to  the  graveyard  as  “the  livest  place 
in  town.” 

A  new  rural  people. — Another  problem 
is  that  of  the  incoming  foreign  element 
which  is  not  of  a  Protestant  type.  The 
situation  in  Vermont  is  described  by  the 
Department  of  Rural  Work  of  the  Board 
of  Home  Missions  and  Church  Extension : 
“It  is  reported  by  two  mail  carriers  from 
one  community  that  in  the  past  half  dozen 
years  eighty-six  changes  have  taken  place 
in  farms  and  all  but  six  of  these  have 
passed  into  the  hands  of  Roman  Catholics. 


Today’s  investment  for  tomorrow  among  the 
Portuguese.  A  student  from  Boston  Univer¬ 
sity  teaches  this  Sunday-school  class 


Either  actual  abandonment  of  farms  is 
still  in  process  or  the  land  is  passing  into 
the  hands  of  a  non-Protestant  population. 
In  either  case,  the  result  is  likely  to  be  an 
actual  decrease  in  Protestant  church 
membership.” 

Foreign-speaking  peoples  on  farms. — 
Scarcely  a  section  of  New  England  is 
there  but  what  is  feeling  these  inroads  by 
foreign-speaking  peoples.  The  French- 
Canadians  are  coming  in  by  the  thousands 
from  the  north  to  settle  on  the  farms  as 
well  as  in  the  cities;  the  Italians,  Poles, 
and  Lithuanians  are  pushing  out  from  the 
congested  city  settlements,  some  of  them 
to  return  to  their  old-country  occupation 
of  farming,  others  to  engage  in  the  village 
industries.  This  rural  industrial  situation 


Gym  class  for  boys  in  our  church  at  Man¬ 
chester,  New  Hampshire 


246 


WORLD  SERVICE 


is  an  important  one  in  New  England,  as 
represented  in  the  fishing  villages  along 
the  coast  and  the  mill  towns  back  in  the 
interior.  Practically  all  of  these  rural 
communities  with  their  small  factories 
and  foreign-speaking  people  present  a 
peculiar  social  problem  which  the  church 
must  meet  and  solve.  But  without  ade¬ 
quate  equipment  and  trained  leadership 
little  progress  is  possible. 

Living  and  dying  churches. — Hundreds 
of  churches  of  various  denominations  are 
serving  their  own  limited  constituencies, 
and  with  programs  unadapted  to  modern 
needs  and  with  decreasing  memberships 
and  support  are  steadily  making  their  way 
to  the  ecclesiastical  graveyard.  But  other 
churches  are  awake  to  the  difficulty  of 
New  England’s  rural  problem  and  its 
various  manifestations  and  are  success¬ 
fully  solving  it. 

Methodist  leadership. — The  hope  of  New 
England’s  rural  Methodism  heads  up 
largely  in  the  splendid  rural  leadership 
courses  provided  by  Boston  University 
and  its  School  of  Theology  in  co-operation 
with  the  Board  of  Home  Missions  and 
Church  Extension.  Here  the  dignity  and 
opportunity  of  the  rural  parish  are  empha¬ 
sized,  and  methods  developed  and  taught 
for  successful  country  church  work  in  the 
various  types  of  communities.  A  circulat¬ 
ing  library  for  the  rural  pastors  is  widely 
used. 

Demonstration  parishes  are  chosen  and 
the  program  inaugurated,  so  as  to  afford 


It  is  high  strategy  to  train  the  leaders  of  for¬ 
eign-speaking  groups  in  a  Christian  col¬ 
lege — Foreign-speaking  students  at 
Boston  University 


illustration  and  inspiration  for  the  scores 
of  churches  which  are  falling  short  of 
their  task.  The  results  of  this  kind  of 
demonstration  work  are  seen  in  Gardner 
Centenary  Parish  in  Massachusetts,  where 
a  program  started  three  years  ago  has 
continued  to  develop  until  the  missionary 
appropriation  has  been  reduced  from 
$6,000  to  $1,000  annually. 

The  summer  school  for  town  and  coun¬ 
try  pastors,  conducted  at  Boston  Univer¬ 
sity  by  the  department  of  rural  work  of 
the  Board  of  Home  Missions  and  Church 
Extension,  brings  together  aggressive  and 
forward-looking  ministers  in  rural  fields 
for  training  in  the  most  successful 
methods  for  reaching  the  various  types  of 
rural  communities. 

Success  illustrated. — Another  striking 
example  is  the  new  epoch  in  the  life  of  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church  at  Grantham, 
N.  H.,  a  little  hamlet  off  the  railroad. 
Under  the  leadership  of  a  trained  and 
energetic  pastor,  a  community  house  was 
built,  with  social  rooms,  an  auditorium 
and  other  equipment.  A  community  pro¬ 
gram  was  inaugurated  which  has  made  the 
church  the  center  of  the  life  of  the  village 
and  surrounding  country.  Already  a  new 
vision  of  what  service  means  and  the 
resultant  helpfulness  are  putting  a  new 
spiritual  viewpoint  in  the  life  of  the  entire 
neighborhood. 

Upton,  Massachusetts,  is  a  village  which 
has  the  problems  of  a  rural  industrial 
community.  Young  women  come  in  from 
the  country  to  work  in  the  straw  goods 
factory.  There  was  little  social  life  of  a 
helpful  type  and  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
church  was  static.  Even  when  a  new 
minister  came,  there  was  little  enthusiasm. 
But  his  contact  with  the  rural  leadership 
program  enabled  him  to  inaugurate  a 
campaign  of  rejuvenation  of  church  and 
community.  Within  four  months  it  was 
the  livest  church  in  town,  with  a  large 
class  of  men,  an  energetic  group  of  young 
women,  a  vested  choir,  a  new  parsonage 
and  a  trebled  budget.  A  community  house 
also  was  purchased  and  equipped  by  an 
organized  community  council,  of  which 


NEW  ENGLAND 


247 


the  pastor  was  a  member,  and  the  amuse¬ 
ments  of  the  neighborhood  were  brought 
to  a  higher  plane. 

In  another  rural  industrial  community, 
the  Methodist  pastor  held  noonday  meet¬ 
ings  in  the  factory,  later  establishing  Sun¬ 
day  afternoon  services  in  the  mill  for  the 
workers.  A  social  program  for  them  also 
was  initiated.  Their  interest  and  confi¬ 
dence  were  won  on  a  large  scale  and  a 
large  number  became  members  of  the 
church. 

Evangelism  the  keynote. — Evangelism 
plays  an  important,  successful  part  in  the 
advance  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
church  in  New  England.  Not  only  is  this 
true  in  the  self-supporting  churches,  but 
also  in  the  missionary  activities.  A  for¬ 
eign-speaking  evangelist  is  employed  by 
the  Board  of  Home  Missions  and  Church 
Extension  to  labor  among  the  Portuguese 
of  the  fishing  villages  along  the  coast  and 
in  other  settlements.  Another  foreign¬ 
speaking  evangelistic  effort  is  among  the 
Italians  of  Portland,  Maine. 

An  unusual  experiment  was  carried  out 
in  Vermont,  where  four  centers  were 
visited  with  a  religious  chautauqua.  .Ten 
churches  were  given  a  vision  of  community 
responsibility,  four  young  men  recruited 
for  life  service,  320  young  people  definitely 
related  to  the  churches  and  Sunday 
schools,  and  other  facts  of  great  progress 
registered.  Scores  of  the  unchurched 
were  brought  to  the  church.  A  new  type 
of  rural  evangelism  was  recently  inaugu¬ 
rated  by  the  equipping  of  a  motor  truck 
with  religious  literature,  including  testa¬ 
ments,  miscellaneous  pamphlets  and 
church  papers.  Two  evangelists  are  mak¬ 
ing  a  tour  of  rural  New  England  for  itin¬ 
erant  preaching  and  visiting. 

The  Ministry  of  the  W.  H.  M.  S. 

Methodist  women  at  work. — Several 
women  are  serving  as  pastors  or  special 
workers  in  the  rural  fields  of  New  Hamp¬ 
shire  and  are  doing  excellent  missionary 
work.  One  is  a  local  preacher  and  a 
licensed  deaconess  and  serves  a  widely 
scattered  population  of  500,  covering  a 


“The  Church  at  the  Harbor,”  Scituate, 
Massachusetts 


territory  as  large  as  Rhode  Island. 
Another  is  leading  a  group  of  100  or  more 
into  a  deeper  spiritual  life  through  the 
medium  of  a  well-developed  social  pro¬ 
gram. 

Missionary  activities  of  a  widely  varied 
nature  are  carried  on  by  the  Woman’s 
Home  Missionary  Society.  Among  the 
Italian  granite  workers  at  Barre,  Ver¬ 
mont,  a  deaconess  home  and  chapel  are 
located.  The  deaconesses  carry  on  in  the 
community  a  social  and  religious  work, 
including  domestic  science  and  industrial 
classes,  mothers’  meetings,  Sunday  school, 
and  vesper  services.  Aid  is  given  in  the 
support  of  a  woman  worker  among  the 
Italians  at  Oaklands,  Methuen,  Mass.,  and 
in  the  maintenance  of  a  daily  vacation 
Bible  school  at  St.  Paul’s  church,  Law¬ 
rence,  Mass.  A  most  notable  activity  is 
among  the  Negroes  at  Boston,  with  a 
diversified  and  extensive  program  of 
social  and  religious  service. 

The  society  also  maintains  the  East  Bos¬ 
ton  Immigrants’  Home,  where  many  needy 
and  pathetic  cases  of  newcomers  to  a 
strange  land  are  cared  for.  In  addition, 
the  Boston  Medical  Mission  gives  thou¬ 
sands  of  treatments  annually  to  suffering, 
needy  patients,  with  an  influence  radiating 
throughout  the  city.  In  an  educational 
way,  the  Society  maintains  the  Dwight 
Blakeslee  Memorial  Training  School, 
located  at  New  Haven,  Conn.,  a  national 
school  of  the  organization.  It  is  a  training 
school  for  Christian  work.  The  Training 


248 


WORLD  SERVICE 


Training  Schools. 

Massachusetts 

10  Boston  (D),  Boston  University  School  of 
Religious  Education. 

Connecticut 

11  New  Haven  (WHMS  &  D), 

D.  W.  Blakeslee  Training  School. 


Noth  : 

(D)  indicates  that  the  institution,  in  addition  to  other  services,  trains  deaconesses. 

(W.H.M.S.)  indicates  that  it  trains  zvorkers  for  service  under  the  Woman’s  Home  Missionary  Society. 


EDUCATIONAL  INSTITUTIONS 

Colleges/ Universities,  and  Professional  Schools. 

Massachusetts 

1  Boston,  Boston  University. 

Connecticut 

2  Middletown,  Wesleyan  University. 

Secondary  Schools. 

Maine 

3  Bucksport,  East  Maine  Conference  Sem¬ 
inary. 

4  Kents  Hill,  Maine  Wesleyan  Seminary. 

New  Hampshire 

5  Tilton,  Tilton  Seminary. 

Vermont 

6  Montpelier,  Montpelier  Seminary. 

7  Poultney,  Troy  Conference  Academy. 

Massachusetts 

8  Wilbraham,  Wilbraham  Academy. 

Rhode  Island 

9  East  Greenwich,  East  Greenwich  Academy. 


STUDENT  WORK  AT  NON-METHODIST 
EDUCATIONAL  INSTITUTIONS 

Maine 

1  Orono,  University  of  Maine. 

New  Hampshire 

2  Durham,  New  Hampshire  College  of 
Agriculture  and  Mechanic  Arts. 

Vermont 

3  Burlington,  University  of  Vermont. 

Massachusetts 

4  Cambridge,  Harvard  University. 

5  Cambridge,  Massachusetts  Institute  of 
Technology. 

6  Amherst,  Massachusetts  Agricultural  Col¬ 
lege. 

Connecticut 

7  New  Haven,  Yale  University. 


NEW  ENGLAND 


249 


The  oldest  standing  building  in  the  New  World  dedicated  to  Metho¬ 
dist  education — “Old  Academy,”  Wilbraham,  Massachusetts 


School  conducts  Wesley- 
House,  a  settlement  in 
New  Haven,  and  a  rural 
social  center  and  religious 
work  at  Mapleton,  twenty- 
five  miles  away.  The 
school  thus  is  enabled  to 
give  its  students  practical 
work  both  in  city  and 
country. 

The  Methodist  Episco¬ 
pal  Church  has  Deaconess 
work  at  the  following 
places:  Gardiner  and 
Portland,  Maine ;  Barre, 

Vermont;  Boston,  Con¬ 
cord,  Haverhill  and  Fall 
River,  Massachusetts  ; 

Providence  and  Paw¬ 
tucket,  Rhode  Island ;  and 
New  Haven,  Connecticut. 

It  partakes  of  a  varied  educational  and 
social  service  nature. 

Transients 

Ministering  to  visiting  throngs. — In 
order  to  meet  the  tremendous  opportunity 
for  a  ministry  to  transients,  visitors  and 
summer  tourists,  the  Board  of  Home  Mis¬ 
sions  and  Church  Extension  in  a  forward 
look  has  aided  in  the  enlargement  and 
equipment  of  some  of  the  village  summer- 
resort  churches.  One  small  village  chapel 
was  remodelled  and  equipped  to  render  a 
ministry  to  hundreds  of"  vacationists.  In 
a  Massachusetts  town,  an  appropriation 
encouraged  the  construction  of  a  splendid 
church  building  and  community  center. 
An  all  year-round  social  and  religious  pro¬ 
gram  serves  the  village  and  its  permanent 
residents  and  in  the  summer  thousands  of 
tourists  are  reached  with  the  spiritual  min¬ 
istry  of  the  church.  Scores  of  other  coast 
towns  and  inland  lake  and  mountain  vil¬ 
lages  which  are  fast  growing  in  popularity 
are  not  so  equipped,  however,  and  must 
have  missionary  support  if  they  are  to 
serve  the  opportunity  which  confronts 
them. 

Ministry  of  Teaching 

Majestic  educational  records. — In  the 
field  of  education,  New  England  Meth- 
17 


odism  takes  a  high  place.  What  with 
Wilbraham  Academy,  the  oldest  of  our 
educational  institutions,  and  its  six  sister 
academies;  with  Wesleyan  University  and 
its  notable  record  of  leaders  furnished  for 
the  world’s  religious  and  scientific  life  and 
progress,  among  them  more  than  sixty 
college  presidents,  thirteen  bishops,  hun¬ 
dreds  of  pastors,  missionaries,  teachers, 
editors,  scientists,  statesmen  and  lawyers ; 
Boston  University,  and  its  monumental 
contribution  to  both  New  England  and  the 
world,  with  a  similarly  eminent  record  of 
training  leadership  and  with  more  than 
1,000  out  of  its  present  10,000  students 
preparing  for  twenty  different  forms  of 
religious  work  —  the  record  and  the 
promise  are  both  wonderful ! 

The  Christian  culture,  education,  and 
inspiration  which  have  come  from  these 
world-known  centers  of  learning,  and  from 
those  other  meritorious  educational  insti¬ 
tutions  of  which  New  England  Methodism 
is  proud,  have  left  their  mark  on  the  lives 
of  thousands.  (See  the  map  on  page  248.) 

If  a  growing  Methodism  can  enlarge 
their  activities  and  provide  the  spiritual 
and  material  resources  for  their  develop¬ 
ment,  the  result  in  the  advancement  of  the 
kingdom  of  Christ  will  be  worth  the  cost 
many  times. 


250 


WORLD  SERVICE 


This  group  of  Boy  Scouts  at  Morgan  Memorial,  Boston,  Massachu¬ 
setts,  includes  the  following:  4  Italian,  4  Jewish,  1  Scotch, 

2  Irish,  6  Negro,  1  Polish,  and  1  Irish-Italian 


Twentieth  century  reli¬ 
gious  education. — Through 
a  unique  program  of  co¬ 
operation  between  the 
Board  of  Education,  the 
Board  of  Home  Missions 
and  Church  Extension, 
and  Boston  University 
and  its  School  of  Theol¬ 
ogy,  an  extensive  pro¬ 
gram  of  religious  educa¬ 
tion  has  been  developed 
in  Boston  which  is  emi¬ 
nently  successful  and 
nationally  known.  Boston 
and  vicinity  furnish  a 
laboratory  where  nearly 
all  conceivable  religious 
problems  and  social  situ¬ 
ations  can  be  met  and  solved.  Students 
not  only  receive  instruction  in  the  class 
room  and  from  textbooks,  but  have  actual 
experience  in  their  chosen  field  of  work 
under  the  supervision  of  trained  leaders, 
for  which  experimental  work  academic 
credit  is  given. 

Four  hundred  twenty-five  students 
received  this  training  last  year.  Among 
them  were  sixteen  bi-lingual  workers, 
equipped  for  a  ministry  in  a  foreign 
tongue  and  the  English  language,  five 
Italians,  one  Russian,  one  Lettish,  three 
Greeks,  four  Portuguese,  one  Lithuanian, 
and  one  Syrian.  Ten  students  in  the 
School  of  Theology  were  preparing  for 
ministry  in  down-town  city  churches,  and 


One  of  Boston  University’s  buildings 


forty-five  students  for  rural  church  leader¬ 
ship.  Thirty  students  were  in  training 
for  foreign  mission  work,  and  a  large  num¬ 
ber  in  the  School  of  Religious  Education. 

Wesley  Foundations. — The  work  of  the 
Wesley  Foundations  and  the  social  and 
religious  service  of  university  pastors  and 
ministers  in  college  community  churches 
register  a  tremendous  contribution  by 
Methodism  to  educational  and  spiritual 
advancement  in  New  England.  Expan¬ 
sion  of  present  work  will  mean  winning 
more  and  more  young  men  and  women 
who  are  to  be  the  leaders  of  the  future. 
Among  these  New  England  centers  where 
Methodism  is  thus  functioning  are  the 
University  of  Maine  at  Orono,  the  New 
Hampshire  College  of  Agriculture  and 
Mechanic  Arts  at  Durham,  the  University 
of  Vermont  at  Burlington,  Harvard  Uni¬ 
versity  and  the  Massachusetts  Institute  of 
Technology  at  Cambridge,  the  Massachu¬ 
setts  Agricultural  College  at  Amherst, 
and  Yale  University  at  New  Haven,  Conn. 

Guiding  New  England’s  youth. — Reli¬ 
gious  educational  work,  which  is  having  a 
far-reaching  effect  among  the  young  men 
and  young  women  and  the  boys  and  girls 
of  New  England,  has  the  experienced  help 
of  the  Board  of  Sunday  Schools  and  the 
Board  of  the  Epworth  League.  Direct  aid 
in  leadership  and  literature  is  furnished 


NEW  ENGLAND 


251 


to  hundreds  of  Sunday  schools  and 
Epworth  Leagues  in  the  self-supporting 
churches  as  well  as  in  the  missionary 
centers. 

In  special  ways,  the  impact  of  these 
agencies  of  the  church  is  being  felt 
throughout  New  England.  Sunday-school 
missionaries  toiling  in  the  rural  neighbor¬ 
hoods  where  spiritual  life  has  declined 
almost  to  the  vanishing  point,  in  the  fish¬ 
ing  villages  where  spiritually  impover¬ 
ished  boys  and  girls  are  found,  are  carry¬ 
ing  forward  the  redemptive  work  of 
Christ.  The  churches  of  New  England  in 
a  peculiar  way  are  very  much  alive  to  the 
primacy  of  the  teaching  method,  and  the 
way  is  open  for  a  much  larger  program  of 
teacher  training,  Sunday-school  devel¬ 
opment  and  week-day  instruction  in 
religion. 

Young  people’s  institutes. — Summer  and 
winter  institutes  of  a  widespread  and 
successful  nature  are  characteristic  of  the 
Epworth  League  in  New  England.  In 
1922,  eight  summer  institutes  were  held, 
to  which  came  hundreds  of  virile  young 
people  for  inspiration  and  training.  Many 
were  of  the  far-famed  old  Yankee  stock, 
others  of  the  cosmopolitan  type  which  is 
building  the  new  industrial  New  England. 
The  New  England  conference  conducted 
the  largest  number  of  mid-winter  insti¬ 
tutes,  eight,  in  any  one  conference.  The 
Boston  and  Portland  districts  have  under¬ 
taken  the  support  of  student  missionaries. 
In  New  England,  out¬ 
standing  successful  Jun¬ 
ior  League  programs  in 
connection  with  camp 
meetings  have  been  con¬ 
ducted. 


Ministry  of  Healing 
Servants  of  mercy. — Not 
in  the  fields  of  missionary 
expansion  and  religious 
education  alone  does  the 
Methodist  Episcopal 
Church  function  in  New 
England.  In  a  ministry 
of  philanthropy  and  heal¬ 


ing,  it  brings  comfort  to  those  stricken  in 
body,  help  to  the  unfortunate  and  care  for 
the  aged  and  the  orphan.  Through  the 
Board  of  Hospitals  and  Homes  and  the 
General  Deaconess  Board,  the  institutions 
as  listed  on  the  map  on  page  252,  are  re¬ 
lated  to  the  great  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church  at  large.  Their  service,  which 
touches  thousands  of  lives  annually  for 
good,  can  not  be  measured,  but  only  men¬ 
tioned,  here.  Other  deaconess  work  is  also 
carried  on  among  the  city  churches,  in  neg¬ 
lected  rural  fields,  in  settlements,  and  in 
the  myriad  miscellaneous  ways  that  these 
noble  women  serve  in  the  name  of  Jesus 
Christ.  The  New  England  Deaconess 
Association  functions  particularly  in  an 
extensive  service  in  and  around  Boston. 

Other  Ministries 

Other  Methodist  agencies. — The  work  of 
the  Board  of  Temperance,  Prohibition,  and 
Public  Morals,  and  of  the  Board  of  Con¬ 
ference  Claimants,  which  is  national  and 
yet  not  institutional,  is  not  easily  cata¬ 
logued  by  geographical  divisions.  Suffice 
it  to  say,  however,  that  they  function  for 
the  entire  church  in  New  England  as  well 
as  in  the  rest  of  the  nation. 

The  Bible  in  New  England. — Bible  dis¬ 
tribution  is  carried  on  extensively 
throughout  New  England  through  the 
American  Bible  Society,  Methodism’s 
appointed  agency  for  that  work.  In  New 
England  the  direct  work  of  circulation  is 


New  Trinity  Church,  Springfield,  Massachusetts — The  type  of 
benevolent-spirited  church  that  pours  thousands  of  dollars 
into  missionary  coffers — An  adequate  plant  for 
religious  education  and  community  service 


25  2 


WORLD  SERVICE 


HOSPITALS  AND  HOMES 

Hospitals. 

Massachusetts 

1  Boston,  New  England  Deaconess  Hospital. 

2  Roxbury,  Palmer  Memorial  Hospital. 

3  Concord,  Concord  Deaconess  Hospital. 

4  Attleboro,  Attleboro  Sanitarium. 

Homes  for  the  Aged. 

Massachusetts 

5  Concord,  Home  for  Aged  Methodist 
Women. 

Connecticut 

6  West  Haven,  Methodist  Church  Home  for 
Aged. 

Homes  for  Children. 

Massachusetts 

7  Haverhill,  Deaconess  Fresli  Air  Home. 

8  Fall  River,  Deaconess  Children’s  Home. 


New  England  Deaconess  Hospital,  Boston 


through  state  societies.  Last  year  the 
Massachusetts  Bible  Society  furnished 
Scriptures  in  forty-three  different  lan¬ 
guages.  The  Society  seeks  to  place  a  Bible 
in  the  hands  of  every  Sunday-school  pupil 
and  to  supply  every  missionary  worker 
with  Scriptures  as  needed.  The  ultimate 
program  calls  for  regular  colporteurs  on 
salary  and  for  special  workers,  such  as 
students  during  vacation  and  part  time 
workers  for  special  campaigns,  and  for 
circulating  the  Scriptures  in  every  tongue 
spoken  in  New  England. 

New  England’s  Need 

Methodism’s  heroic  achievements  in  the 
life  of  New  England  can  not  be  viewed 
against  the  background  of  the  colossal 
changes  in  that  historic  center  without 
revealing  that  here  is  a  world  mission 
field. 

The  need  is  for  greater  and  better 
equipment;  for  more  and  better  trained 
leaders;  for  prayers  and  consecration  of 
givers  and  servants  alike;  for  faith  that 
the  task  can  and  will  be  done,  if  the  spirit 
of  Christ  grips  His  people  and  if  loyalty 
to  His  ideals  become  a  part  of  every  life. 

The  task  made  concrete.' — Aside  from 
the  needs  of  the  institutions  and  agen¬ 
cies  already  indicated,  the  list  of  criti¬ 
cal  situations  in  New  England  calls  for 
churches  in  industrial  centers  sur¬ 
rounded  by  polyglot  peoples;  for  new 
mission  centers  in  rural  industrial  com¬ 
munities  of  Portuguese  and  Italian  peo¬ 
ple;  and  for  continuing  successful  exper¬ 
iments  of  re-establishing  our  work  in 
rural  agricultural  communities.  The 
task  grows  greater  as  illustrations  of  the 
types  of  need  are  revealed. 

In  Maine,  the  unchurched  Protestants 
outnumber  those  in  church  by  five  to  one, 
and  in  Massachusetts  by  three  to  one. 
Four  hundred  thousand  more  Protestant 
children  are  out  of  Sunday  school  in  New 
England  than  are  in  Sunday  school. 
Surely  the  challenge  to  Methodism  is  to 
“go  forward!”  in  New  England  with 
all  the  historic  missionary  zeal  which 
has  brought  it  to  its  commanding  place 
in  the  Christian  world. 


MIDDLE  ATLANTIC  STATES 


iiiiiimmiimmmmiiimiiimin 


NEW  YORK 
NEW  JERSEY 
PENNSYLVANIA 


INDUSTRIAL  CLASS,  CASA  DEL  POPOLO,  NEW  YORK  CITY 

On  the  one  hand,  the  city  stands  for  all  that  is  evil — a 
city  that  is  full  of  devils,  foul  and  corrupting;  and,  on 
the  other  hand,  the  city  stands  for  all  that  is  noble,  full 
of  the  glory  of  God,  and  shining  with  a  clear  and  brilliant 
light. 

Lyman  Abbott 


MIDDLE  ATLANTIC  STATES 


The  World  in  America 

The  Statue  of  Liberty  is  the  keeper  of 
the  gate  to  the  City  of  All  Nations.  The 
City  of  All  Nations,  in  turn,  is  the  portal 
to  a  land  which  has  gathered  in  its  fold 
the  millions  from  the  near  and  far-flung 
corners  of  the  earth. 

The  concentration  of  the  nationalities 
has  naturally  taken  place  at  the  gate¬ 
way — so  New  York  City  is  the  foreign¬ 
speaking  center  of  America.  From  there 
the  spread  has  been  fan-shaped,  sweeping 
from  New  England’s  shores  across  New 
York  state  and  Pennsylvania,  into  the 
more  distant  states,  and  to  the  coast  of 
New  Jersey. 

The  immigrant  today  who  leans  far  out 
over  the  rail  of  the  incoming 
ship  to  catch  his  first  glimpse  of 
the  Statue  of  Liberty  outlined 
against  the  sky,  to  trace  along 
the  horizon  the  skyline  of  the 
Wonder  City,  and  to  thrill  with 


the  surcharge  of  new  life  in  a  new  world 
of  undreamed  opportunity — that  immi¬ 
grant  may  be  from  the  industrial  cen¬ 
ter  of  England,  from  strife-torn  Ire¬ 
land,  from  ravaged  Poland,  from  hungry 
Austria,  from  mysterious  Russia,  or  from 
sunny  Italy.  It  matters  not,  because  he 
soon  will  be  at  home — he  will  find  in  the 
Middle  Atlantic  states,  New  York,  Penn¬ 
sylvania,  and  New  Jersey,  great  numbers 
of  his  own  countrymen. 

An  immigrant’s  journey. — Let  the  New 
American  journey  through  the  environs 
of  the  adjacent  states.  At  the  threshold 
of  his  pilgrimage  lies  the  City  of  New 
York  itself,  the  first  city  of  America  and, 
in  many  ways,  the  first  of  the  world.  The 
vastness,  the  strangeness,  the 
apparent  incomprehensibility  of 
it  will  awe  him,  just  as  it  does 
the  native  Americans. 

Here  the  New  American  will 
discover  5,600,000  people  center- 


255 


256 


WORLD  SERVICE 


The  sky-line  of  the  City  of  all  Nations 


ing  their  lives — the  factories,  offices,  mills, 
and  shops  where  they  work,  the  tenements 
and  palaces  where  they  dwell,  the  glitter¬ 
ing  theaters  and  the  dingy  dance  halls 
where  they  amuse  themselves,  and  sundry 
churches  where  they  worship.  Greater 
New  York  has  more  people  than  the  states 
of  California,  Oregon,  and  Washington.  It 
has  a  population  as  large  as  the  next  three 
largest  cities  combined :  Chicago,  Phila¬ 
delphia,  and  Detroit. 

Traveling  “upstate.” — The  journey  of 
the  New  American  may  bear  him  out 
beyond  the  confines  of  Greater  New  York, 
up  the  historic  Hudson,  to  the  rest  of  the 
Empire  State.  In  the  northern  part  he 
will  find  thousands  of  French  settlers  who 
have  migrated  from  Canada,  taken  up 
farms,  or  settled  in  cities.  In  the  north¬ 
eastern  portion  is  one  of  the  pleasure 
resort  sections  of  America,  where  thou¬ 
sands  come  to  see  the  picturesque  beau¬ 
ties  of  the  Adirondacks  and  the  Catskills, 
and  to  spend  their  vacation  season. 

He  will  travel  through  fertile  farming 
regions,  where  fruits  and  grains  grow  in 
abundance.  Here  much  of  the  old  Ameri¬ 
can  stock  is  to  be  found— the  character¬ 
istic  Empire  State  type  before  the  inun¬ 
dation  from  foreign  shores.  In  some  sec¬ 
tions  Italians  and  other  foreign-speaking 
peoples  are  established  on  farms,  intro¬ 
ducing  a  new  rural  type.  They  are  in 
colonies  in  the  “up-state”  cities  also, 
especially  in  the  industrial  centers.  Many 
cities  will  be  visited  which  are  still  pre¬ 


dominantly  of  the  native  American  type, 
cities  of  fine  homes,  splendid  churches,  and 
widely-known  colleges  and  universities. 

From  the  Lackawanna  steel  works  on 
the  Lake  Erie  border  of  Buffalo  to  the 
great  manufacturing  plants  at  Niagara 
Falls  stretches  the  twenty-five  mile  “Niag¬ 
ara  Frontier,”  one  of  the  most  highly 
organized  industrial  regions  of  America. 
The  development  of  this  region  has  hardly 
begun,  although  it  now  produces  a  more 
varied  assortment  of  goods  than  any  simi¬ 
lar  portion  of  the  United  States,  with  the 
exception  of  New  York.  Abundant  power 
is  supplied  by  the  Falls;  lake  steamers 
bring  raw  materials  at  low  cost;  easy 
access  is  given  to  foreign  and  domestic 
markets  by  railroads,  a  barge  canal,  and, 
in  time,  the  St.  Lawrence-to-the-Atlantic 
steamship  canal. 

Visiting  Pennsylvania. — If  the  New 
American  makes  his  pilgrimage  a  “swing 
around  the  circle”,  he  will  drop  southwest 
from  Buffalo  and  enter  “the  Pittsburgh 
District”,  another  vast  industrial  region, 
the  steel  center  of  the  world.  Here,  too, 
are  great  colonies  of  foreign-speaking 
people  employed  in  the  steel  mills,  and  in 
the  related  coke  and  coal  industries. 

From  Chestnut  Ridge  of  the  Allegheny 
mountains,  he  will  see  stretched  out  before 
him  more  than  two  hundred  company- 
owned  mining  towns  ranging  from  a  few 
hundred  to  several  thousand  polyglot  peo¬ 
ples — all  this  where  once  was  an  ordinary, 
peaceful  farming  region. 


MIDDLE  ATLANTIC 


257 


In  the  northern  part  of  Pennsylvania, 
the  visitor  would  find  a  rural  section  of 
the  old  type;  in  central  Pennsylvania  a 
heavy  industrial  and 
mining  region;  and  in  the 
southeastern  part  the  most 
fertile  and  best  developed 
agricultural  section  of  the 
state.  The  whole  north¬ 
eastern  portion  forms  the 
vast  anthracite  mining  re¬ 
gion,  with  its  hundreds  of 
thousands  of  underground 
toilers  mostly  foreign¬ 
speaking  Slavs. 

Studying  Philadelphia. — 

The  climax  of  his  visit  to 
Pennsylvania  would  bring 
him  to  Philadelphia,  third 
city  of  America.  Here  he 
would  discover  the  center 
of  1,823,000  people,  a  city 
of  rich  historical  tradition, 
and  a  great  industrial  and 
commercial  metropolis.  In 
the  shadow  of  Independ¬ 
ence  Hall  he  would  find 
swarming  multitudes 
speaking  tongues  strange 
to  the  fathers  of  America. 

He  would  find  a  city  of 
great  churches,  and  yet  a 
city  where  many  thousands 
are  unreached  by  the  social  or  spiritual 
ministry  of  any  church. 

Touring  New  Jersey. — The  pilgrimage  to 
New  Jersey  would  take  the  New  American 
to  the  congested  foreign-speaking  centers 
of  Newark,  Jersey  City,  and  Hoboken.  He 
would  find  happy  and  contented  suburban 
residential  towns  but  each  one  with  its 
handful  of  “foreigners”,  and  scores  of 
industrial  communities  large  and  small.  A 
side-trip  south  would  bear  him  through 
the  central  portion  of  the  state,  a  back¬ 
ward,  unfertile  rural  section,  where  dwell 
the  celebrated  “pineys” — an  ignorant, 
illiterate,  and  superstitious  group  living  in 
the  shadow  of  some  of  the  greatest  cities 
of  the  world.  All  of  southern  New  Jersey 
is  the  dairy  and  market  garden  for  New 


York,  Philadelphia,  and  adjacent  cities. 
The  native  American  population  is  inter¬ 
spersed  with  numerous  rural  Italian 
colonies,  and  a  few  Jewish 
agricultural  communities. 
Along  the  coast  is  a  contin¬ 
uous  stretch  of  summer  re¬ 
sorts,  Atlantic  City  being 
known  to  America  and  all 
the  world. 

A  Panorama  of  Com¬ 
plexity 

Surveying  the  field — If, 
at  his  journey’s  end,  the 
New  American  should 
make  a  study  of  these  Mid¬ 
dle  Atlantic  states,  he 
would  learn  that  their  total 
population  is  22,261,144 
people,  of  whom  16,672,595, 
or  74.9  per  cent  are  urban 
— living  in  cities  of  2,500 
or  more — and  5,588,549,  or 
25.1  per  cent,  are  rural.  Of 
the  total,  4,912,575  are  for¬ 
eign-born,  and  600,183  Ne¬ 
gro.  The  striking  fact  is 
that  while  the  net  increase 
in  population  for  the  Mid¬ 
dle  Atlantic  states,  between 
1910  and  1920  was  15.2 
per  cent,  a  trifle  higher 
than  the  United  States  at  large,  the  for¬ 
eign-born  increase  was  only  1.8  per  cent, 
while  the  Negro  increase  was  43.6  percent. 


Mill  section,  Pittsburgh,  Pennsylvania 


Headquarters  of  the  Board 
of  Home  Missions  and  Church 
Extension — Wesley  Building, 
Philadelphia,  owned  by  the 
Permanent  Fund  of  the  Board. 


258 


WORLD  SERVICE 


Blue  Birds’  Industrial  Club,  Italian  Branch — 
Elm  Park  Methodist  Episcopal  Church, 
Scranton,  Pennsylvania 


The  principal  foreign-born  elements  and 
their  number,  are  as  follows:  English, 
272,752;  Irish,  472,319;  German,  508,226; 
Polish,  515,708;  Austrian,  310,844;  Hun¬ 
garian,  190,224;  Russian,  763,891;  Italian, 
925,222 ;  and  Czecho-Slovaks,  123,863.  The 
section  contains  more  English,  Irish, 
Polish,  Austrian,  Hungarian,  Russian  and 
Italian  people  than  any  other  section  of 
the  United  States.  Pennsylvania  has  the 
largest  Negro  population,  284,568. 

The  city’s  challenge. — The  Middle  Atlan¬ 
tic  states,  the  greatest  city  area  of  Amer¬ 
ica,  naturally  presents  the  city  as  its  great¬ 
est  problem.  What  is  the  problem  of  the 
city?  Pre-eminently  it  is  the  submergence 
of  humanity  and  personality  in  the  depths 
of  crass  materialism.  Competition  at  its 
keenest,  selfishness  in  its  most  intense 
form,  the  struggle  for  a  living  the  severest 
— all  these  are  but  phases  of  that  mate¬ 
rialism.  In  New  York,  the  metropolis,  it 
heads  up  in  its  most  virulent  form.  Its 
overwhelming  magnitude,  its  seething 
multitudes,  the  maddening  craze  for 
amusements,  the  perpetual  motion  of  the 
swirling  mass,  the  deadening  monotony  of 
its  work,  the  cold-blooded  materialism  of 
its  thinking,  the  maelstrom  of  its  loneli¬ 
ness,  its  every  known  variety  of  human¬ 
ity,  the  multi-family  dwellings,  money  lure 
and  “working  papers”,  and  finally  the  class 
cleavages,  these  are  some  of  the  condi¬ 


tions  of  city  life  that  try  men’s  souls.  The 
analysis  of  it  is  made  vivid  in  a  recent 
study  entitled,  The  Case  for  Old  New 
York.1 

Things  hopeful. — Set  over  against  these 
destructive  elements  are  some  hopeful 
characteristics : 

The  upward  striving  of  the  city  masses: 
everywhere  there  is  seething  discontent 
with  present  conditions. 

The  passion  of  the  new  Americans  for 
education:  public  schools  are  jammed  with 
eager  learners  of  many  races ;  college  and 
university  enrolments  tell  the  same  story; 
educational  work  of  churches  and  settle¬ 
ments  brings  a  great  response. 

The  emotional  temperament  and  the 
generous  benevolence  of  New  York  people. 

A  world  mission  field.— -New  York  has 
become  a  world  mission  field.  The  moral 
and  spiritual  resources  for  its  own 
advancement  and  regeneration  are  not 
available  within  its  own  borders.  The 
evangelization  of  New  York  is  a  task  for 
America.  As  the  greatest  city  New  York 
presents  the  greatest  missionary  oppor¬ 
tunity.  No  greater  task  faces  the  church 
of  America  today  than  the  spiritual  con¬ 
quest  of  its  cities.  The  situation  in  New 
York  is  duplicated,  to  a  lesser  degree,  in 
a  hundred  other  metropolitan  centers 
throughout  the  United  States,  every  one 
of  which  is  a  challenge  to  the  church. 
Indeed,  in  some  centers  of  smaller  popula¬ 
tion,  certain  given  social  conditions  are 
worse,  due  to  the  fact  that  New  York  as 
a  municipality  has  taken  the  lead  in 
ameliorating  many  evils. 

The  industrial  field. — Industrialism,  with 
the  social  and  economic  conditions  which 
it  engenders,  is  woven  into  the  life  of  these 
three  states.  In  fact,  the  Middle  Atlantic 
states  along  with  New  England  form  the 
industrial  heart  of  America.  It  may  be 
in  the  cities,  in  the  town  or  rural  industrial 
regions,  the  problems  are  much  the  same. 

1  Single  copies  may  be  secured  free  of  charge  bv 
addressing  The  New  York  City  Society  of  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  150  Fifth  Ave.,  New 
York.  N.  Y. 


MIDDLE  ATLANTIC 


259 


Class  distinctions,  misunderstandings,  bit¬ 
terness,  congested  housing,  lack  of  recre¬ 
ational  facilities,  social  and  economic  pov¬ 
erty,  exhausting  toil,  long  hours  (the 
twelve-hour  day  still  lives),  and  spiritual 
stultification — all  these  arise  concurrently 
with  an  intensified  industrialism.  There 
are  few  sections  of  New  York,  New  Jersey, 
or  Pennsylvania  which  are  not  touched 
with  it  to  lesser  or  greater  degree.  Here  in 
the  past  has  been  industrial  warfare, 
marked  by  bloodshed  and  no  quarter.  In 
some  places  some  of  the  strife  has  sub¬ 
sided.  But  the  provocative  conditions  have 
not  been  removed.  In  some  industries, 
great  progress  has  been  made  in  reconcil¬ 
iation  of  capital  and  labor  and  in  the  reali¬ 
zation  of  brotherhood  in  toil.  Little  has 
been  registered  in  these  eastern  mining 
regions.  The  barbaric  rule  of  exploitation 
is  still  to  be  found.  As  this  is  being  writ¬ 
ten,  60,000  men  of  southwestern  Pennsyl¬ 
vania  are  still  on  strike  fighting  for  stand¬ 
ard  conditions  of  labor  and  wage  scale. 
Their  families  have  spent  the  winter  hud¬ 
dled  in  tents  in  the  snow,  while  a  family 
of  seven,  a  typical  family,  had  to  get  along 
on  the  union  allowance  of  $4.25  a  week. 

New  rural  types. — The  spread  of  foreign¬ 
speaking  peoples  into  the  countryside — 
for  most  of  the  immigrants  were  farmers 
in  Europe — creates  a  situation  of  two 
angles:  first,  it  is  a  problem  to  the  indi¬ 
vidual  rural  church,  which  finds  its  native 
American  constituency  being  replaced  by 


The  Ford  brings  the  missionary  and  the 
missionary  brings  a  helpful  service  to 
the  Italian  farmers  of  South  Jersey 


This  lass  is  an  Italian  migrant  worker  in  a 
string-bean  field.  Central  New 
York  state 


a  foreign-speaking,  non-Protestant  ele¬ 
ment;  second,  it  is  an  opportunity  to  the 
church  at  large  to  evangelize  the  foreign- 
born  under  favorable  surroundings,  that 
is,  it  is  easier  to  reach  him  in  the  open, 
rural  regions  than  in  the  congested  city 
colonies  where  the  very  mass  overwhelms. 

The  American  farmers  are  progressive 
and  co-operative,  while  the  rural  churches 
are  often  static,  only  a  few  modern  pro¬ 
grams  having  been  developed  in  the  last 
four  or  five  years.  The  foreign-speaking 
farmers  generally  work  by  intensive  farm¬ 
ing,  acreage  that  American  farmers  do 
not  find  profitable.  Trained  leadership 
and  community  programs  and  equipment 
are  necessary  to  revive  the  stagnant  farm 
life  and  to  meet  the  changing  needs  where 
foreign-speaking  peoples  are  replacing  the 
native  American.  An  increasing  mission¬ 
ary  problem  is  involved  in  the  process,  as 
more  of  these  rural  churches  are  con¬ 
stantly  coming  for  help  to  the  church  at 
large. 

Other  problems. — Summer  resorts  with 
their  transient  populations,  especially  in 
the  mountain  and  lake  regions  of  New 
York  and  Pennsylvania  and  the  coast  of 


260 


WORLD  SERVICE 


With  this  type  of  church,  Methodism  is  serving 
the  rural  need — Harpursville,  New  York 


New  Jersey,  repeat  the  opportunities  and 
problems  of  other  resort  communities, 
likewise,  the  student  centers  found  in 
abundance  throughout  these  heavily  popu¬ 
lated  states,  especially  in  and  around  New 
York  and  Philadelphia.  The  small  fruit 
and  vegetable  industries  in  fields,  orchards 
and  canneries  bring  thousands  of  immi¬ 
grant  workers,  especially  women  and  chil¬ 
dren,  into  the  small  villages  and  open 
country  from  the  cities,  creating  an  ab¬ 
normal  social  life  that  challenges  both 
local  and  general  leadership. 

Methodism  at  work. — In  this  vast  cru¬ 
cible,  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  is 
toiling  with  vigor  and  vision  to  invest  it 
with  spiritual  devotion.  It  is  no  stranger 
seeking  a  domicile  in  a  strange  land. 
Rather,  it  has  grown  up  with  the  people 
and  become  a  part  of  their  life. 

Methodism  dates  back  to  Revolutionary 
days  in  this  historic  area,  the  circuit  rider 
sharing  the  hardships  and  the  tribulations 
of  the  early  pioneers  and  through  his  cour¬ 
ageous  ministry  built  himself  into  the  very 
life  of  the  colonies.  He  journeyed  across 
the  mountains  and  conquered  the  forests 
with  the  vanguard  of  civilization.  It  is 
fitting,  therefore,  that  the  church  he  rep¬ 
resented  should  be  known  as  a  church  of 
the  people. 

Living  witnesses. — Such  has  the  Meth¬ 
odist  Episcopal  Church  of  the  Middle 
Atlantic  states  continued  to  be.  Old-fash¬ 


ioned,  white  houses  of  worship  which  have 
stood  for  a  century  in  rustic  sections  of 
New  York  and  Pennsylvania  testify  to 
Methodism’s  ministry  to  the  traditional 
American  type  descendent  from  early 
days.  Great  temples  in  the  cities,  with 
towering  spires,  magnificent  organs  and 
throngs  of  well-dressed  people,  tell  the 
story  of  how  Methodism  is  beginning  to 
adapt  herself  to  the  demands  of  twentieth 
century  metropolitan  centers.  Mission 
halls  in  the  underworld  sections,  settle¬ 
ment  houses  where  children  fight  for 
breathing  space  and  where  poverty  hangs 
like  a  fog  over  life,  institutional  churches 
where  the  social  need  is  great  and  recrea¬ 
tional  life  is  stunted,  conventional  churches 
in  normal  residential  districts,  rural  com¬ 
munity  churches,  flourishing  congrega¬ 
tions  in  town  and  country,  orphanages, 
hospitals,  old  people’s  homes,  colleges, 
academies,  universities,  all  these,  and 
more,  reveal  how  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church  is  growing  and  changing  with  the 
communities  as  they  have  been  wrought 
into  the  vast  new  empire  of  the  Middle 
Atlantic  states. 

The  church  today. — In  1922  there  were 
885,096  full  members  on  the  roll  of  the 
church  in  the  Middle  Atlantic  states,  and 
it  had  4,834  church  buildings.  The  Sun¬ 
day-school  enrolment  was  1,021,321,  while 
the  Senior  Epworth  League  had  117,006 
members  and  the  Junior  Epworth  League 
55,457.  The  total  benevolences  were 
$5,665,287,  while  the  total  paid  for  all  pur¬ 
poses  was  $22,678,311,  or  $25.62  per  cap¬ 
ita.  This  is  the  fourth  highest  rate  of  giv¬ 
ing  among  Methodist  Episcopal  churches 
of  the  nine  census  divisions  of  the  United 
States. 

Institutions  of  service. — In  the  present 
register  of  Methodism  in  the  Middle  Atlan¬ 
tic  states  will  be  found  three  colleges  and 
universities,  one  theological  seminary, 
eight  secondary  schools  and  two  training 
schools ;  student  work  maintained  at  seven 
non-Methodist  educational  institutions, 
including  some  of  the  leading  universities 
of  America;  thirty-five  summer  schools 
and  missionary  institutes  of  various  types ; 


MIDDLE  ATLANTIC 


261 


and  twenty-five  hospitals,  orphanages,  and 
homes  for  the  aged  and  infirm. 

Methodism  at  the  Front 

How  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  is 
measuring  up  to  the  mountainous  task  in 
this  industrial  heart  of  America  can  only 
be  indicated  here.  A  survey  or  compre¬ 
hensive  study  of  its  service  would  require 
volumes  to  portray.  A  few  of  the  high 
lights  may  serve  to  illuminate  the  whole 
picture. 

The  mission  field  of  New  York  City. — In 

a  population  where  every  third  person  is 
a  Roman  Catholic,  every  fourth  person  a 
Jew,  and  every  hundredth  person  is  a 
Methodist,  there  are  only  fifty-two  Meth¬ 
odist  Episcopal  churches  to  carry  on  the 
denomination’s  share  of  evangelizing  the 
3,000,000  people  in  Manhattan  and  the 
Bronx.  In  greater  New  York,  with  its 
5,620,000  people,  there  are  only  140  Meth¬ 
odist  Episcopal  Churches. 

Metropolitan  Temple  stands  in  a  parish 
of  90,000  people.  A  canvass  of  twenty-six 
blocks  nearest  the  church  located  400 
unchurched  Protestant  families,  from 
whom  200  new  members  for  the  church 
were  secured.  The  church  has  a  Spanish 
membership  of  100,  and  has  a  varied  pro¬ 
gram  of  community  and  welfare  service. 

“Always  Open.” — With  a  blazing  electric 
cross  to  carry  its  message  to  the  passing 
throngs  of  pleasure-seek¬ 
ers  on  Broadway  just 
“ninety-nine  steps  away,” 
the  widely  known  Union 
Methodist  Episcopal 
Church  is  Methodism’s 
great  effort  to  meet  the 
challenge  of  the  hotel  and 
theatre  center  of  the 
world’s  greatest  city.  Here 
the  Board  of  Home  Mis¬ 
sions  and  Church  Exten¬ 
sion  has  represented  the 
church  at  large  in  a  pro¬ 
gram  to  serve  the  passing 
thousands.  Its  possibili¬ 
ties,  as  seen  by  the  New 
York  City  Society,  are 


a  pulpit  for  Methodism’s  greatest 
preacher;  a  social  and  religious  clinic;  an 
interpreter  of  the  art  and  idealism  of  the 
great  metropolis;  the  travelers’  New  York 
City  church;  a  complete  neighborhood 
service,  regardless  of  profession  or  occu¬ 
pation;  a  Christian  colony  of  volunteer 
workers  resident  in  the  property;  a  meet¬ 
ing  place  for  kindred  assemblies ;  a  center 
of  friendship  for  the  lonely;  a  civic  and 
religious  forum;  and  a  center  of  popular 
education. 

The  Church  of  All  Nations — In  the 
heart  of  a  tenement  district  where  hun¬ 
dreds  of  thousands  of  many  nations  swel¬ 
ter  in  summer  and  freeze  in  winter,  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church  has  developed 
a  tremendous  center  of  friendship  and 
help.  It  is  well  named  the  Church  of  All 
Nations,  because  in  this  concentrated  sec¬ 
tion  of  the  lower  East  Side,  where  416,000 
people  are  huddled,  97!/2  per  cent  of  them 
are  of  foreign  birth  or  parentage.  His¬ 
torically,  the  church  represents  at  least 
eight  strong  and  influential  Methodist 
Episcopal  churches,  many  of  them  with 
a  membership  of  1,000  or  more  in  the  days 
when  the  population  was  native  Ameri¬ 
can  which  moved  away  or  closed  the 
churches  with  the  influx  of  foreign  hordes. 
The  Church  of  All  Nations  stands  as  the 
last  outpost  in  the  wilderness,  and  of  it  is 
said  that  “nowhere  in  this  country  does 


262 


WORLD  SERVICE 


the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  face  so 
gigantic  a  task  in  the  evangelization  of 
new  Americans  as  at  this  center.” 

Through  the  Board  of  Home  Missions 
and  Church  Extension  and  the  New  York 
City  Society,  there  has  recently  been  dedi¬ 
cated  an  equipment  equal  to  any  for  settle¬ 
ment  and  home  missionary  work.  The  new 
main  building,  supplementing  the  five- 
story  tenement  house  in  use  so  long,  will 
be  able  to  minister  to  thousands  of  needy 
people  in  varied  ways,  from  the  physical 
benefits  of  a  gymnasium  and  open-air  roof 
and  the  educational  opportunities  of  the 
class  rooms,  to  the  religious  service  of  the 
chapel. 

The  work  at  present  includes  organized 
social  and  religious  activities  in  three  for¬ 
eign  languages,  Russian,  Italian,  and  Chi¬ 
nese.  A  program  of  religious  education 
reaches  several  hundred  people,  while  the 
recreation  program  serves  many  more. 
English  is  taught  to  the  foreign-born. 
There  is  a  daily  kindergarten  of  fifty  little 
children.  Here  the  Russian  Collegiate 
Institute  conducts  a  pro¬ 
gram  for  250  students  each 
winter.  The  Chinese  Mis¬ 
sion  in  Chinatown  is  a  de¬ 
partment.  There  are  a 
fresh-air  summer  home  for 
tired  mothers  and  children, 
a  Daily  Vacation  Bible 
School,  and  Sunday  reli¬ 
gious  services. 

St.  James  Church.  —  St. 

James  Methodist  Episco¬ 
pal  Church  is  in  a  commu¬ 
nity  of  35,000  people  who 
were  thought  to  be  entirely 
unapproachable  to  the 
Protestant  work.  A  thor¬ 
ough  survey  located  4,000 
Protestants  having  no 
membership  within  a  ra¬ 
dius  of  four  blocks  of 
the  church.  The  staff  has 
been  enlarged  and  twenty- 
nine  different  activities  are 


personal  evangelism  and  religious  educa¬ 
tion. 

Methodism’s  premier  Italian  center.— In 
the  midst  of  an  Italian  colony  of  100,000 
people  in  New  York  stands  the  Jefferson 
Pai  k  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  carry¬ 
ing  on  the  greatest  Italian  social  and  reli¬ 
gious  work  which  American  Methodism 
knows.  It  consists  of  an  adapted  church 
building,  the  Wood  Memorial  Casa  del 
Popolo  Community  House,  and  a  Fresh 
Air  Home.  It  is  a  community  and  reli¬ 
gious  center  ministering  to  15,000  people 
a  month. 

Foi  ty  activities  are  on  the  weekly  cal¬ 
endar,  including  Americanization  classes, 
industrial  classes  for  boys,  cooking  and 
sewing  classes  for  girls,  Boy  Scouts,  Girl 
Scouts,  organized  athletics  and  recreation, 
lectures,  moving  pictures,  a  children’s 
assembly,  and  vesper  service  Sunday  after¬ 
noons  attended  by  from  800  to  1,000 
weekly,  a  day  kindergarten,  and  special 
preparatory  membership  classes. 

A  church  of  many  peoples.— Situated  in 
a  single  city  block  in  which 
dwell  over  2,500  men, 
women,  and  children,  who 
speak  twenty  different  lan¬ 
guages,  is  the  People’s 
Home  Church  and  Settle¬ 
ment.  No  other  work  in 
New  York  is  so  inten¬ 
sive  in  its  character. 
From  the  children  who  fill 
the  surrounding  tenements 
and  swarm  into  the  streets 
after  school  hours,  the 
church  takes  boys  and  girls 
and  builds  them  into  Chris¬ 
tian  citizens. 

In  other  centers. — Within 
the  limits  of  this  story, 
mention  can  only  be  made 
of  the  Church  of  our  Sa¬ 
vior,  the  only  Protestant 
work  among  10,000  Ital¬ 
ians  in  Yonkers;  of  the 
Five  Points  Mission,  lo- 


; . r,°,  ■■■HhmbHH  rive  Joints  Mission,  lo- 

with  special  emphasis  Uon  Proposed  Smithfie,d  Street  Build-  cf!ed  ™  t.he  heart  °.f  the 

1  nasis  on  mg,  Putsburgh,  Pennsylvania  oldest  Italian  colony  in  the 


MIDDLE  ATLANTIC 


263 


city;  of  Hadley  Rescue  Hall,  in  the 
historic  Bowery,  where,  in  addition  to  the 
rescue  mission  hall,  are  dormitory  accom¬ 
modations  for  about  fifty  men  who  have 
nowhere  else  to  lay  their  heads,  and  facil¬ 
ities  for  feeding  the  hungry  and  clothing 
the  destitute  in  all  times  of  need;  of  the 
Japanese  Church  and  institute  command¬ 
ing  the  respect  of  the  Japanese  population ; 
and  of  the  famous  Mission  in  China¬ 
town,  its  first  efforts  more  than  a  dozen 
years  ago  in  a  little  hall — no  success — 
street  preaching — a  convert  now  and  then 
— some  scoffs  and  jeers — a  growing  con¬ 
fidence — a  greater  harvest — a  developing 
religious  work. 

In  the  greatest  Negro  city. — New  York 
has  the  largest  Negro  population  of  any 
city  in  the  world.  In  one  section,  Harlem, 
are  to  be  found  150,000  Negroes,  and 
there  is  church  provision  for  only  20,000 
of  them.  There  are  four  Methodist  Epis¬ 
copal  churches  among  the  Negroes  in  New 
York,  St.  Mark’s,  Salem,  Epworth,  and 
Butler  Memorial.  Provision  has  been  made 
in  Harlem  by  the  Board  of  Home  Missions 
and  Church  Extension  for  a  new  site  for 
St.  Mark’s,  a  church  with  2,500  members, 
worshipping  further  dcfvvntown,  for  a  new 
church  property  for  Salem,  and  similarly 
for  Epworth.  Butler  Memorial  has  pur¬ 
chased  a  site  for  a  new  church.  In  Brook¬ 
lyn,  the  John  Wesley  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church  (Negro)  is  meeting  in  what  once 
was  a  Greek  Catholic  Church. 

Methodism  in  Brooklyn. — Here,  too,  the 
church  is  brought  face  to  face  with  great 
foreign-speaking  colonies,  transient  neigh¬ 
borhoods  and  other  situations  which  make 
the  work  of  the  church  difficult. 

Co-operation  between  the  Board  of 
Home  Missions  and  Church  Extension  and 
the  Brooklyn  and  Long  Island  Church 
Society  have  enabled  the  church  to  go  for¬ 
ward  in  many  places.  Knickerbocker 
Avenue  Church  is  an  illustration.  Founded 
more  than  twenty-five  years  ago,  its 
first  meeting  place  was  in  an  old  store. 
Around  it  were  erected  thousands  of  flats 
to  which  came  many  thousands  of  people 
to  live.  A  Sunday  school  grew  until  it 


Class  in  English  language — Casa  del  Popolo, 
New  York  City 


had  500  members,  and  no  more  could  be 
jammed  into  the  decrepit  old  quarters. 
Through  help,  a  splendid  new  edifice  was 
erected,  adapted  to  community  uses.  More 
than  150  new  members  were  added  in  a 
short  time,  and  140  new  Sunday-school 
pupils  were  enrolled  in  one  season. 

Old  John  Street  Church.— No  story  of 
all-New  York  Methodism,  whether  told  in 
the  terms  of  the  past,  the  present,  or  the 
future,  would  be  complete  without  rever¬ 
ential  attention  to  that  shrine  of  Amer¬ 
ican  Methodism,  old  John  Street  Church. 
Located  far  down-town,  near  the  tip  of 
Manhattan  Island,  and  surrounded  by  the 
towering  temples  of  business,  this  modest 
temple  of  worship  stands  on  ground  which 
has  been  hallowed  by  Methodist  worship 
for  a  longer  time  than  any  other  spot  on 
the  American  continent. 

A  successful  down-town  church. — “Sold 
out  to  a  factory”  need  no  longer  be  the 
epitaph  of  the  once  prosperous,  preten¬ 
tious  church  which  finds  itself  in  the  down¬ 
town  section  or  in  the  foreign-speaking 
neighborhood  of  a  great  city.  St.  Paul’s 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church  of  Jersey 
City,  N.  J.,  was  one  of  the  great  churches 
of  the  denomination  thirty  years  ago,  with 
a  membership  of  more  than  a  thousand 
people.  They  disappeared,  however,  be¬ 
fore  the  inrush  of  Italian,  Russian,  and 
Polish  people.  Now  the  church,  with  an 
adapted  religious  and  social  ministry,  is 
on  the  upgrade  and  is  training  and  nurtur¬ 
ing  these  foreign-speaking  people  in  a 
work  organized  in  six  racial  groups. 


264 


WORLD  SERVICE 


“The  Newsboys’  Church.” — This  might 
be  the  title  applied  to  the  Market  Street 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  at  Paterson, 
N.  J.,  where  120  Jewish,  Catholic  and  Prot¬ 
estant  newsboys  are  daily  gathered  in  for 
refreshment,  a  “sing”,  and  then  a  religious 
service.  A  number  of  them  have  come 
in  to  the  Sunday  school.  In  this  church, 
in  the  heart  of  a  great  industrial  city, 
there  are  naturally  many  opportunities  for 
Christian  service.  Helping  a  sick  Portu¬ 
guese  lad,  aiding  a  deaf  Armenian  girl, 
carrying  on  a  Chinese  Sunday  school,  all 
these  are  typical,  picturesque  activities  of 
such  a  church.  Ninety  thousand  people  live 
within  a  radius  of  one  mile  of  this  church. 

At  work  in  Philadelphia. — The  second 
city  of  the  Middle  Atlantic  states,  and  the 
third  of  America,  Philadelphia  is  Metho¬ 
dism’s  greatest  metropolitan  stronghold. 
It  has  112  Methodist  Episcopal  churches, 
compared  to  140  in  Greater  New  York,  and 
96  in  Chicago.  Philadelphia’s  world  repu¬ 
tation  as  a  center  of  culture  and  religious 
expression  often  obscures  the  fact  that 
the  settling  of  hordes  of  immigrants  in 
congested  quarters  and  the  housing  of  a 
great  Negro  population  in  run-down  neigh¬ 
borhoods  create  keen  social  and  religious 
problems.  Philadelphia  has  its  foreign¬ 
speaking  colonies,  its  tenements,  its  indus¬ 
trial  communities  and  its  rapidly  growing 
suburbs,  all  of  which  challenge  the  church 
to  greater  action. 


Probationers’  class,  Kaighn  Avenue  Church,  Camden,  N.  J. 


The  Fifth  Street  Temple. — What  kind  of 
a  church  would  one  expect  to  find  eight 
blocks  from  Independence  Hall,  four  blocks 
from  Benjamin  Franklin’s  grave,  three 
blocks  from  old  St.  George’s  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church,  a  shrine  of  American 
Methodism,  and  five  blocks  from  Betsy 
Ross’s  house  where  the  first  American  flag 
was  made?  The  instinctive  answer  would 
be  a  great  church  in  a  patriotic  American 
neighborhood.  Yet  what  is  the  case? 
Hear  the  story  of  the  Fifth  Street  Temple. 

This  neighborhood,  rich  in  its  traditions 
of  American  liberty  and  patriotism,  today 
is  distinctively  polyglot,  housing  100,000 
people,  Jewish,  Polish,  and  Lithuanian  pre¬ 
dominating.  The  old  church  and  its  old 
program  were  about  to  pass  out  when  the 
Board  of  Home  Missions  and  Church 
Extension  took  hold.  A  splendid  new  com¬ 
munity  building  was  erected  and  in  three 
years  the  neighborhood  became  a-throb 
with  a  new  spiritual  zeal  and  new  life. 

Today  2,500  people  are  often  ministered 
to  in  a  single  week;  there  is  a  Sunday 
school  of  500,  of  fourteen  different  nation¬ 
alities,  and  an  enrolment  in  classes  and 
clubs  of  600  different  individuals;  a  wom¬ 
an’s  club  of  100;  a  kindergarten  of  75  to 
100  children;  a  group  of  forty  volunteer 
wor kers ;  a  domestic  science  instructor, 
nurse,  boys’  worker,  girls’  worker,  and 
miscellaneous  other  organizations  and 
leaders.  Religious  work  is  emphasized,  and 
Sunday  services  have  a 
large  hold  on  the  neigh¬ 
borhood  life. 

One  of  the  world’s  great¬ 
est  churches.— A  member¬ 
ship  of  over  three  thou¬ 
sand  and  church  services 
in  relays  warrant  the  des¬ 
ignation  given  to  East 
Calvary  Methodist  Epis- 
pal  Church  in  Philadel¬ 
phia.  It  is,  in  many  ways, 
the  greatest  piece  of  work 
among  Negroes  in  the 
Methodist  Episcopal 
Church. 


MIDDLE  ATLANTIC 


265 


Negroes  crowd  the  services  of  East  Calvary  Methodist  tupiscopal 
Church,  Philadelphia,  Pennsylvania 


It  is  not  unusual,  when 
a  capacity  Sunday  con¬ 
gregation  has  been  dis¬ 
missed,  for  another  con¬ 
gregation  just  as  large  to 
be  awaiting  its  turn  for 
worship.  In  summer 
weather  it  is  necessary  to 
hold  services  in  a  huge 
tent  out  in  the  open.  For 
weeks  at  a  time  during 
cold  weather,  from  200  to 
500  men  nightly  have 
availed  themselves  of  the 
opportunity  to  sleep  in 
the  church  building  and 
have  a  free  warm  meal. 

Clothing  has  been  given 
to  hundreds  of  suffering,  shivering  men. 
Among  them,  eight  hundred  conversions 
took  place  in  a  few  months.  Many  white 
men  also  were  helped.  The  cost  of  the 
relief  work,  about  $70  a  day,  was  borne 
by  the  Negro  congregation  for  a  long 
time,  many  of  the  members  doing  without 
meals  and  new  clothing  so  that  the  more 
unfortunate  might  be  cared  for. 

The  Board  of  Home  Missions  and  Church 
Extension  has  made  it  possible  for  East 
Calvary  church  to  purchase  a  fine  new 
property  on  which  a  church  and  commu¬ 
nity  center  will  be  erected.  The  Board  also 
is  helping  six  other  Negro  churches  in 
Philadelphia  to  solve  the  new  problems 
growing  out  of  the  northern  migration. 

A  dying  church  revived. — What  home 
mission  and  church  extension  help  can 


Playground,  St.  Paul’s  Church 
Philadelphia,  Pennsylvania 


mean  to  a  congregation  is  illustrated  by 
the  Kaighn  Avenue  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church,  located  in  the  congested  section  of 
Camden,  N.  J.  For  many  years  this  church 
had  been  considered  a  forlorn  hope.  Often 
the  Sunday  morning  congregation  num¬ 
bered  only  eight  or  ten  persons.  At  least 
one-half  the  population  is  foreign-speak¬ 
ing.  A  modest  bit  of  missionary  aid  was 
given  and  a  capable  leadership  provided. 
After  less  than  two  years  of  such  a  pro¬ 
gram,  the  morning  and  evening  congrega¬ 
tions  fill  the  church  and  500  children 
attend  the  Monday  night  Happy  Hour 
service.  An  Italian  Sunday  school  also  is 
conducted. 

Methodism  in  Pittsburgh. — Forty  Meth¬ 
odist  Episcopal  Churches  make  Pittsburgh 
vibrant  with  a  great  program  of  forward- 
looking  Christianity.  In  addition  to  the 
great  self-supporting  centers,  one  might 
cite  the  new  Dormont  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church,  equipped  for  community  service; 
or  the  Oakland  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church  where  new  equipment  and  enlarged 
staff  are  making  possible  a  successful  work 
among  students ;  or  the  excellent  work  at 
Butler  Street,  Friendship  Park,  Laketon 
Heights,  the  Polish  Mission  and  the  two 
Italian  centers. 

Brimstone  Corner. — In  1788,  Pittsburgh 
was  listed  as  a  regular  Methodist  Episcopal 


18 


266 


WORLD  SERVICE 


“appointment,”  and  1817  a  church  was 
built,  now  the  Smithfield  Street  Church. 
Today  it  is  in  a  very  real  sense,  the  center 
of  the  Methodist  life  of  Pittsburgh.  It 
not  only  ministers  to  a  large  American  con¬ 
gregation  but  also  carries  on  an  important 
Italian  work,  and  the  building  serves  as 
the  headquarters  for  the  Methodist  Epis¬ 
copal  Church  Union.  The  Polish  work  is 
in  the  charge  of  a  former  miner  who  car¬ 
ried  on  religious  work  in  his  own  home 
among  his  own  people  for  fourteen  years 
before  he  became  a  Christian  minister.  A 
unique  city-wide  feature  is  the  employ¬ 
ment  of  an  Americanization  worker  and 
the  enlistment  of  numerous  volunteers  to 
teach  English.  Already  groups  of  Syrians, 
Slavs,  Chinese,  Spaniards,  Hungarians, 
Greeks  and  Italians  have  been  reached. 
Altogether,  nearly  fifty  different  institu¬ 
tions  or  separate  activities  are  aided  or 
supported  by  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church  Union — certainly  an  energizing 
city-wide  effort  of  evangelism  and  social 
service. 

A  developing  Negro  work. — In  the 
“Pittsburgh  District”,  comprising  twenty- 
seven  counties,  there  are  at  least  75,000 
Negroes,  one-third  of  whom  have  come 
north  since  the  war.  Aid  from  the  Board 
of  Home  Missions  and  Church  Extension 
has  made  possible  the  organization  of 
twenty  congregations.  However,  they 
have  only  eight  buildings  for  their  use. 
In  McKeesport,  one  of  the  largest  indus¬ 
trial  centers  of  the  Pittsburgh  region,  the 
Board  enabled  the  newly  organized  church 
to  purchase  a  property  formerly  used  as 
a  Jewish  synagogue.  In  two  years  it  has 
come  to  complete  self-support  and  makes 
a  substantial  benevolent  offering. 

A  Pentecostal  grayer  meeting. — Imagine 
a  prayer  meeting  where  the  Hungarian, 
Russian,  Polish,  Lithuanian,  French,  and 
German  languages  were  all  used  in  divine 
petition  !  Surely  it  would  be  as  if  Pente¬ 
cost  were  being  repeated.  Yet  such  hap¬ 
pens  in  the  Methodist  Episcopal  center  at 
North  Braddock  in  the  “Pittsburgh  Dis¬ 
trict”,  where  a  house-to-house  canvass  re¬ 


vealed  160  families  of  various  racial  groups 
without  religious  instruction.  The  one 
common  language  was  German,  so  a  Ger¬ 
man-speaking  missionary  was  provided. 
A  modern,  serviceable  church  was  built, 
and  a  membership  of  more  than  a  hundred 
people  was  recruited.  Already,  young  peo¬ 
ple  from  this  church  have  gone  into  train¬ 
ing  for  special  religious  work  among  for¬ 
eign-speaking  Americans. 

The  coke  missions. — “Where  the  grimy 
toilers  sweat  at  the  smoking  coke  ovens, 
among  the  foothills  of  southwestern  Penn¬ 
sylvania,”  is  located  our  unique  “Coke 
Mission.”  It  is  more  or  less  of  a  “moving 
van”  ministry  for  migrating  towns  and 
peoples,  but  it  is  none  the  less  efficient. 
In  its  area  are  scores  upon  scores  of  vil¬ 
lages,  like  a  great  irregular  checkerboard, 
with  a  network  of  trolley  and  railway  lines 
for  intercommunication.  In  the  villages 
is  a  close  commingling  of  many  races  and 
a  variety  of  languages,  cultures,  social 
forces  and  religions. 

The  Coke  Mission  was  launched  a  gener¬ 
ation  ago  by  the  Pittsburgh  conference. 
It  began  with  one  man  who  went  about 
preaching  and  doing  good.  Today,  among 


MIDDLE  ATLANTIC 


26  7 


A  kindergarten  in  the  W.  H.  M.  S.  Community 
House,  Leisenuring,  Pennsylvania — 

In  the  coke  region 


500,000  people,  half  of  whom  are  foreign- 
born  and  the  children  of  foreign-born,  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church  has  an  organ¬ 
ization  with  a  superintendent,  a  score  of 
chapels  and  community  houses,  about  fif¬ 
teen  paid  workers  and  two  hundred  volun¬ 
teers,  twenty-two  preaching  places,  and 
thirty-six  Sunday  schools  with  an  enrol¬ 
ment  of  2,200  pupils,  reporting  evangel¬ 
istic  meetings  whenever  and  wherever  the 
way  is  opened,  regular  preaching  in  many 
places,  street  preaching  by  foreign  work¬ 
ers,  house-to-house  sale  of  Bibles  and  other 
religious  literature,  language  churches 
maintained,  little  Sunday  schools  in  the  vil¬ 
lages,  week-day  schools  of  religious  edu¬ 
cation,  stereopticon  and  moving  pictures 
used  to  teach  religion,  hospital  and  social 
ministries  of  all  sorts,  playground,  girl 
scout  and  boy  scout  work,  industrial 
classes,  pageantry  and  music.  In  one 
report  are  listed  twenty-three  sewing- 
classes,  sixteen  baseball  teams,  and  sev¬ 
enteen  daily  vacation  Bible  schools.  It  is 
a  great  organization  with  a  cosmopolitan 
grasp  of  religious  needs  and  methods  of 
work.  It  is  aided  by  the  department  of 
rural  work  of  the  Board  of  Home  Mis¬ 
sions  and  Church  Extension. 

Sheaves  for  the  Kingdom.- — The  spiritual 
harvest  of  these  labors  is  typified  by  the 
first  foreign-language  work  in  the  coke 
district.  It  was  begun  among  the  Bohemi¬ 
ans  in  1898.  The  present  membership  is 


only  fifty,  only  one  more  than  at  the 
end  of  the  first  year,  yet  in  the  interven¬ 
ing  time  320  persons  have  been  baptized, 
and  the  church  has  sent  out  from  its  mem¬ 
bership  for  work  among  Bohemians,  six 
ordained  ministers  of  the  Gospel,  three 
local  preachers,  one  deacon,  three  mission¬ 
aries,  and  two  trained  nurses. 

The  McCrum  Slavonic  Training  School 
at  Uniontown,  conducted  by  the  Woman’s 
Home  Missionary  Society,  grew  out  of  the 
interest  and  devoted  efforts  of  the  daugh¬ 
ter  of  the  pastor  who  served  for  twenty 
years  as  superintendent  of  the  Coke  Mis¬ 
sion.  The  school  today  is  sending  out 
trained  Christian  Slavonic  girls  into  the 
home  mission  fields  of  America  and  to 
Europe  to  do  Christian  work  among  their 
own  people. 

The  analysis  of  a  city. — Buffalo  has  one 
of  the  largest  Polish  populations  among 
the  cities  of  America,  registering  in  excess 
of  100.000,  while  it  also  has  a  colony  of 
45,000  Italians.  Others  are  Jews,  35,000; 
Negroes,  10,000;  Hungarians,  5,000;  na¬ 
tive  white  Americans,  145,000;  and 
166,000  of  different  nationalities,  such  as 
German,  Russian,  Scandinavian,  Greek 
and  Syrian.  One  of  the  public  schools  has 
on  its  roll  children  of  twenty-four  nation¬ 
alities.  In  a  section  of  32,798  people,  half 
are  native  born,  10,000  are  Polish,  3,000 
Hungarian  and  the  rest  miscellaneous. 
In  the  church  membership  are  10,770 
Roman  Catholics  and  4,520  Protestants, 
while  17,508  are  not  connected  with  any 
church.  In  the  largest  Italian  colony  of 
Buffalo,  18,000  are  Catholic,  500  Protes¬ 
tant  and  11,500  of  no  church  connection. 
In  the  Polish  section  live  90,000  people,  80 
per  cent  of  whom  are  Polish.  The  rest  are 
5,000  Germans,  3,500  Jews,  and  smaller 
scattering  groups.  Church  membership 
is  49,000  Catholic,  1,000  Protestant  and 
40,000  of  no  connection. 

The  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  has 
hardly  begun  to  grapple  with  this  situa¬ 
tion.  There  is  a  site  for  a  church  for  Ital¬ 
ians  in  Niagara  Falls,  but  no  church. 
There  is  an  Italian  pastor  in  Buffalo,  but 
he  has  no  plant  in  which  to  work.  The 


268 


WORLD  SERVICE 


Efworth  League  Institutes. 

New  York 

1  Round  Lake,  Round  Lake. 

2  Riparius,  Riverside. 

3  Sidney.  Sidney  Grove. 

4  Barneveld  (Assembly  Park),  Trenton 
(Northern  New  York). 

5  Cazenovia,  Central  New  York  Conference. 

6  Montour  Falls,  Cook  Academy. 

7  Silver  Lake  (Assembly),  Silver  Lake. 

New  Jersey 

8  Madison,  Madison. 

9  Pennington,  New  Jersey  Conference. 

Pennsylvania 

10  Collegeville,  Philadelphia  Conference. 

11  Millersville  (Lancaster  Co.),  Millersville. 

12  Eagles  Mere,  Central  Pennsylvania. 

13  Meadville,  Erie  Conference. 

Summer  Schools  of  Religious  Education. 

New  York 

14  Syracuse,  Syracuse  University. 

New  Jersey 

15  Ocean  Grove. 

Pennsylvania 

16  Carlisle.  Dickinson  College. 


Schools  for  City  Pastors. 

Summer  Training  Conferences 

New  York 

17  New  York  (Interdenominational). 

New  Jersey 

18  Madison. 

Summer  Schools  for  Town  and  Rural  Pastors. 

New  Jersey 

19  Madison,  Drew  Theological  Seminary. 

Summer  Schools  of  Theology. 

New  York 

20  Carmel,  New  York  Conference. 

21  Round  Lake,  Troy  Conference. 

22  Herkimer,  Folts  Institute. 

23  Cazenovia,  Cazenovia  Seminary. 

24  Silver  Lake,  Genesee  Conference. 

New  Jersey 

25  Ocean  Grove,  Philadelphia,  Wyoming, 
New  Jersey,  Baltimore  and  Wilmington 
Conferences. 

Pennsylvania 

26  Carlisle,  Dickinson  College. 


MIDDLE  ATLANTIC 


269 


Missionary  Summer  Conferences. 

Missionary  Education  Movement 

New  York 

27  Silver  Bay. 

Woman's  Home  Missionary  Society 

New  York 

28  Round  Lake. 

29  Montour  Falls,  Central  N.  Y.  Girls  Camp. 

30  Silver  Lake,  Central  N.  Y.  Girls  Camp. 

31  Chautauqua  (Interdenominational). 

New  Jersey 

32  Ocean  Grove. 

Pennsylvania 

33  Lake  Ariel,  Hiawatha  Camp. 


34  Williamsport,  Central  Pennsylvania 
School. 

35  Chambersburg  (Interdenominational). 

Woman’s  Foreign  Missionary  Society 

New  York 

36  Silver  Bay  (Interdenominational). 

37  Round  Lake. 

38  Lake  Titus. 

39  Dempster  Grove. 

40  Montour  Falls. 

41  Silver  Lake. 

New  Jersey 

42  Hackettstown. 

Pennsylvania 

43  Chambersburg. 


EDUCATIONAL 

Colleges,  Universities  and  Professional  Schools. 

New  York 

1  Syracuse,  Syracuse  University. 

New  Jersey 

2  Madison,  Drew  Theological  Seminary. 

Pennsylvania 

3  Carlisle,  Dickinson  College. 

4  Meadville,  Allegheny  College. 

Secondary  Schools. 

New  York 

5  Carmel,  Drew  Seminary  for  Women. 

6  Cazenovia,  Cazenovia  Seminary. 

7  Lima,  Genesee  Wesleyan  Seminary. 


INSTITUTIONS 
New  Jersey 

8  Hackettstown,  Centenary  Collegiate  In¬ 
stitute. 

9  Pennington,  Pennington  Seminary. 

Pennsylvania 

10  Kingston,  Wyoming  Seminary. 

11  Williamsport,  Williamsport-Dickinson 
Seminary. 

12  Beaver,  Beaver  College. 

Training  Schools. 

New  York 

13  Herkimer  (WHMS  &  D),  Folts  Mission 
Institute. 

Pennsylvania 

14  Uniontown  (WHMS),  McCrum  Slavonic 
Training  Scbool. 


270 


WORLD  SERVICE 


Polish  congregation  is  not  equipped  to  deal 
with  the  spiritual  challenge  of  180,000 
people.  Negro  Methodists  are  forced  to 
worship  in  such  places  and  at  such  times 
as  other  congregations  have  no  use  for 
their  edifices. 

University  Church  is  a  one-room  build¬ 
ing  with  a  basement  which  is  really  a  cel¬ 
lar  located  in  a  great  developing  center 
with  a  population  now  of  7,500,  and  with 
new  houses  being  constructed  on  every 
side.  At  an  expense  of  seven  million  dol¬ 
lars,  Buffalo  University  is  being  rebuilt 
in  this  locality.  There  are  at  present  1,500 
students.  With  proper  equipment,  Univer¬ 
sity  Church  could  have  a  membership 
within  a  year  of  from  five  to  eight  hun¬ 
dred  people. 

About  two  years  ago,  an  educated  and 
consecrated  Polish  minister  was  secured. 
Without  any  building,  the  work  was  begun 
with  street  preaching.  A  dwelling  house 
has  now  been  secured  and  altered  so  that 
the  work  will  have  a  home.  For  a  year, 
the  pastor  has  spoken  several  times  each 
week  before  the  many  Polish  clubs  of  the 
city,  and  has  a  fixed  place  in  the  confidence 
and  esteem  of  many  of  the  most  influential 
Poles  of  the  city.  Recently  when  the  Vice- 
President  of  Poland  was  the  guest  of  the 
city,  it  was  our  pastor  who  met  him  at  the 
station  and  introduced  him  to  the  mayor, 
rode  with  them  in  the  procession,  and 
presented  him  to  the  throng  who  had  gath¬ 
ered  to  listen  to  his  address.  He  is  pav¬ 
ing  the  way  for  a  citywide  successful 
social  and  religious  work  among  the 
Poles. 

A  “Friendly  Center”  has  been  opened 
by  the  Woman’s  Home  Missionary  Society, 
where  seventy-five  children  are  daily  gath¬ 
ered  and  a  splendid  work  is  beginning. 

A  varied  program. — The  program  car¬ 
ried  on  at  these  various  centers  involves 
far  more  than  preaching  and  Sunday- 
school  work.  It  includes  week-day  reli¬ 
gious  instruction,  daily  vacation  Bible 
schools,  English  classes,  fresh  air  work, 
Americanization  classes,  groups  in  the 
study  of  the  Italian  language,  industrial 


courses,  Boy  Scout  and  Camp  Fire  Girls’ 
activities,  kindergartens,  day  nurseries, 
and  a  great  variety  of  other  social  and 
religious  programs. 

None  of  these  Italian  churches  has  as 
yet  reached  the  stage  of  self-support.  In 
the  congested  centers  of  great  cities  the 
churches  can  be  little  more  than  pioneer¬ 
ing  and  recruiting  centers  through  which 
individuals  are  passed  on  in  brief  time  to 
other  churches.  Such  points  may  seem  to 
have  little  to  show  by  way  of  organiza¬ 
tion  after  years  of  effort,  yet  their  work 
is  of  the  very  greatest  importance. 

Other  city  centers. — In  at  least  forty 
other  cities  of  New  York  state  are  to  be 
found  foreign-born  population  groups 
varying  from  1,000  up  to  many  thousands. 
Most  of  them  are  in  the  industrial  centers 
where  the  social  conditions  and  religious 
problems  emphasized  in  the  write-ups  of 
the  larger  cities  are  present  only  differing 
in  degree. 

Eighty  newspapers  in  thirteen  different 
languages  are  delivered  by  the  postman 
one  morning  of  each  week  in  the  homes 
of  the  parish  of  the  Clinton  Street  Meth¬ 
odist  Episcopal  Church,  Binghamton,  N. 
Y.  Ten  thousand  of  the  12,000  people 
there  are  Slovak,  Lithuanian,  Polish, 
Ukrainian,  Syrian,  Armenian,  Italian, 
Jewish  or  other  foreign-speaking.  Ours 
is  the  only  Protestant  church  in  this  com¬ 
munity. 

While  these  Polish  and  polyglot  centers 
reach  a  variety  of  race  groups  in  the 


Summer  school  for  city  pastors,  at  Drew 
Theological  Seminary 


MIDDLE  ATLANTIC 


271 


Empire  state,  the  most  extended  work  is 
in  more  than  twenty  Italian  colonies  reach¬ 
ing  from  New  York  through  the  cities  of 
the  southern  tier  to  Buffalo,  and  back 
through  Rochester,  Syracuse,  Utica,  and 
Schenectady  to  Troy  and  Albany.  Begin¬ 
ning  with  nothing  a  few  years  ago,  the 
first  Italian  Methodist  Church  in  the 
United  States  was  organized  in  1880;  the 
work  has  advanced  until  the  number  of 
Italians  who  are  directly  or  indirectly 
under  constant  influence  runs  into  the 
thousands. 

Five  in  one. — Just  an  ordinary  residence 
is  rather  cramped  quarters  for  a  settle¬ 
ment  house,  a  mission,  a  recreation  cen¬ 
ter,  library,  and  community  building,  yet 
such  is  the  housing  for  the  Anthracite  Sla¬ 
vonic  Mission,  conducted  by  the  Woman’s 
Home  Missionary  Society  at  East  Ber¬ 
wick,  Pennsylvania.  Here  live  hundreds 
of  Slovak,  Hungarian,  Syrian,  Polish,  and 
other  foreign-speaking  industrial  workers 
and  their  families.  The  work  started  three 
years  ago,  is  an  exceedingly  busy  institu¬ 
tion  with  sewing  and  cooking  classes,  clubs^ 
and  kindergarten,  a  fine  Sunday  school  and 
week-day  church  school.  One  hundred 
boys,  twelve  to  twenty  years  old,  are  in 


the  clubs.  Last  year  there  was  a  daily 
vacation  Bible  school  of  209  children. 

In  town  and  country. — In  the  midst  of 
the  lumber  industry  of  the  Adirondacks 
is  the  rural  community  of  Newcombs, 
twenty-eight  miles  off  the  railroad. 
An  influx  of  French-Canadians  made 
the  problem  difficult.  Finally  the  church 
gave  up  and  sold  its  property.  A  new 
efficient  leader  bought  back  the  old 
property,  opened  it,  aligned  every  one  of 
the  fifty-four  Protestant  families  of  the 
township  with  the  church,  together  with 
200  lumberjacks.  A  parsonage  and  com¬ 
munity  house  have  since  been  erected. 

A  church  can  win  over  the  dance  halls 
and  pool  rooms  for  the  attention  and  inter¬ 
est  of  the  young  people  of  a  community. 
At  Harrisville,  New  York,  by  right  lead¬ 
ership  and  efficient  methods,  the  church 
was  reorganized,  ioo  new  members  added, 
the  Sunday  school  trebled,  the  benevo¬ 
lences  increased  400  per  cent,  two  new 
Sunday  schools  opened  at  outlying  points, 
a  community  hall  erected  and  the  parson¬ 
age  rebuilt. 

A  twentieth-century  church. — A  five-point 
circuit  at  Dudley,  Pennsylvania,  with  a 
population  of  6,000,  raised  its  support  from 


STUDENT  WORK  AT  NON-METH¬ 
ODIST  EDUCATIONAL 
INSTITUTIONS 


New  York 

1  Ithaca,  Cornell  University. 


New  Jersey 

2  Princeton,  Princeton  University. 


Pennsylvania 

3  \\  est  Philadelphia,  University  of 
Pennsylvania. 

4  Lewisburg,  Bucknell  University. 

5  State  College,  Pennsylvania  State 
College. 

6  Pittsburgh,  University  of  Pittsburgh. 

7  Pittsburgh,  Carnegie  Institute  of 
Technology. 


272 


WORLD  SERVICE 


$965  yearly  to  $2,800  by  the  reinvigoration 
made  possible  by  right  leadership.  A  new 
parsonage  was  built,  two  community 
houses  erected  and  two  pastors  employed. 
Bigger  Sunday  schools  and  church  serv¬ 
ices,  week-day  religious  education,  night 
school  for  Italians,  recreation  programs 
for  old  and  young,  are  among  the  results. 

Contagious  success. — That  success  can  be 
contagious  is  illustrated  at  Lander,  Penn¬ 
sylvania,  which  is  becoming  famous 
throughout  western  Pennsylvania  because 
of  its  progress  in  developing  a  new  com¬ 
munity  spirit.  Within  fifteen  miles  of 
Lander,  five  other  churches  already  are 
taking  steps  to  duplicate  its  venture.  The 
milestones  in  the  achievement  were  the 
coming  of  a  new  pastor  with  a  vision,  the 
enlistment  of  a  community  in  a  program 
of  social  and  religious  service,  the  erection 
of  a  community  center,  with  gymnasium 
and  club  rooms,  and  a  new  interpretation 
of  religion  in  terms  of  this  life  as  well  as 
the  next.  The  spiritual  result  has  been 
registered  in  enlarged  attendance  at  public 
worship  and  in  increased  local  support  and 
a  1,000  per  cent  gain  in  benevolent  giving. 

Among  the  Indians. — Four  mission  sta¬ 
tions  are  maintained  by  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church  among  the  different 
Indian  tribes  of  New  York  State. 

Among  1,500  Mohawks  on  the  St.  Regis 
reservation,  Hogansburg,  N.  Y.,  the  Meth¬ 
odist  Episcopal  work  is  being  directed  from 
a  building  seventy-five  years'  old,  with 
warped  flooring,  an  annually  flooded  base¬ 
ment  and  supporting  timbers  rotting  away. 
The  whole  structure  is  dilapidated,  yet  the 
250  Methodist  Indians  stand  faithfully  by. 
The  leader  is  a  native  Mohawk,  a  univer¬ 
sity  graduate  and  a  former  nationally 
known  baseball  player.  There  is  a  dire 
need  for  a  new  church  building  and  com¬ 
munity  house  to  care  for  the  needs  of  the 
reservation.  Other  points  are  Indian 
Falls,  Onondaga,  and  Versailles. 

Successful  evangelism. — A  field  force  of 
energetic  and  successful  evangelists  and 
spiritual  upbuilders  have  labored  from 
the  congested  tenements  of  New  York  to 
the  regions  far  off  the  railroads. 


In  the  Central  Pennsylvania  conference, 
a  personal  work  campaign  was  organized 
and  leaders  trained.  There  were  a  Go-to- 
church  Sunday,  the  rounding  up  of  neg¬ 
lected  church  letters,  decisions  for  Christ 
obtained,  and  the  total  membership  of  the 
conference  raised  to  beyond  the  100,000 
mark. 

A  “soap-box”  evangelism  of  a  unique 
type  is  carried  on  in  the  congested,  varie¬ 
gated  Harlem  section  of  New  York.  Here 
gather  all  colors,  races,  religious  and  polit¬ 
ical  believers  of  every  sort,  in  the  melt¬ 
ing  pot  of  a  religious  forum. 

Leadership  training. — Several  members 
of  the  Extension  Field  Force  of  the  Board 
of  Sunday  Schools  are  at  work  in  this  sec¬ 
tion.  To  show  the  value  of  trained  leader¬ 
ship,  the  following  record  of  achievements 
in  one  conference  under  a  field  man’s  gui¬ 
dance  is  given:  forty-five  teacher  training- 
classes  organized,  with  250  enrolment ; 
forty  Bible  classes  formed,  with  450  enrol¬ 
ment;  thirty-nine  schools  graded  or 
departmentalized;  forty-two  communities 
surveyed;  forty-eight  institutes  or  group 
meetings  held,  20,000  persons  attending; 
forty-three  daily  vacation  Bible  schools 
promoted,  with  471  enrolled,  and  235  per- 


Day  nursery.  Goodwill  Community  House, 
Jersey  City,  New  Jersey 


MIDDLE  ATLANTIC 


273 


HOSPITALS  AND  HOMES 


Hospitals. 

New  York 

1  Brooklyn,  Bethany  Deaconess  Hospital. 

2  Brooklyn,  Methodist  Episcopal  Hospital. 

3  Syracuse,  Hospital  of  the  Good  Shepherd. 

Pennsylvania 

4  Philadelphia,  Methodist  Episcopal  Hos¬ 
pital. 

Homes  for  the  Aged. 

New  York 

5  Fort  Edward,  Frederick  D.  Hodgman 
Memorial  Home. 

6  Brooklyn,  Bethany  Home  for  the  Aged. 

7  Brooklyn,  Brooklyn  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church  Home. 

8  New  York  City,  The  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church  Home. 

9  Ossining,  Bethel  Swedish  Methodist  Epis¬ 
copal  Home  for  Aged  People. 

New  Jersey 

10  Ocean  Grove,  The  Methodist  Episcopal 
Home  for  the  Aged. 

11  Lawnside,  Home  for  Negro  People. 

12  Collingswood,  Home  for  the  Aged  and 
Infirm. 


Pennsylvania 

13  Philadelphia,  Methodist  Episcopal  Home 
for  the  Aged. 

14  Tyrone.  Methodist  Home  for  Aged. 

15  Dravosburg,  Hamilton  Home  for  Aged. 

16  Conneautville,  Ida  M.  Cribbs  Memorial 
Home. 

Homes  for  Children. 

New  York 

17  Dobbs  Ferry,  St.  Christopher’s  Home. 

18  Binghamton,  Children’s  Home  of  the 
Wyoming  Conference. 

19  Williamsville,  Methodist  Home  for 
Children. 

Pennsylvania 

20  Philadelphia,  Methodist  Episcopal 
Orphanage. 

21  Mechanicsburg,  Methodist  Home  for 
Children. 

22  Sheffield,  Ruth  M.  Smith  Children’s  Home. 

23  Oakmont,  Elizabeth  A.  Bradley  Children’s 
Home. 

24  Bakerstown,  Epworth  Fresh-Air  Farm. 

25  Pittsburgh,  Louis  Home  for  Babies. 

26  Pittsburgh,  Robert  Boyd  Ward  Home. 


274 


WORLD  SERVICE 


sons  given  credit  on 
Standard  Teacher-Train¬ 
ing  courses  in  these 
schools.  Seven  years’ 
work  registers  276  teach¬ 
er-training  classes  organ¬ 
ized,  3,529  enrolment;  369 
Bible  classes  organized, 
4,820  enrolment;  162 
schools  modernized;  184 
communities  surveyed  ; 
and  1,762  conversions 
registered. 

The  Epworth  League. — ■ 
The  Epworth  League  in 
the  Middle  Atlantic  states 
is  active  in  upbuilding 


When  Charles 


and  in  missionary  work. 

A  secretary  is  maintained  in  the  League 
area  office  in  New  York.  The  Brooklyn 
North  District  supports  a  fresh-air  home 
for  children.  The  Northern  District,  Troy 
Conference,  supports  a  native  preacher  in 
India;  the  Southern  District,  Troy  Con¬ 
ference,  started  an  Italian  mission  which 
has  developed  into  a  church.  The  Syra¬ 
cuse  West  District  contributed  $1,200 
to  support  League  work  in  South  America. 
The  Pittsburgh  Conference  supports  a 


Methodist  headquarters  in  New  York  City — 
Old  150  Fifth  Avenue 


Wesley  Flint  was  inaugurated  as  Chancellor  of 
Syracuse  University 

Fresh- Air  Farm  and  underwrites  the  bud¬ 
get  for  League  work  in  Mexico.  The 
Blairsville  and  McKeesport  districts  organ¬ 
ize  and  help  support  Sunday  schools  in 
the  coke  regions. 

Methodist  schools  and  colleges.— Of  the 
various  Methodist  colleges  in  this  sec¬ 
tion,  Syracuse  University,  the  largest, 
is  a  national  institution.  Others  which 
may  not  be  as  large,  and  yet  because  of 
the  standards  they  maintain  and  the  train¬ 
ing  they  give  are  just  as  vital  are  Dickin¬ 
son  College,  Carlisle,  Pennsylvania,  and 
Allegheny  College,  Meadville,  Pennsylva¬ 
nia,  and  the  eight  secondary  schools,  all 
located  on  the  map  on  page  269. 

The  ministry  to  students  in  non-Meth¬ 
odist  institutions. — Through  the  activities 
of  the  Wesley  Foundation  Joint  Commit¬ 
tee  and  of  individual  churches,  various 
efforts  are  being  made  to  minister  to  Meth¬ 
odist  students  at  Cornell,  Princeton,  Buck- 
nell,  Pennsylvania  State  College,  the  Uni¬ 
versity  of  Pennsylvania,  the  University  of 
Pittsburgh,  and  the  Carnegie  Institute  of 
Technology. 

In  these  institutions  will  be  found  Meth¬ 
odist  student  groups  ranging  from  400  to 
1,200  in  number.  A  social  center  unit  has 
been  added  to  our  church  at  State  College. 
A  parsonage  has  been  transformed  into  a 
community  house  and  student  headquar- 


MIDDLE  ATLANTIC 


275 


ters  in  Pittsburgh.  A  fine  property  pro¬ 
viding  a  parsonage  and  student  headquar¬ 
ters  has  been  purchased  in  Philadelphia, 
where  a  brilliantly  successful  program  is 
in  progress,  and  the  Wesley  Foundation 
is  beginning  to  reach  several  institutions 
in  addition  to  the  University  of  Pennsyl¬ 
vania,  the  present  center  of  our  work. 

Drew  Theological  Seminary. — At  Madi¬ 
son,  New  Jersey,  is  located  one  of  our 
greatest  religious  institutions  for  the 
training  of  ministers,  missionaries  and 
religious  educators,  Drew  Theological  Sem¬ 
inary.  Its  degrees  are  recognized  every¬ 
where  and  on  its  faculty  are  some  of  the 
outstanding  scholars  of  Methodism. 

Aside  from  the  usual  courses  and  depart¬ 
ments  of  a  theological  seminary  main¬ 
tained  in  the  College  of  Theology,  Drew 
Seminary  has  a  College  of  Missions,  which 
prepares  students  for  home  and  foreign 
missionary  work.  Such  courses  as  Science 
and  Practice  of  Missions,  Foreign  Mission¬ 
ary  Languages,  the  City  Church,  The 
Town  and  Country  Church,  and  Foreign- 
speaking  Work  are  offered.  The  seminary 
enrols  women  students,  missionary  candi¬ 
dates,  missionaries  on  furlough,  and  gives 
special  preparation  for  religious  directors, 
church  assistants  and  administrators, 
teachers,  and  leaders  in  denominational 
activities  and  philanthropic  enterprises. 
It  has  sent  out  a  steady  stream  of  foreign 
missionaries  for  more  than  a  generation. 
It  trains  men  also  for  home  missions,  in¬ 
structing  in  rural  leadership,  city  evangel¬ 
ization,  and  bi-lingual  religious  work. 

Goodwill  Industries.  —  Goodwill  Indus¬ 
tries  are  in  Philadelphia,  Pittsburgh,  Buf¬ 
falo,  Jersey  City,  and  Brooklyn. 


Congregation  of  University  church, 
Syracuse,  New  York 


In  Buffalo,  the  old  Grace  Methodist  Epis¬ 
copal  Church  and  adjoining  property  serve 
as  the  headquarters  for  the  Goodwill 
Industries.  The  Children’s  Settlement 
through  play  and  useful  activity  is  up¬ 
building  the  moral  and  religious  life 
of  the  children  of  the  surrounding  neigh¬ 
borhood. 

In  Jersey  City,  the  Goodwill  Industries 
operate  five  buildings,  and  during  the  past 
year  have  doubled  their  business  and  have 
employed  seventy-five  opportunity  work¬ 
ers.  A  Goodwill  Community  Center  is  con¬ 
ducted  and  two  churches  are  closely  re¬ 
lated.  It  has  a  parish  of  65,000  people,  of 
whom  ninety  per  cent  are  foreign  born. 
Work  is  being  done  among  twenty-eight 
nationalities.  There  are  a  day  nursery, 
library,  clubs,  an  Italian  Department, 
Slavic  Department,  religious  services  in 
Italian,  English,  and  Russian,  and  em¬ 
ployment  department — altogether  a  broad 
social  and  religious  program  deeply  affect¬ 
ing  the  whole  section  of  the  city.  From 
this  center  of  Christian  service  have  gone 
a  Polish  young  man  to  be¬ 
come  a  minister  of  his 
own  people,  an  Italian  to 
become  a  Young  Men’s 
Christian  Association  sec¬ 
retary,  a  Lithuanian  girl 
for  social-service  work, 
and  an  American  girl,  one 
of  the  workers  at  the  cen¬ 
ter,  to  become  a  deaconess. 
In  Philadelphia,  the 


Methodist  students  at  University  of  Pennsylvania 


276 


WORLD  SERVICE 


Goodwill  Industries  are  conducted  in  con¬ 
nection  with  Fifth  Street  Temple,  and 
many  of  its  employees  are  workers  in  its 
Sunday  school.  Within  a  radius  of  three 
blocks  live  twenty-three  nationalities. 

In  Pittsburgh,  the  Goodwill  Industries 
are  in  the  famous  “Strip”,  a  low-lying 
stretch  of  the  city  in  which  foreign-speak¬ 
ing  people,  Negro  and  white  Americans  are 
huddled  together  in  housing  conditions 
which  are  lamentably  inadequate  and 
where  the  air  is  always  heavy  with  dust 
and  smoke  from  the  steel  mills. 

Bible  distribution. — A  tremendous  field 
for  distribution  of  the  Scriptures  is  found 
in  the  Middle  Atlantic  states.  Most  of 
the  foreign-speaking  peoples  who  live 
in  the  city  and  rural  industrial  centers 
are  from  non-Bible-using  lands,  therefore, 
the  opportunity  is  so  much  the  greater. 
Scriptures  are  now  available  in  thirty- 
eight  of  the  languages  spoken  in  these 
states,  in  two-language  form,  that  is,  with 
the  English  and  foreign-language  versions 
in  parallel  columns. 

Looking  Forward 

A  century’s  generous  giving  of  money 
and  men  to  the  mission  fields  of  the  world, 
has  won  for  the  Middle  Atlantic  states  the 
right  to  call  upon  the  great  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church  at  large  for  the  life  and 
means  to  evangelize  the  strange,  new  mul¬ 
titudes  within  their  borders.  In  short,  New 
York,  New  Jersey,  and  Pennsylvania,  in 
spite  of  their  great  and  numerous  churches 
and  the  splendid  ministry  to  be  found  here 
and  there  in  city,  town,  and  country,  pre¬ 
sent  a  mission  field  of  vast  extent  and  tre¬ 
mendous  need. 

Aid  is  needed  to — 

Establish  a  church  and  community  center  in  a 
woefully  unchurched  city  section  of  25,000  Negroes. 

Erect  an  adequate  church  building  in  an  indus¬ 
trial  residential  neighborhood  where  the  Sunday 
school  is  so  crowded  one  class  has  to  meet  in  the 
coal  bin. 

Build  an  adequate  church  and  community  build¬ 
ing  in  a  new,  modest,  suburban  district  where  the 


present  country  church  building  has  seventy  little 
children  crowded  into  an  ante-room  not  able  to 
accommodate  more  than  twenty  decently. 

Provide  ample  quarters  for  a  Polish  work  grow¬ 
ing  out  of  street  preaching  in  a  large  Polish  section 
of  a  great  city. 

Enable  the  church  to  develop  work  in  sixty-four 
industrial  towns  in  one  part  of  a  state  which  have 
no  religious  ministry  whatever. 

Complete  a  building  project,  delayed  by  the 
war,  in  an  industrial  community  of  10,000  people. 

Erect  a  church  building  in  community  of  2,000 
people  where  the  Methodist  Episcopal  congrega¬ 
tion — the  only  one  in  the  town — is  worshipping 
in  a  small  school  room. 

Enter  large  colonies  of  German-speaking  Rus¬ 
sians  where  little  spiritual  ministry  is  now  pro¬ 
vided. 

Expand  the  missionary  work  to  meet  needs  of 
thirty  lumber  camps,  all  of  them  Methodist  re¬ 
sponsibility. 

Support  pastors  and  missionaries  in  anthracite 
mining  towns,  now  unchurched. 

Lift  debt  on  new  church  caught  by  inflated  prices 
during  erection  and  now  threatened  with  fore¬ 
closure. 

Maintain  work  in  numerous  weak  rural  centers. 

Replace  building  erected  in  1860  and  now  con¬ 
demned. 

Re-establish  work  in  isolated  rural  communi¬ 
ties  abandoned  during  the  war. 

Provide  church  facilities — none  whatever  now — 
in  irrigation  project  with  employees  and  families 
totaling  2,000  people. 

Relocate  building  in  gardening  and  poultry¬ 
farming  community  of  2,000. 

Complete  church  building  stopped  by  rising 
costs.  Congregation  practically  bankrupt. 

Renovate  Bohemian  Methodist  Episcopal  church 
building,  part  of  which  must  be  rented  out  as 
living  quarters  to  meet  church  expenses. 

Provide  a  Sunday-school  building  for  a  working- 
class  community  where  900  pupils  attempt  to  meet 
in  a  little  old  building. 

Make  possible  the  erection  of  fifteen  church 
buildings  for  as  many  Negro  congregations  in  one 
district. 

Evangelize  330,000  Italians  of  New  York — ac¬ 
knowledged  to  be  Methodism’s  fair  share  of  the 
opportunity. 

Open  new  missions,  churches  and  community 
centers  in  the  great  metropolitan  centers  where 
literally  hundreds  of  thousands  of  foreign  and 
native  born  people,  among  whom  the  doctrines  of 
atheism  and  anarchy  run  riot,  are  untouched  by 
the  ministry  of  any  church  whatsoever. 

Expand  the  work  of  educational  and  philan¬ 
thropic  institutions,  and  enable  a  more  adequate 
and  better-trained  leadership  to  be  provided  for 
the  missionary  program  of  the  church. 


EAST  NORTH  CENTRAL  STATES 


OHIO 

INDIANA 

ILLINOIS 

MICHIGAN 

WISCONSIN 


Distribution  of  Methodist  Episcopal  churches 
in  the  East  North  Central  states 


WEEK-DAY  RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION,  GARY,  INDIANA 

A  system  of  week-day  religious  instruction  involves 
educational  methods,  staff,  curriculum,  and  supervision 
on  the  same  plane  as  children  find  in  the  public  school. 

Henry  S.  Cope 


EAST  NORTH  CENTRAL  STATES 


A  new  pilgrimage. — Westward  the  course 
of  another  empire  takes  its  way — the 
empire  of  industry.  It  began  its  march 
along  the  Atlantic  Coast  and  is  steadily 
journeying  toward  the  Pacific.  It  has  made 
its  conquest  of  New  England,  has  estab¬ 
lished  its  sure  domain  in  the  Middle  Atlan¬ 
tic  group,  has  left  the  Alleghenies  behind, 
and  today  is  rapidly  advancing  toward  the 
sovereignty  of  the  East  North  Central 
states.  The  transition,  in  which  the  far- 
famed  agriculture  of  these  states  hands 
over  its  preeminence  to  industrialism  is 
one  of  profound  import. 

The  extent  of  industry. — Michigan  is  the 
world  center  for  the  manufacture  of  auto¬ 
mobiles,  about  two-thirds  of  the  2,000,000 
cars  produced  annually  being 
made  there.  It  also  has  exten¬ 
sive  iron  ore,  copper  and  coal 
mines,  and  a  big  lumber  pro¬ 
duction.  Ohio  has  more  than 
16,000  manufacturing  establish¬ 


ments,  employing  more  than  1,000,000 
persons.  The  iron  and  steel  ore  and  re¬ 
duction  and  machinery  industries  lead  all 
others.  Oil  production  is  heavy  and  auto¬ 
mobile  manufacture  extensive.  Indiana’s 
greatest  industrial  center  is  in  the  Calu¬ 
met  region,  adjacent  to  Lake  Michigan. 
With  Gary  as  the  center,  vast  steel  mills 
make  it  one  of  the  world’s  important  man¬ 
ufacturing  regions. 

Illinois,  the  third  state  in  the  union  in 
population,  is  one  of  the  nation’s  indus¬ 
trial  centers,  heading  up  in  Chicago  and 
nearby  cities.  It  has  extensive  coal  mines, 
standing  third  in  bituminous  production. 
Wisconsin,  in  addition  to  large  manufac¬ 
turing  interests,  mines,  dairies  and  fisher¬ 
ies,  affords  the  largest  lumber 
cut  in  the  Great  Lakes  region. 

The  agricultural  situation. — 
Agriculturally,  the  East  North 
Central  states  are  among  the 
nation’s  leaders.  The  fact  that 


279 


280 


WORLD  SERVICE 


manufacturing  has  become  the  leading 
occupation  does  not  mean  agricultural  de¬ 
cline.  Rather  is  it  that  industry  has  gone 
ahead  much  faster.  Agriculture  is  still  in 
a  state  of  development  and  is  making 
steady,  although  relatively  slow  progress. 
The  range  of  products  is  very  extensive, 
from  fruits  and  berries  of  many  kinds  to 
the  major  grain  crops. 

Population  tendencies. — Today  the  East 
North  Central  division  has  one-fifth  the 
population  of  the  United  States,  21,475,- 
543,  running  an  exceedingly  close  race 
with  the  Middle  Atlantic  states.  The  lat¬ 
ter  increased  15.2  per  cent  in  population 
between  1910  and  1920,  while  the  former 
added  17.7  per  cent. 

The  trend  to  the  cities  over  a  period  of 
thirty  years,  1890-1920,  is  shown  in  the 
changing  percentages  of  urban  and  rural 
population.  In  1890  62.2  per  cent  of  the 
people  were  classified  as  rural  and  only 
37.8  per  cent  as  urban.  Today  there  is 
practically  a  reversal  of  the  situation,  the 
1920  census  showing  60.8  per  cent  of  the 
people  living  in  the  cities  and  only  39.2 
per  cent  living  in  the  villages  and  open 
country.  There  is  a  Negro  population  of 
514,554,  or  an  increase  of  71  per  cent  in 
the  last  decade.  Illiteracy  has  been  kept 
at  a  low  rate,  registering  only  2.9  per  cent 
for  the  whole  area. 

The  American-born  element  is  still 
dominant  in  this  region,  although  hun¬ 
dreds  of  thousands  of  foreign-speaking 


immigrants  have  congregated  in  the  indus¬ 
trial  and  mining  districts. 

The  heart  of  Methodism. —  In  the  early 
days  when  the  pioneers  were  hewing  clear¬ 
ings  out  of  the  vast  forests  and  settlements 
were  being  planted  here  and  there,  the 
circuit-rider  toiled  with  the  souls  of  men 
in  the  wilderness.  The  fruits  of  his  labor 
and  of  those  zealous  disciples  who  followed 
him  have  been  seen  in  the  virile  Methodist 
Episcopal  churches  which  have  dotted  the 
cities,  villages  and  countryside  of  the 
Great  Lakes  region  for  three-quarters  of 
a  century.  Here,  among  the  major  geo¬ 
graphical  sections  of  America,  Methodism 
has  come  to  its  fullest  flower.  Those  little 


Social  hour  of  the  Young  Women’s  Industrial 
Club,  Waukegan,  Illinois 


log  churches  in  the  wilderness,  supported 
by  the  missionary  zeal  of  colonial  Meth¬ 
odism,  have  grown  into  splendid  temples 
of  worship,  able  not  only  to  support  them¬ 
selves  but  to  give  abundantly  of  life  and 
means  for  missionary  work  at  home  and 
abroad. 

Methodist  Episcopal 
Achievements 
A  statistical  statement. — 
The  total  membership  is 
1,225,615,  and  the  number 
of  churches  is  7,351.  The 
Sunday-school  enrolment 
is  1,357,383,  and  the  aver¬ 
age  attendance  is  684,671. 
The  Epworth  League  has 
a  membership  of  130,946, 
and  the  Junior  Epworth 
League  of  42,017.  The 
net  valuation  of  churches 
and  parsonages  is 
$92,400,923.  The  total 
benevolences  for  1922 


Workmen  leaving  the  mills,  Gary,  Indiana 


EAST  NORTH  CENTRAL 


281 


were  $6,506,014,  while  the  total  paid  for 
all  purposes  was  $25,933,942,  a  per  capita 
payment  of  $21.16. 

Included  in  these  totals  are  236  German 
Methodist  Episcopal  churches  with  25,504 
members;  113  Scandinavian  churches 
with  8,877  members,  and  91  Negro 
churches,  101  pastoral  charges,  many  of 
the  congregations  not  having  church 
buildings,  with  15,619  members. 

Methodism  has  pushed  her  educational 
and  philanthropic  work  here  as  far  or 
farther  than  in  any  other  section  of  the 
United  States.  Again  the  figures  can 
but  indicate  their  magnitude  or  influ¬ 
ence  :  twenty-three  colleges,  universities, 
and  secondary  and  professional  training 
schools;  student  work  at  fifteen  non- 
Methodist  educational  institutions:  eighty- 
eight  summer  schools  and  institutes ;  and 
forty-four  hospitals,  old  people’s  homes, 
orphanages,  and  other  philanthropic 
institutions. 

The  Challenge  of  the  Field 

Middle-West  cities. — Twelve  of  Ameri¬ 
ca’s  fifty  largest  cities  are  located  in  the 
East  North  Central  states.  In  their  order 
of  size  they  are  Chicago,  Detroit,  Cleve¬ 
land,  Milwaukee,  Cincinnati,  Indianapolis, 
Toledo,  Columbus,  Akron,  Dayton,  Grand 
Rapids,  and  Youngstown.  Here  also  are 
some  of  the  most  rapidly  growing  cities 
of  the  country  such  as  Detroit  which  in¬ 
creased  527,912,  or  113  per  cent  in  popula¬ 
tion  between  1910  and  1920 ;  Akron,  201 


Recitation  Hall,  Lawrence  College, 
Appleton,  Wisconsin 


Methodist  Book  Concern  building  at 
Cincinnati,  Ohio 


per  cent;  Gary,  229  per  cent;  Cicero,  209 
per  cent ;  and  Kenosha,  84  per  cent. 

Chicago’s  “New  Americans.” — Chicago, 
the  second  city  of  America  and  the  fourth 
of  the  world,  the  world’s  greatest  railway 
center  and  one  of  its  greatest  industrial 
centers,  naturally  presents  the  biggest 
foreign-speaking  problem  in  the  area. 
The  foreign-born  population  is  placed  at 
805,482.  The  total  foreign-speaking  ele¬ 
ment,  including  the  children  of  foreign- 
born  and  mixed  parentage,  approaches  the 
2,000,000  mark. 

Detroit  rates  its  1.000.000  population  as 
twenty  per  cent  native ;  forty  per  cent 
foreign  born;  thirty-five  per  cent  of  for¬ 
eign  parentage,  and  five  per  cent  Negro. 

Cleveland,  with  approximately  800,000 
people,  has  a  foreign  population,  including 
foreign-born,  and  of  foreign  parentage, 
of  about  sixty-five  per  cent. 

The  rural  problem. —  While  the  cities  of 
the  East  North  Central  states  gained 
7,952,091  between  1890  and  1920,  the 
rural  population  advanced  only  45,147. 


19 


WORLD  SERVICE 


Between  1900  and  1920  there  was  an  act¬ 
ual  decrease  of  339,335  persons.  This 
steady  depopulation  of  the  countryside  is 
reported  to  be  continuing,  although  au¬ 
thorities  predict  a  back  -  to  -  the  -  farm 
movement  of  people  which  will  at  least 
check  the  decline.  Improved  machin¬ 
ery  and  better  transportation  permit 
agricultural  development  to  go  forward 
while  the  actual  number  of  farmers  may 
become  fewer. 

The  movement  of  country  people  to  the 
cities  has  had  a  serious  effect  upon  the 
rural  church.  Hundreds  of  churches  in 
the  open  country  through  these  states 
have  closed  their  doors  and  abandoned 
their  buildings  or  turned  them  into  hay- 
sheds.  Different  surveys  show  an  alarm¬ 
ing  condition  of  dead  and  dying  churches. 
Volumes  have  been  written  revealing  the 
conditions  and  the  causes.  It  is  a  situa¬ 
tion  which  is  not  peculiar  alone  to  the 
East  North  Central  states,  but  to  nearly 
all  the  established  farming  regions  of  the 
United  States,  especially  where  industrial 
cities  are  frequent. 

Tenancy  and  the  church. — Tenancy  is 
steadily  increasing  and  along  with  it  is  a 
growing  transiency  which  always  embar¬ 
rasses  constructive  church  effort.  Many 
a  rural  church  has  built  up  a  constituency 
only  to  find  it  vanish  in  a  year.  In  one 
Illinois  country  church,  the  district  super¬ 
intendent  has  tried  three  times  to  bring 
the  charge  to  self-support,  but  each  time 
removal  of  tenants  has  made  necessary  the 


In  this  week-day  religious  education  class, 
Gary,  Indiana,  thirty-eight  nation¬ 
alities  are  represented 


Methodist  Episcopal  church, 
Redford,  Michigan 


building  up  of  a  new  constituency.  Thus 
through  tenancy,  churches  become  a  per¬ 
manent  missionary  challenge  to  the 
church. 

A  fundamental  problem. — Competition 
among  country  churches,  absentee  pastors, 
lack  of  right  leadership,  lack  of  community 
church  equipment  and  programs,  and  the 
social  attractions  of  villages  and  towns 
made  available  to  country  people  by  auto¬ 
mobiles  and  good  roads,  lead  many  to 
believe  that  this  rural  problem  is  the  most 
serious  of  all  for  the  church  because  it  is 
the  most  fundamental. 

An  Ohio  survey. — In  fifty  counties  there 
are  637  abandoned  churches.  There  are 
137  Methodist  Episcopal,  seventy-one 
United  Brethren,  fifty-two  Baptist,  thirty- 
six  Disciples  of  Christ,  thirty-two  Presby¬ 
terian,  and  twenty-six  Lutheran — which 
would  indicate  that  the  abandoned 
church  is  not  peculiar  to  any  denomina¬ 
tion.  Rather  is  it  due  to  changed  economic 
and  social  conditions.  The  introduction  of 
the  automobile,  which  has  happened 
almost  entirely  within  the  last  ten  years, 
has  revolutionized  rural  life. 

One  community  surveyed  had  775  people 
and  nine  churches,  seven  of  which  had 
been  abandoned  and  the  other  two  were 
inactive.  Nine-tenths  of  the  community 
was  totally  untouched.  One  strong  church 
would  have  served  the  entire  group.  In 
another  county  were  two  communities: 
one  with  1,300  people  had  three  resident 
pastors,  and  the  other  adjoining  it,  with 
4,000  people,  had  no  resident  pastor  at  all. 


EAST  NORTH  CENTRAL 


283 


Our  church  in  Tovey,  Illinois,  built  on  the  site 
once  occupied  by  a  saloon — The  women  of 
the  church  scraped  the  40,000  bricks 


It  was  reported  that  Ohio  had  nearly  400 
communities,  some  of  them  with  over 
2,000  people,  without  a  resident  pastor  in 
any  of  them. 

Other  rural  types. — The  vast  copper, 
coal,  and  iron  ore  mining  regions  contain 
hundreds  of  towns  and  villages  peopled  by 
many  nationalities  whose  social  and  reli¬ 
gious  needs  are  acute. 

In  central  and  southern  Illinois,  where 
Peter  Cartwright  preached,  mine  shafts 
dot  the  country  over.  Germans,  Italians, 
Englishmen,  Scotchmen,  Poles,  Lithuani¬ 
ans,  Scandinavians,  French,  Roumanians, 
Slavs  of  all  kinds,  and  Mexicans  work  in 
the  corn  fields,  mines,  smelter  works,  glass 
factories,  mining  and  railway  supply 
foundries. 

At  various  points  along  the  Mississippi, 
where  the  land  was  formerly  under  water 
or  in  swamps,  drainage  districts  have  been 
organized  and  thousands  of  acres  pro¬ 
tected.  Some  of  the  districts  are  operated 
by  poor  tenants  with  capital  invested  by 
absentee  landlords  and  corporations. 

In  Michigan  and  Wisconsin,  especially, 
will  be  found  logged  off  lands  now  being 
opened  up  to  settlement.  New  people  are 
pouring  in,  to  face  much  the  condition  of 
the  pioneers.  Homes  must  be  built,  land 
further  cleared,  schools  and  churches 
started.  Much  of  it  is  sparsely  settled. 
The  people  are  isolated  but  are  spiritually 
hungry. 

In  the  same  northern  regions  are  ex¬ 
tensive  forests  in  which  thousands  of 
lumberjacks  are  toiling.  Of  the  several 


nationalities  among  them,  the  Finns  pre¬ 
dominate. 

The  Missionary  Service  of  the  Church 

Achievements  which  point  the  way. — 
It  is  not  possible  here  to  list  all  the 
individual  achievements  of  the  missionary 
program  of  the  church,  or  even  to  give 
adequate  mention  to  all  its  phases.  If, 
however,  a  few  illustrations  succeed  in 
suggesting  both  the  vastness  and  the  vari¬ 
ety  of  our  home  mission  work  in  these 
states  and  in  inspiring  our  church  to  still 
greater  accomplishments  for  the  Kingdom, 
then  the  purpose  will  have  been  served. 

Methodism  in  Chicago.' — In  the  fore¬ 
front  of  the  denominations  in  Chicago 
in  making  adjustment  and  expansion  for 
city  work,  is  the  Methodist  Episcopal.  A 
new  day  is  at  hand  for  Chicago  Methodism, 
a  day  of  unparalleled  achievement. 

A  Thoburn  victory. — In  a  neighborhood 
of  thousands  of  modest  homes  of  working 
people  is  Thoburn  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church,  an  outstanding  witness  of  city 
church  possibilities.  Formerly  a  strug¬ 
gling  mission  chapel,  it  embarked  on  a 
program  to  reach  its  community.  Co-op¬ 
eration  between  an  energetic  people,  a 
far-visioned  pastor  and  the  statesmanlike 
Board  of  Home  Missions  and  Church 
Extension  and  the  City  Missionary  Soci¬ 
ety,  made  possible  a  splendid  $125,000 
church  and  community  building.  Today 
the  membership  is  around  1,000,  and  the 
Sunday  school  has  nearly  as  many  enrolled. 
The  church  is  a  haven  for  old  and  young. 
It  swarms  with  young  people.  The  Sunday 
evening  audience  packs  the  auditorium 
and  is  the  largest  regular  evening  church 
congregation  in  the  city. 

“Back  of  the  Stock  Yards.’’ — In  the  heart 
of  the  greatest  foreign-speaking  colony  of 
Chicago’s  famous  stock-yards  district  is 
located  Community  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church.  Twenty  nationalities  are  repre¬ 
sented  in  the  Sunday  school  and  a  dozen 
in  the  church  membership.  Polish,  Bohe¬ 
mian,  and  Lithuanian  are  the  chief  types 
being  served.  Thirty-two  athletic  clubs, 
many  of  them  formerly  exploited  by  ward 


2H4 


WORLD  SERVICE 


Seminar  of  rural  pastors,  Madison,  Wisconsin 


politicians,  are  now  directed  in  their  activ¬ 
ities  by  a  Board  of  Control,  led  by  the 
pastor.  In  every  activity  for  the  better¬ 
ment  of  the  300,000  people  living  in  the 
stock  yards  territory,  Community  Church 
is  always  a  prominent  factor,  itself  serving 
a  population  of  75,000. 

In  “Little  Italy.” — In  the  greatest  Italian 
section  of  Chicago,  famous  for  its  black- 
hand  murders  and  known  for  long  as  the 
“Bloody  Nineteenth”  ward  is  to  be  found 
the  First  Italian  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church.  In  three  schools  in  its  parish, 
ninety-five  per  cent  of  the  7,100  school 
children  are  Italian.  An  excellent  work 
in  evangelism  and  modern  religious  educa¬ 
tion  is  carried  on  by  the  bi-lingual  pastor 
and  his  assistants.  Recently  a  class  of 
twenty-five  probationers  was  received. 

The  South  Side  Negroes. — Within  four 
years,  the  Negro  Methodist  Episcopal 
churches  in  Chicago  have  increased  from 
four  to  fifteen.  Through  missionary  aid 
some  of  these  congregations  have  been 
housed  in  good  but  old-style  buildings 
formerly  occupied  by  white  congregations. 
Five  years  ago  the  South  Park  Methodist 
Episcopal  congregation  was  housed  in  a 
small  store  room  which  could  be  spanned 
by  three  men  touching  hands.  The  mem¬ 
bership  has  grown  from  200  to  3,000  and 
now  worships  in  a  large  church  formerly 
used  by  white  people. 

It  is  estimated  that  300  or  more  grad¬ 
uates  of  the  institutions  of  the  Board  of 
Education  for  Negroes  reside  in  Chicago. 
Of  these,  nearly  one  hundred  are  physi¬ 
cians,  pharmacists,  and  dentists,  who  are 
graduates  of  Meharry  Medical  College, 


one  is  a  Bishop  of  the 
African  Methodist  Epis¬ 
copal  church,  two  are 
ministers,  graduates  of 
Gammon  Theological 
Seminary,  one  the  Assis¬ 
tant  Corporation  Counsel 
of  Chicago,  another  Assis¬ 
tant  State’s  Attorney, 
others  are  government 
and  post  office  clerks, 
teachers,  tradesmen, 
stenographers,  business 
men,  nurses,  housewives  and  dressmakers. 

Varied  missionary  achievements. — • 
Through  co-operation  with  the  City  Mis¬ 
sionary  Society  and  the  Board  of  Home 
Missions  and  Church  Extension,  steady 
progress  is  being  made  in  many  fields  of 
Chicago.  In  the  Lincoln  Street  church, 
which  fourteen  years  ago  had  a  thousand 
children  of  native  American  stock  in  its 
Sunday  school,  now  will  be  found  eleven 
distinctly  religious  services  and  thirty- 
nine  other  activities  each  week,  minister¬ 
ing  to  Slovenian,  Lithuanian,  Bohemian, 
and  German  people.  The  community  is 
ninety  per  cent  foreign,  and  houses  75,000 
people  to  the  square  mile,  thus  presenting 
an  acute  Americanization  problem. 

In  the  great  steel  mill  section  running 
for  thirty  miles  along  the  lake  front  from 
Chicago  south  and  east,  the  Chicago- 
Calumet  Industrial  Federation  is  develop¬ 
ing  a  parish  program  of  religious  and 
social  service.  A  Russian  work  is  being 
developed  at  Pullman  and  several  nation¬ 
alities  are  ministered  to  at  Hegewisch. 
Thirty-five  thousand  men  are  employed  in 
the  mammoth  steel  mills  of  South  Chicago. 
Here  men  of  the  community  got  together 
with  the  pastor  and  erected  a  temporary 
community  center  while  waiting  for  the 
erection  of  the  planned-for  church  and 
parish  building.  At  Chicago  Heights,  a 
city  of  30,000  people  of  a  score  of  national¬ 
ities,  the  new  community  church  is  open 
day  and  night,  seven  days  a  week,  and  by 
reaching  thousands  monthly  is  building  up 
the  life  of  the  neighborhood.  In  the 
industrial  regions  north  of  Chicago,  pri¬ 
marily  in  the  Waukegan  region,  similar 


EAST  NORTH  CENTRAL 


285 


activities  are  reaching  the  twenty-five 
nationalities  of  the  parish. 

The  Chicago  Temple. — The  crowning 
glory  of  Chicago  Methodism  is  in  its  new 
majestic  Chicago  Temple.  The  only  re¬ 
maining  church  property  in  the  city’s 
famous  “loop,”  where 
traffic  ebbs  and  flows 
ceaselessly,  it  is  becom¬ 
ing  the  headquarters 
of  the  city’s  organized 
religious  life.  Numer¬ 
ous  other  denomina¬ 
tions  are  centering 
their  offices  there.  On 
the  main  floor  is  an  im¬ 
posing  auditorium 
which  will  minister 
week  day  and  Sunday 
to  the  city-wide  mem¬ 
bership  and  to  the  thou¬ 
sands  of  transients  who 
are  in  Chicago’s  down¬ 
town  district  daily. 

The  Chicago  Temple 
will  in  time  doubtless 
attain  the  prestige  and 
world-fame  of  the  City 
Temple  of  London. 

A  steady  progress. — 

Concerning  the  work 
in  and  around  Chicago, 

Bishop  Thomas  Nichol¬ 
son  has  said :  “In  Chi¬ 
cago  at  least  twenty- 
five  new  churches  have 
either  recently  been 
completed,  are  now  in 
process  of  erection  or 
are  scheduled  for  the 
current  year.  The  in¬ 
crease  of  membership 
has  been  gratifying.  The  new  program 
of  the  church  wherever  tried  stands  the 
test.  Parish  and  community  houses,  with 
church  training  night,  are  changing  a 
meager  prayer  meeting  attendance  into  a 
church  night  with  from  150  to  500  people 
present.” 

In  the  “Motor  City.”— In  1855,  Meth¬ 
odism  had  five  churches  and  chapels,  mem¬ 
bership  of  400,  in  Detroit.  In  1910  there 


were  twenty  English-speaking  churches, 
with  a  membership  of  a  little  more  than 
8,000.  Today  there  are  forty  English- 
speaking,  one  Finnish,  one  Italian,  one 
Polish  and  three  German-speaking  Meth¬ 
odist  churches  in  the  city.  Recent 
progress  in  city  mis¬ 
sions  can  be  attributed 
largely  to  a  thorough 
survey  showing  the 
city’s  needs  and  the 
formation  by  the  Meth¬ 
odist  Union  of  Greater 
Detroit,  of  a  “city  par¬ 
ish”  and  an  enlarged 
missionary  program. 
Today  the  staff  of  the 
“city  parish”  comprises 
foreign-language  pas¬ 
tors,  deaconesses,  so¬ 
cial  service  workers, 
clinic  nurses,  visiting 
nurses,  day  nursery 
matrons,  goodwill  in¬ 
dustry  workers,  for¬ 
eign-language  teachers, 
and  vacation  Bible 
school  workers. 

City  mission  victories. 
— In  Detroit  are  num¬ 
erous  new  communities 
such  as  Ferndale,  where 
4,000  young  married 
people  are  building 
small  homes  and  where 
within  six  w7eeks  a  Sun¬ 
day  school  of  200  and 
a  church  of  200  mem¬ 
bers  were  organized 
starting  in  a  lodge  hall. 

The  Palmer  Memo¬ 
rial  Church  has  been 
made  an  Italian  center  where  the  outstand¬ 
ing  Italian  Protestant  work  of  the  city  is 
carried  on.  Detroit  Methodism  believes 
that  this  will  produce  one  of  the  greatest 
Italian  churches  in  the  country  if  the 
necessary  resources  are  at  hand. 

In  a  Polish  settlement  of  40,000  people 
is  St.  Peter’s — the  first  Polish  Methodist 
Church  in  Detroit.  The  former  National 
Catholic  congregation  which  worshipped 


The  Chicago  Temple 


286 


WORLD  SERVICE 


First  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  Steuben¬ 
ville,  Ohio— -A  fine  old  residential  church 
adapting  its  ministry  to  an  industrial 
polyglot  community 

in  the  building,  wishing  to  become  Protes¬ 
tant,  asked  to  be  received  into  the  Meth¬ 
odist  Episcopal  Church.  A  home  mission 
appropriation  enabled  the  congregation  to 
pay  off  the  debt  and  the  church  and  school 
buildings  are  now  administered  under 
Methodist  auspices.  The  parochial  school 
has  been  turned  into  a  public  school  with 
the  Board  of  Education  supplying  the 
teachers.  In  other  centers  the  needs  of 
Armenians  and  Syrians  are  being  met. 

Harper  Church  center  was  established 
and  built  up  by  a  deaconess  in  a  single 
year.  A  medical  clinic  was  founded,  the 
board  of  health  furnishing  two  physicians 
and  two  nurses.  It  is  related  to  Harper 
Church,  whose  membership  is  152  and 
Sunday-school  enrolment  350.  Centenary 
Church,  an  old  residential  type  is  now  min¬ 
istering  almost  altogether  to  “new 
Americans,”  including  Polish,  Hungarian, 
Lithuanian,  Italian,  and  Russian  people, 
all  of  whom  can  be  found  in  the  religious 
services.  The  Sunday-school  enrolment 
is  364.  Clubs,  gardening,  sewing  classes, 
basketry,  manual  training,  vacation  school, 
and  dispensary  are  maintained.  There  are 
also  a  day  nursery,  a  playground,  and 
Goodwill  Industries  in  connection. 

New  life  for  an  old  community. — The 
Goodwill  Church,  Settlement,  and  Indus¬ 
tries  of  Cincinnati,  Ohio,  are  in  a 


congested  tenement  house  district  near 
railroad  terminals,  grain  elevators,  the 
haymarket,  and  many  factories.  The 
neighborhood  was  once  the  wealthy  resi¬ 
dential  section  of  Cincinnati,  with  a  fine 
residential  Methodist  church.  With  the 
shifting  of  population,  there  is  now  pov¬ 
erty,  vice,  squalor,  and  congestion  every¬ 
where,  cramped  quarters,  dark  rooms 
badly  ventilated,  no  sanitary  conveniences, 
and  no  yards  for  the  children  to  play  in. 
A  new  program  was  begun,  with  a  trained 
leadership,  and  the  work  rapidly  expanded. 
Equipment  has  been  added  and  the  present 
value  of  the  property  is  $70,000,  with  an 
annual  budget  of  nearly  $50,000,  carrying 
on  the  work  of  the  Industries,  the  Chil¬ 
dren’s  Settlement  and  the  Church.  The 
day  begins  with  the  day  nursery  and  kin¬ 
dergarten.  There  are  sewing  and  cooking 
schools,  manual  training  clubs,  girl  scouts 
and  boy  scouts  and  a  mothers’  club. 
Through  the  gymnasium,  moving  pictures 
and  playground,  the  recreational  life  of 
the  boys  and  girls  is  ministered  to. 

The  Calumet  region. — In  the  famous 
Calumet  region  of  northwestern  Indiana, 
Gary,  Hammond,  Indiana  Harbor,  East 
Chicago,  and  Whiting,  comprise  one  of  the 
greatest  steel  mill  sections  of  the  world. 
Many  thousands  of  foreign-born  are 
employed  and  their  social  and  religious 
needs  are  acute.  Social  conditions  vary 
greatly.  Model  housing  development  exists 
alongside  of  congestion  and  squalor.  Some 
of  the  companies  are  progressive  as  to 


Story  hour  in  the  kindergarten — Halsted 
Street  Church,  Chicago 


EAST  NORTH  CENTRAL 


2S7 


working  conditions  and  hours.  Others  still 
cling  to  the  twelve-hour  day,  seven-day 
week  labor  policy. 

In  other  cities. — In  Milwaukee,  Summer- 
field  and  Grand  Avenue  Methodist  Epis¬ 
copal  Churches  are  doing  epochal  down¬ 
town  work.  Asbury  Church  is  in  a 
polyglot  section  and  St.  Peter’s  is  thug  only 
Polish  Methodist  mission  in  the  cffy.  In 
Dayton,  Ohio,  a  number  of  churches  are 
doing  a  community  work.  Neighborhood 
reformation  has  been  wrought  by  the 
work  of  the  West  Side  Community  House, 
Cleveland,  where  2,558  different  boys  and 
girls  were  enrolled  and  attended  classes 
during  a  recent  eight-months’  period.  The 
institution  has  seventeen  boys’  and  six 
girls’  basketball  teams.  A  state  authority 
says  that  crime  has  decreased  very  notice¬ 
ably  in  that  section  of  Cleveland  since  the 
Community  House  has  been  operating. 

At  Springfield,  Illinois,  is  Wesley 
Church,  with  a  fine  community  building, 
partially  erected  out  of  paving  brick  given 
to  the  congregation.  On  dedication  day 
over  one  hundred  charter  members  were 
received.  At  Flint,  Michigan,  is  Trinity 
Church,  a  temporary  structure  built  dur¬ 
ing  war  times.  It  now  has  a  Sunday 
school  of  250.  Valley  Avenue  Church  at 
Grand  Rapids,  and  Calvary  Church,  Terre 
Haute,  both  German,  are  rapidly  develop¬ 
ing  with  modern  programs.  The  Italian 
Methodist  Church  at  Madison,  Wisconsin, 
specializes  in  community  work  and  citizen¬ 
ship  activities.  The  Methodist  Settlement 
in  Indianapolis,  in  a  section  inhabited  by 
factory  and  railroad  people,  carries  on  a 
community  ministry. 


Printing  class  in  the  Industrial  School,  Lincoln 
Street  Community  Church,  Chicago 

An  East  St.  Louis  church  was  housed 
at  first  in  a  wooden  tabernacle.  There 
were  sixty-eight  charter  members  and 
eighty-seven  in  the  Sunday  school,  increas¬ 
ing  in  less  than  a  year  to  180  and  325 
respectively.  A  week-day  school  of  reli¬ 
gious  education  for  Negroes  in  which  150 
pupils  are  enrolled  is  maintained  by  Trin¬ 
ity  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  and 
Stewart  House  in  Gary.  A  community 
nurse  visits  the  sick,  a  modified  Goodwill 
Industries  is  maintained,  and  social, 
recreational,  and  religious  activities  are 
carried  on. 

A  rural  parish  demonstration. — An  out¬ 
standing  experiment  in  the  “rural  parish” 
idea  is  in  Lake  and  McHenry  counties, 
Illinois,  in  the  Rock  River  Conference, 
with  nine  charges  and  sixteen  churches  in 
the  open  country. 

A  district  rural  society  was  formed  and 
a  director  of  rural  work  with  special  train¬ 
ing  was  appointed  for  these  charges.  The 
department  of  rural  work  of  the  Board  of 
Home  Missions  and  Church  Extension 
co-operated  with  the  de¬ 
partment  of  religious  edu¬ 
cation  of  Northwestern 
University  and  with  Gar¬ 
rett  Biblical  Institute  in 
putting  on  a  demonstra¬ 
tion  program,  making 
this  field  a  laboratory  for 
the  training  of  leaders. 
Directors  of  religious 
education,  community  or¬ 
ganization  and  social  life 
were  secured.  They  organ- 


Proposed  First  Italian  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  and 
Community  House,  Chicago 


288 


WORLD  SERVICE 


SUMMER  SCHOOLS  AND  INSTITUTES 


Epworth  League  Institutes. 

Ohio 

1  Camp  Ground  near  Lancaster,  Lancaster 
Camp. 

2  Lakeside,  Lakeside. 

3  Chautauqua,  Franklin,  Miami  Valley 

Indiana 

4  Oakwood  Park,  Syracuse,  Wawassee 

(North  Indiana  Conference). 

5  Bethany  Park,  Brooklyn,  Indiana  Confer¬ 
ence. 


6  Lafayette,  Battle  Ground. 

7  Dale,  Santa  Claus. 

Illinois 

8  Berger,  South  Holland,  William  Nast. 

9  Des  Plaines,  Des  Plaines,  Employed 
Young  People’s  Institute. 

10  New  Lennox,  New  Lennox. 

11  Riverview  Park,  Pontiac,  Central  Illinois 
Conference. 

12  Forest  Park,  Shelbyville,  Illinois  Confer¬ 
ence. 


EAST  NORTH  CENTRAL 


289 


13  Franklin  Grove,  Franklin  Grove.  Summer  Training  Conference 

14  Lebanon,  McKendree.  Illinois 

15  Tyndall’s  Grove,  Rock  Island,  Milan.  57  Evanston. 

Michigan  Council  of  Cities 

16  Albion.  Illinois 

17  Michigamme,  Michigamme.  58  Chicago. 


Wisconsin 

18  South  Byron,  Camp  Byron. 

19  Conference  Point  (Williams  Bay),  Lake 
Geneva. 

20  Cambridge,  Lake  Ripley. 

21  Platteville,  Platteville. 

22  Lake  Chetek,  Chetek. 

Sunday-school  Institutes. 

Ohio 

23  Canton. 

24  Barlow. 

25  Coolville. 

26  Zanesville. 

27  Bidwell. 

28  Proctorville. 

29  McArthur. 

30  Coalton. 

31  Ironton. 

32  Norwalk. 

33  Crestline. 

34  Wheelersburg. 

35  Kingston. 

36  Lucasville. 

37  Washington  Court  House. 

38  Findlay. 

39  Wilmington. 

40  Lima. 

Indiana 

41  Indianapolis. 

Illinois 

42  Joliet. 

43  Princeton. 

Michigan 

44  Port  Huron 

45  Detroit  (Interdenominational  school  of 
Sunday-school  methods). 

46  Alpena. 

47  Milan. 

48  Bay  City. 

49  Owosso. 

50  Sault  Sainte  Marie. 

51  Negaunee. 

52  Houghton. 


Summer  Schools  of  Religious  Education. 

Illinois 

53  Evanston,  Northwestern  University. 

Schools  for  City  Pastors. 

Conference  Institutes 

Ohio 

54  Dayton. 

Illinois 

55  Princeton. 

Michigan 

56  Pontiac. 


Summer  Schools  for  Town  and  Rural  Pastors. 

Ohio 

59  Delaware,  Ohio  Wesleyan. 

Illinois 

60  Evanston,  Garrett  Biblical  Institute. 
Summer  Schools  of  Theology. 


Missionary  Summer  Conferences. 

Missionary  Education  Movement 

Wisconsin 

69  Lake  Geneva. 

Woman’s  Home  Missionary  Society 

Ohio 

70  Bethesda  (Interdenominational). 

71  Lancaster  (Interdenominational). 

72  Lakeside  (Interdenominational). 

Indiana 

73  Winona  (Interdenominational). 

Illinois 

74  Dixon  (Interdenominational). 

75  Lebanon,  Illinois-Missouri  (Interdenomi¬ 
national). 

Wisconsin 

76  Lake  Geneva  (Interdenominational). 

Woman’s  Foreign  Missionary  Society 

Ohio 

77  Bethesda  (Interdenominational). 

78  Lancaster  (Interdenominational). 

79  Lakeside  (Interdenominational). 

Indiana 

80  Winona  (Interdenominational). 

81  Battle  Ground  (Interdenominational). 

Illinois 

82  New  Lennox  (Interdenominational). 

83  Franklin  Grove  (Interdenominational). 

84  Dixon  (Interdenominational). 

85  Lebanon  (Interdenominational). 

Michigan 

86  Bay  View  (Interdenominational). 

87  Ludington. 

Wisconsin 

88  Lake  Geneva  (Interdenominational). 


Ohio 

61  Berea,  Nast  Theological  Seminary. 

62  Delaware,  Ohio  Wesleyan  University. 

Indiana 

63  Greencastle,  DePauw  University. 

Illinois 

64  Bloomington,  Illinois  Wesleyan  University. 

65  Lebanon,  McKendree  College. 

Michigan 

66  Albion,  Albion  College. 

Wisconsin 

67  Appleton,  Lawrence  College. 

68  Madison,  University  of  Wisconsin. 


290 


WORLD  SERVICE 


Our  Polish  church  in  Detroit 


ized  each  of  these  communities  for  an 
extended  social,  educational  and  worship 
program. 

Two  Michigan  parishes. — Dead  churches 
brought  back  to  life,  scores  of  new  mem¬ 
bers  added,  buildings  renovated,  gifts 
increased,  and  community  spirit  devel¬ 
oped  have  resulted  in  the  working  out  of 
the  parish  plan  in  southern  Michigan. 

The  church  at  Charlotte,  Michigan,  was 
chosen  as  the  center  of  one  parish.  Cen¬ 
ter  Eaton  is  one  group  of  three  rural 
churches  on  Charlotte  parish  and  Gresham 
is  another.  Before  the  adoption  of  the 
parish  plan,  there  were  six  decaying  or 
dead  country  churches,  paying  a  salary 
of  $1,500  and  parsonage.  Today  all  six 
are  live  and  active  country  churches,  sup¬ 
porting  three  ministers  and  increasing  the 
local  salaries  $2,825  per  year. 

Eaton  Rapids  parish,  with  Eaton  Rapids 
as  the  center,  is  composed  of  the  Griffith 
group  and  Onondaga  group  of  churches, 
the  rural  appointments  of  Charlesworth, 
Robbins,  and  Winfield.  Formerly  there 
were  six  churches,  two  in  the  open  country 
and  inadequately  served,  and  four  were 
closed.  Where  $1,300  was  paid  to  one 
minister  before,  now  he  is  given  $3,000, 
an  assistant  is  paid  $1,600  and  a  student 
pastor  $600.  On  Easter,  1923,  these 
churches  received  into  membership  176 
persons. 

In  town  and  country. — Plainfield,  Illi¬ 
nois,  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  has  a 


community  center  which  has  the  mayor 
and  president  of  the  school  board  as  mem¬ 
bers  of  the  board  of  control.  The  strong 
social  and  religious  spirit  developed  is 
helping  to  keep  the  young  men  and  women 
in  the  community,  instead  of  drifting  off 
to  the  city. 

At  Coalton,  Illinois,  a  Sunday  school 
which  has  met  successively  in  a  dance 
hall,  an  abandoned  saloon,  out  in  the  open 
air  and  finally  in  the  jail,  is  to  be  housed 
in  an  adequate  building,  with  the  foreign¬ 
speaking  residents  paying  for  the  lot,  the 
Board  of  Home  Missions  and  Church 
Extension  helping  on  the  building,  car¬ 
penters  donating  service  and  the  farmers 
furnishing  sand  and  gravel.  A  girls’  club 
is  taught  sewing,  cooking,  fancy  work,  and 
there  is  a  children’s  class  in  sewing  and 
music. 

In  Brown  County,  Indiana,  is  a  demon¬ 
stration  of  what  effective  leadership  will 
do.  For  years  there  had  been  no  ordained 
minister  living  in  the  county.  An  inves¬ 
tigation  revealed  nine  scattered  villages  or 
communities  which  needed  religious  serv¬ 
ices.  Seven  of  them  became  the  new  pas¬ 
tor’s  circuit.  Before  he  had  settled  in  his 
new  home,  the  young  people  began  to  ask 
to  borrow  his  books.  He  saw  the  need  of 
a  public  library  and  broadcasted  an  appeal 
for  books.  More  than  1,600  were  donated. 
Through  the  pastor’s  efforts  a  town 
library  was  established,  later  a  county 
library  with  10,000  volumes.  Farming  was 
on  the  decline,  so  the  pastor  carried  on  a 


Time  for  eats— Mothers’  Memorial  Social  Center, 
Cleveland,  Ohio — Maintained 
by  the  W.  H.  M.  S. 


EAST  NORTH  CENTRAL 


291 


campaign  which  secured  a  county  agri¬ 
cultural  agent.  He  advocated  fruit  rais¬ 
ing  and  started  a  nursery.  He  urged  the 
merit  of  dairying  upon  the  farmers.  A 
community  which  had  paid  practically 
nothing  one  year  to  benevolences  paid 
more  than  $5,000  the  next  year.  The 
Sunday-school  enrolment  became  300  and 
the  church  membership  321.  An  Epworth 
League  with  thirty-three  members  was 
organized  and  two  Junior  Leagues  of 
eighteen  members  each. 

In  Lewis,  Wisconsin,  located  in  the  cut¬ 
over  lands  is  the  People’s  Church,  the  cen¬ 
ter  not  only  of  the  village  life  but  of  the 
community  many  miles  around.  Under 
the  leadership  of  a  far-visioned  pastor,  the 
sparsely  settled  sections  grouped  them¬ 
selves  and  carried  on  programs  of  recrea¬ 
tion  and  public  worship  which  ran  through 
an  entire  winter.  In  Marshfield,  Wiscon¬ 
sin,  a  town  of  8,000  people,  Protestantism 
exerted  but  little  influence.  With  mission¬ 
ary  aid,  a  $35,000  church  was  erected  and 
is  now  the  center  of  the  town’s  activities. 

The  foreign  language  conferences. — The 
East  North  Central  states  form  one  of 
the  strongholds  of  the  German  and  Scan¬ 
dinavian  conferences  of  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church,  a  number  of  them 
developing  an  excellent  community  and 
home  mission  work.  Flourishing  churches 
are  maintained  in  the  rural  Swiss  colonies 
of  Michigan  and  Ohio,  and  a  large  section 
of  Illinois  and  Wisconsin,  heavily  popu¬ 
lated  by  German  people. 

A  church  romance. — A  thrilling  interest 
attaches  to  the  foreign  language  churches. 
Out  of  the  efforts  of  a  German-speaking 
missionary,  there  has  come  the  organiza¬ 
tion  of  a  Russian  mission  in  South  Akron, 
which  started  in  the  basement  of  a  dilapi¬ 
dated  dwelling  occupied  by  several  fami¬ 
lies.  The  first  Sunday  school  class  was 
actually  held  in  a  fruit  cellar  with  two 
pupils.  Yet  this  has  grown  to  a  school 
with  an  average  attendance  of  about  150 
Russian,  Austrian  and  Hungarian  chil¬ 
dren.  The  1922  probationers’  class  of 
twenty-two  contained  nine  children  from 
the  mission,  who  speak  five  languages. 


These  people  joined  the  German  Methodist 
Episcopal  church. 

Opportunity  investments. — The  recent 
influx  of  Norwegians,  Swedes,  and  Danes, 
as  well  as  the  shifting  of  population,  has 
opened  up  new  opportunities  for  greatly 
extending  our  Scandinavian  work. 

The  pastor  at  Superior,  Wisconsin, 
made  a  careful  canvass  of  some  new  ter¬ 
ritory  and  discovered  a  most  inviting  mis¬ 
sion  field.  The  old,  ramshackle  building 
was  torn  down,  the  trustees  themselves 
dismantling  the  old  chapel  and  using  the 
suitable  material  for  the  new  structure. 
The  excavating  was  mostly  done  by  mem¬ 
bers  of  the  church.  The  old  material  was 
carted  by  the  trustees  to  the  new  site,  and 
much  of  the  carpentering  was  done  by 
them.  The  new  church  was  built  at  a  cost 
of  $20,000  with  some  help  from  the  Board 
of  Home  Missions  and  Church  Extension. 

Living  evangelism. — From  hospitals  to 
mining  camps  and  from  large  cities  to 
wayside  villages  the  workers  aided  by  the 
department  of  evangelism  of  the  Board 
of  Home  Missions  and  Church  Extension 
go,  preaching  the  Gospel,  reviving  hopeless 
and  helpless  churches,  comforting  the  sick 
and  carrying  on  an  itinerant  ministry 
much  as  the  Savior  himself  did.  The 
results  are  immeasurable. 

The  labors  of  one  evangelist,  who  com¬ 
bined  debt-paying  and  soul-winning  cam¬ 
paigns  in  a  number  of  churches,  resulted 
in  two  years  in  more  than  1,000  new  mem¬ 
bers,  $242,300  raised  to  cancel  heavy 


West  Side  Community  House,  Cleveland, 
Ohio — A  Centenary  achievement 


292 


WORLD  SERVICE 


debts,  thirty  young  people  dedicating  their 
lives  to  Christian  work,  400  conversions, 
hundreds  of  tithing  pledges  and  innumer¬ 
able  reconsecrations  to  the  Christian  life. 
Several  churches  which  were  about  to  be 
closed  and  sold  at  sheriff’s  sale  were 
saved;  their  congregations  were  encour¬ 
aged  ;  church  debts  were  paid  or  provided 
for;  and  seven-day- week  programs  were 
mapped  out  and  launched. 

Goodwill  Industries. — Five  Goodwill  In¬ 
dustries  are  located  in  the  East  North 
Central  states,  at  Cincinnati  and  Cleve¬ 
land,  Detroit,  Chicago  and  Milwaukee. 

In  Cleveland,  the  old  Acme  hall,  famous 
as  a  radical  socialists’  headquarters,  houses 
the  Goodwill  Industries.  Chapel  services 
are  conducted  every  morning  in  the  old 
bar-room.  A  Goodwill  forum  is  conducted 
once  a  month  which  has  had  a  widespread 
civic  influence.  Free  moving  pictures  are 
provided  for  the  children  and  parents  of 
the  district,  whose  population  is  mostly 
Italian,  Slovak,  Syrian  and  Russian.  Out 
of  a  Sunday  afternoon  Sunny  Hour  has 
come  a  fine  Sunday  school,  “racially  100 
per  cent  foreign,  but  loyally  100  per  cent 
American.” 

A  recent  report  of  the  Milwaukee  Good¬ 
will  Industries  showed  a  roll  of  26,239 
contributors  of  waste  material,  sales  dur¬ 
ing  the  year  through  the  Goodwill  stores 
of  $34,881,  of  which  $22,625  was  paid  in 
wages  to  the  aged,  needy  and  handicapped. 


Swedish  Methodist  Episcopal  Church, 
Rockford,  Illinois 


Tent  for  district  evangelist’s  meetings, 
Jacksonville,  Illinois 


During  the  year  work  was  given  to  791 
people  representing  twenty-one  nationali¬ 
ties  and  fourteen  creeds.  The  total  attend¬ 
ance  at  chapel  services  for  the  year  was 
14,506. 

A  real  “Youth  Movement.” — “Young 
people’s  work  for  young  people”,  carried 
on  by  the  Ep worth  League  is  character¬ 
ized  by  a  strong  charitable  and  missionary 
spirit.  In  Ohio,  one  district  supports  a 
community  house  in  a  foreign  section  of  a 
city;  another  district  supports  a  fresh-air 
camp ;  and  still  another  contributes  largely 
for  the  Christian  education  of  Moslem 
boys.  In  Indiana,  one  district  makes  large 
donations  to  a  hospital,  and  pays  the 
salary  of  an  Epworth  League  secretary  for 
South  America;  another  supports  a  mis¬ 
sionary  in  China;  and  another  maintains 
Americanization  work  among  Italian 
children. 

In  Illinois,  one  district  partially  sup¬ 
ports  a  baby  fold,  and  helps  in  the  support 
of  a  missionary  in  Korea ;  another  contrib¬ 
utes  to  the  support  of  an  Epworth  League 
secretary  in  Europe.  The  Epworth  League 
in  Michigan  is  financing  the  Twenty-four- 
Hour-Day  plan  of  League  work  in  China, 
and  also  leads  in  the  number  of  mission 
study  classes,  having  reported  for  1922  a 
total  of  974  classes.  In  Wisconsin  the 
League  is  especially  active  in  the  support 
of  hospital  work. 

Methodist  colleges.— Space  will  not  per¬ 
mit  an  appreciation  of  each  one  of  the 
colleges,  universities,  secondary  schools 
and  training  schools  with  which  the 
East  North  Central  states  are  so  richly 
endowed.  A  chapter  on  each  one  would 


EAST  NORTH  CENTRAL 


293 


An  overseas  veteran  telling  a  missionary  story  to  the  Sunday  school, 
North  Austin  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  Chicago 


not  suffice  for  its  achieve¬ 
ments  and  world-wide  in¬ 
fluence.  The  far  vision  of 
our  great  church  enables 
it  to  understand  their  im¬ 
portance  and  to  plan  for 
the  co-operation  which 
will  enable  each  one  to 
advance  to  the  position 
the  times  demand  in  the 
need  for  Christian  leader¬ 
ship  in  world  affairs. 

Ohio  Wesleyan  Univer¬ 
sity  is  one  of  the  notable 
schools  of  Methodism.  It  has  provided 
thirty  college  and  university  presidents 
to  various  institutions;  it  has  furnished 
the  Methodists  with  eight  bishops,  Luc- 
cock,  McCabe,  Anderson,  Foss,  Hughes, 
McConnell,  McDowell  and  Thirkield. 
Three  of  its  presidents,  Thompson,  Bash- 
ford  and  Welch,  have  been  elevated  to 
the  episcopacy. 

In  a  similar  way  DePauw  University, 
Lawrence,  Mt.  Union,  Albion  and  Illinois 
Wesleyan  of  splendid  tradition  and  great 
promise  are  serving  the  cause  of  educa¬ 
tion  and  religion  in  their  respective  sec¬ 
tions.  At  Jacksonville,  the  Illinois 
Woman’s  College  is  Methodism’s  only 


Administration  Building,  De  Pauw  University, 
Greencastle,  Indiana 


distinctly  woman’s  educational  institution 
west  of  the  Allegheny  Mountains.  The 
board  of  trustees,  the  president  and  the 
faculty  hope  to  make  this  college  one  of 
the  greatest  in  America.  The  other 
Methodist  Episcopal  educational  institu¬ 
tions  in  these  states,  listed  under  the  map 


on  page  295,  are  rendering  equally  signifi¬ 
cant  service. 

A  leadership  training  center.  —  Meth¬ 
odism  has  concentrated  at  a  strategic  point 
forces  and  facilities  for  leadership  train¬ 
ing  which  are  without  superior  in  the 
denomination.  Chicago,  with  its  environs, 
located  within  a  night’s  railroad  journey 
of  40,000,000  people  is  that  point.  In 
Evanston  and  Chicago  are  located  North¬ 
western  University  and  its  various  gradu¬ 
ate  schools,  equipping  men  and  women  for 
educational,  ministerial  and  other  profes¬ 
sional  leadership ;  Garrett  Biblical  Insti¬ 
tute,  a  great  training  center  for  ministers, 
missionaries,  and  religious  educational 
directors;  the  Norwegian-Danish  Theo¬ 
logical  Seminary  and  the  Swedish  Theo¬ 
logical  Seminary,  both  training  leaders  for 
churches  of  the  foreign  language  confer¬ 
ences  and  the  Chicago  Training  School, 
preparing  both  men  and  women,  lay  and 
clerical  for  church  and  missionary  work. 

Garrett  Biblical  Institute. — The  main 
emphasis  of  Garrett  Biblical  Institute  is 
in  the  Graduate  School  of  Theology.  It 
makes  provision  for  the  ministerial  train¬ 
ing  of  college  graduates  in  the  Graduate 
School  of  Theology  who  in  certain  depart¬ 
ments  are  permitted,  with  the  approval  of 
the  Board  of  Graduate  Studies  of  North¬ 
western  University,  to  pursue  selected 
courses  in  the  School  of  Theology  leading 
to  advanced  graduate  degrees  in  special¬ 
ized  fields. 

A  graduate  school  of  religion. —  !  he 
closest  correlation  of  activities  and  courses 
exists  between  Garrett  Biblical  Institute 


WORLD  SERVICE 


294 


loeanswi 


RICHMOND 


HSTRlC 


MEWE/BTLEi 


“h  i 
*A85Wy 


*;ltw  csroi. 


Wawassee  Epworth  League  Institute 


and  Northwestern  University.  That  rela¬ 
tionship  expresses  itself  chiefly  through 
the  Graduate  School  of  the  University, 
which  has  courses  arranged  for  ministerial 
students  who  are  candidates  for  advanced 
degrees  and  for  a  large  group  of  grad¬ 
uates  who  are  preparing  for  positions  of 
religious  and  social  leadership  other  than 
the  ministry. 

The  Chicago  Training  School. — Train¬ 
ing  for  Christian  work  in  varied  fields  is 
the  purpose  of  the  Chicago  Training 
School,  with  university  standards  for  col¬ 
lege  graduates;  an  undergraduate  school 
with  college  standards  for  high  school  and 
normal  school  graduates ;  a  preparatory 
school  with  high  school  standards  for 
those  desiring  to  prepare  themselves  for 
leadership  in  the  local  church.  Since  its 
organization  in  1885,  the  Chicago  Train¬ 
ing  School  has  sent  out  more  than  5,000 
students. 

These  students  have  founded  forty  insti¬ 
tutions  of  American  Methodism,  such  as 
hospitals,  training  schools,  deaconess 
homes,  baby  folds,  orphanages  and  rest 
homes.  From  the  school  have  gone  out 
408  foreign  missionaries,  1,000  deacon¬ 
esses,  250  social  workers,  one  hundred 
directors  of  religious  education  and  2,500 
home-makers  and  lay  workers  who  give 
part  time  service. 

Rural  leadership  training. — In  the  East 
North  Central  states,  rural  leadership 
departments  are  maintained  at  Albion 
College,  University  of  Illinois,  Ohio  Wes¬ 
leyan  University,  Mount  Union  College, 
McKendree  College,  Garrett  Biblical  Insti¬ 
tute  and  the  University  of  Wisconsin. 


At  the  University  of  Wisconsin,  in  con¬ 
nection  with  the  Wesley  Foundation, 
courses  of  study,  designed  to  develop  the 
right  understanding  of  an  approach  to  the 
rural  field,  are  provided.  The  rural  parish 
in  all  its  phases,  historical,  social,  economic 
and  religious,  is  discussed.  Rural  life, 
religious  education  and  methods  of  rural 
church  work  are  given  consideration.  The 
director  of  rural  leadership  advises  with 
the  student  pastors  in  order  to  increase 
the  effectiveness  of  their  service,  and  at 
the  same  time  gives  them  laboratory  train¬ 
ing.  He  also  co-operates  with  superin¬ 
tendents  and  pastors  in  putting  on  rural 
training  institutes  and  with  the  rural 


Vista  at  Albion  College,  Michigan 


EAST  NORTH  CENTRAL 


295 


EDUCATIONAL  INSTITUTIONS 


Colleges,  Universities  and  Professional  Schools. 

Ohio 

1  Alliance,  Mount  Union  College. 

2  Cleveland,  Baldwin-Wallace  College. 

3  Berea,  Baldwin-Wallace  College. 

4  Delaware,  Ohio  Wesleyan  University. 

5  Ada,  Ohio  Northern  University. 

Indiana 

6  Greencastle.  DePauw  University. 

7  Evansville,  Evansville  College. 

Illinois 

8  Chicago,  Northwestern  University. 

9  Evanston,  Northwestern  University. 

10  Evanston,  Garrett  Biblical  Institute. 

11  Evanston,  Norwegian-Danish  Theological 
Seminary. 

12  Evanston,  Swedish  Theological  Seminary. 

13  Bloomington,  Illinois  Wesleyan  Uni¬ 
versity. 


14  Lebanon,  McKendree  College. 

15  Abingdon,  Hedding  College. 

16  Jacksonville,  Illinois  Woman’s  College. 

Michigan 

17  Albion,  Albion  College. 

Wisconsin 

18  Appleton,  Lawrence  College. 

Secondary  Schools. 

Illino  is 

19  Onarga,  Onarga  Military  School. 

20  Aurora,  Jennings  Seminary. 

Training  Schools. 

Ohio 

21  Cincinnati  (D),  Missionary  Training 
School. 

22  Cincinnati  (D),  Dorcas  Institute. 

Illinois 

23  Chicago  (D),  Chicago  Training  School. 


296 


WORLD  SERVICE 


department  of  the  Board  of  Home  Mis¬ 
sions  and  Church  Extension  in  conducting 
local  surveys. 

The  Wesley  Foundation. —  The  Wesley 
Foundation  is  the  most  notable  advance 
in  Christian  education  in  the  last  quarter 
century.  In  addition  to  the  steady  growth 
and  increasing  usefulness  of  our  denomi¬ 
national  schools,  the  Church  now  proposes 
to  bring  guidance  and  religious  nurture 
to  our  youth  in  state  and  independent  edu¬ 
cational  institutions.  The  early  inaugura¬ 
tion  of  this  work  at  the  University  of 
Illinois  with  its  continued  development 
has  been  one  of  the  outstanding  achieve¬ 
ments  of  the  church  in  recent  years. 

The  objectives  of  a  Wesley  Foundation, 
as  stated  by  the  pioneer  in  this  movement 
are  “to  provide  churches  for  college  and 
university  students  that  will  offer  a  shrine 
for  worship;  a  school  for  religious  educa¬ 
tion  ;  a  home  away  from  home ;  a  labora¬ 
tory  for  training  lay  leaders  in  church 
activities;  and  a  recruiting  station  for  the 
ministry,  for  missionary  work  at  home  and 
abroad,  and  for  other  specialized  King¬ 
dom  tasks.” 


Other  student  centers. — At  Ohio  State 
University,  Columbus,  Ohio,  the  needs  of 
the  unusually  large  proportion  of  Metho¬ 
dist  students  are  being  met  by  near-by 
churches,  especially  King  Avenue  and 
Indianola.  At  Ann  Arbor,  Michigan,  a 
fine  building  adjoining  our  Methodist 
church  has  been  remodeled  and  equipped 
for  a  student  center.  Our  church  here  has 
one  of  the  largest  volunteer  student  con¬ 
gregations  in  Methodism.  On  the  West 
Side  of  the  city  of  Chicago,  in  a  most  diffi¬ 
cult  field  in  the  greatest  medical,  dental 
and  nurse  training  center  in  the  world, 
our  St.  Paul’s  Church  is  offering  a  kindly 
welcome  to  students,  and  is  serving  their 
everyday  needs  through  social  activities, 
Bible  study  classes  and  pastoral  visitation. 

At  the  University  of  Wisconsin,  Wesley 
Hall,  the  first  unit  of  a  new  building, 
located  near  the  south  entrance  of  the 
campus,  is  the  center  of  the  activities  of 
a  university  pastor  and  a  staff  of  trained 
assistants  who  teach,  advise,  and  offer 
social  leadership  to  Methodist  students 
numbering  each  year  1,700.  At  Purdue 
University,  Lafayette,  Indiana,  1,000 


STUDENT  WORK  AT  NON-METHO¬ 
DIST  EDUCATIONAL  INSTITU¬ 
TIONS 

Ohio 

1  Athens,  Ohio  University. 

2  Oberlin,  Oberlin  College. 

3  Columbus,  Ohio  State  University. 

4  Cincinnati,  University  of  Cincinnati. 

5  Oxford,  Miami  University. 

Indiana 

6  Bloomington,  Indiana  University. 

7  West  Lafayette,  Purdue  University. 

Illinois 

8  Chicago,  University  of  Chicago. 

9  Chicago,  West  Side  Professional  Schools. 

10  Urbana,  University  of  Illinois. 

Michigan 

11  Ypsilanti,  Michigan  State  Normal  Col¬ 
lege. 

12  Ann  Arbor,  University  of  Michigan. 

13  East  Lansing,  Michigan  Agricultural 
College. 

14  Kalamazoo,  Western  State  Normal 
School. 

Wisconsin 

15  Madison,  University  of  Wisconsin. 


EAST  NORTH  CENTRAL 


297 


Methodist  students 
are  ministered  to 
by  a  Foundation, 
the  director  of 
which  is  the  pas¬ 
tor  of  our  West 
Lafayette  Church. 

A  New  Negro 
College  for  the 
North 

Negroes  in  North 
ncreasing.  —  The 
East  North  Cen¬ 
tral  section  of  the 
United  States  rep¬ 
resents  the  states  covered  in  the  Lexing¬ 
ton  Annual  Conference.  To  these  it  is 
estimated  that  one  half  of  the  Negroes 
migrating  from  the  South  have  gone  in 
the  last  five  years.  The  Negro  population 
for  these  states  is  as  follows: 


State  mo  1920 

Ohio  .  96,901  186,187 

Indiana .  57,505  80,810 

Illinois  . - .  85,078  182,274 

Michigan  . 15,816  60,082 

Wisconsin  . - .  2,542  5,204 


Total  . - . 257,842  514,557 


Negroes  in  large  cities. — In  the  East 
North  Central  states  are  also  the  follow¬ 
ing  large  cities,  with  their  large  Negro 
population.  Although  these  cities  are 
included  in  the  state  statistics,  their  Negro 
population  is  placed  in  a  separate  table 
because  of  the  relation  which  these  cen¬ 
ters  of  Negroes  bear  to  Methodist  Epis¬ 
copal  Churches  among  the  Negroes: 

Negroes  in 


Negroes 

Methodist  Epi 

City 

in  1920 

copal  Church 

Cincinnati,  Ohio  . - . 

.  30,079 

1,451 

Columbus,  Ohio  . 

.  22,181 

1.009 

Cleveland,  Ohio  . 

.  34,451 

1,534 

Dayton,  Ohio  . 

.  9,025 

204 

Springfield,  Ohio  . 

.  7,025 

515 

Toledo,  Ohio  . . 

.  5,691 

41 

Youngstown*  Ohio  . 

.  6.662 

227 

Indianapolis,  Ind . 

.  .  ...  34,678 

1,087 

Gary,  Ind . 

......  16,460 

367 

Evansville,  Ind . 

.  6.394 

81 

Cairo,  Ill . 

.  5,000 

Chicago,  Ill . 

. 100,458 

5,260 

East  St.  Louis,  Ill . 

.  7,437 

126 

Detroit,  Mich . . . 

.  40,838 

516 

Milwaukee,  Wis . - . . 

2  229 

Total  . - 

. 328,608 

12,418 

It  will  be  seen  that  of  the  total  Negro 
population  of  514,557,  fifteen  of  the  large 
cities  have  328,608,  leaving  but  185,949 
in  the  smaller  towns  and  rural  sections. 
In  the  Lexington  Conference  there  are 
24,269  Negro  members. 

Negroes  in  northern  schools.— The  claim 
is  that  the  Negro  children  seldom  go 
further  in  their  education  than  the  eighth 
grade.  Very  few  are  to  be  found  in  the 
high  schools  and  fewer  still  in  the  uni¬ 
versities  and  colleges.  The  high  schools 
of  the  city  are  open  to  the  Negroes,  but 
they  do  not  enter.  The  Negroes  gradu¬ 
ated  compared  with  the  number  of 
eligibles  are  very  few. 

A  new  institution  needed. — In  the  East 
North  Central  states  there  is  but  one 
institution  of  learning  specifically  for  the 
Negro  worth  the  naming,  located  in  Ohio 
at  Wilberforce,  known  as  Wilberforce 
University.  This  institution  is  filled  to 
capacity.  The  plant  was  originally  the 
property  of  the  old  Cincinnati  Conference 
of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church.  It  is 
now  owned  and  operated  by  the  African 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church.  The  author¬ 
ity  of  the  Board  of  Education  for  Negroes 
under  its  charter  to  operate  an  institution 
north  of  the  Ohio  River  seems  ample.  The 
question  seems  to  be  solely  one  of  ade¬ 
quate  means  for  the  purchase  of  a  site,  the 
erection  of  necessary  buildings,  equipment 
for  the  same,  and  its  maintenance  as  a 
full-fledged  standard  college  of  first  rank. 


Illinois  Woman’s  College,  Jacksonville,  Illinois 


directly  related,  within  one 
year,  to  King  Avenue 
Church,  Columbus 


20 


298 


WORLD  SERVICE 


Hospitals. 

Ohio 

1  Cleveland,  St.  Luke’s  Hospital. 

2  Columbus,  Protestant  Hospital. 

3  J  oledo,  Flower  Hospital. 

4  Cincinnati,  Bethesda  Hospital. 

5  Cincinnati,  Christ  Hospital. 

Indiana 

6  Fort  Wayne,  Methodist  Episcopal  Hos¬ 
pital. 

7  Indianapolis,  Methodist  Episcopal  Hos¬ 
pital. 

8  Gary,  Methodist  Episcopal  Hospital. 

9  Princeton,  Methodist  Episcopal  Hospital. 

Illinois 

10  Chicago,  Wesley  _  Memorial  Hospital. 

11  Mattoon,  Methodist  Memorial  Hospital. 

12  Carbondale,  Holden  Hospital. 

13  Peoria,  Methodist  Hospital  of  Central 
Illinois. 

Michigan 

14  Kalamazoo,  Bronson  Methodist  Hospital. 

Wisconsin 

15  Green  Bay,  Wisconsin  Deaconess  Hos¬ 
pital. 


16  Madison,  Methodist  Hospital. 

17  Rice  Lake,  Lakeside  Methodist  Episcopal 
Hospital. 

Homes  for  the  Aged. 

Ohio 

18  Elyria,  Old  Ladies’  Home. 

19  Cincinnati,  Bethesda  Home  for  Aged. 

20  Cincinnati,  Methodist  Home  for  Aged 

Indiana 

21  Warren,  Methodist  Memorial  Home. 

Illinois 

22  Chicago,  Methodist  Episcopal  Old  People’s 
Home. 

23  Chicago,  Swedish  Bethany  Home  for 
Aged. 

24  Saint  Francisville,  Old  People's  Home. 

25  Quincy,  Old  People’s  Home. 

Michigan 

26  Chelsea,  Old  People’s  Home  of  the  Detroit 
Conference. 

27  Grand  Rapids,  Clark  Memorial  Home. 

28  Covert,  Emanuel  Aged  People’s  Home. 

Wisconsin 

29  Sparta,  Morrow  Memorial  Home  for  the 
Aged. 


EAST  NORTH  CENTRAL 


299 


Homes  for  Children. 

Ohio 

30  Berea,  German  Methodist  Orphan  Asy¬ 
lum. 

31  Worthington,  Methodist  Children’s  Home 
Association  of  Ohio. 

Indiana 

32  Greencastle,  Indiana  Methodist  Children’s 
Home. 

Illinois 

33  Lake  Bluff,  Methodist  Deaconess  Orphan¬ 
age. 

34  Urbana,  Cunningham  Children’s  Home. 

35  Mount  Vernon,  Methodist  Orphanage. 

36  Normal,  Mason  Deaconess  Home  and 
Babyfold. 

37  Polo,  Peek  Orphange. 


Michigan 

38  Farmington,  Methodist  Children’s  Home. 

Other  Institutions. 

Ohio 

39  Toledo,  Flower  Home  for  Girls. 

40  Cincinnati,  William  Nast  Christian  Home 
for  Young  Men. 

Indiana 

41  Rensselaer,  Monnett  School  for  Girls. 

Illinois 

42  Chicago,  Bethany  Home  for  Working 
Girls. 

43  Chicago,  Esther  Home  for  Girls. 

Wisconsin 

44  Sheboygan,  Methodist  Home  for  Girls. 


Christian  philanthropy.  —  Hospitals, 
orphanages,  old  people’s  homes,  baby  folds, 
homes  for  working  girls,  homes  for  unfor¬ 
tunates — all  these  and  others  tell  the  story 
of  the  heart  of  a  church  quickened  to  care 
for  the  sick  and  aged,  to  help  the  needy 
and  the  wayward,  and  to  minister  in  love 
to  those  who  for  one  reason  or  another 
have  fallen  by  life’s  wayside.  Forty-four 
such  institutions,  scattered  through  the 
five  states,  are  Methodism’s  witness  to  a 
belief  in  works  of  mercy. 

Bible  distribution.— In  1921,  Scriptures 
in  forty-six  languages  were  supplied  to 
this  territory.  The  program  calls  for 
co-operation  with  the  churches  in  the  Bible 
distribution;  the  establishment  of  a  depos¬ 
itory  in  every  large  center  of  population ; 
the  maintenance  of  colporteurs  among  the 
Italian,  Bohemian,  Polish,  Slovak,  Rou¬ 
manian,  Jewish  and  Russian  colonies;  and 
the  enlistment  of  voluntary  workers  for 
Bible  distribution. 

Woman’s  Home  Missions— Classes  for 
children  in  city  slums,  homes  for  working 
girls,  educational  work  among  Indian 
women  and  children,  rescue  homes,  oi- 
phanages,  old  people’s 
homes — such  a  list  indi¬ 
cates  something  of  the 
extent  of  the  Christian 
service  being  rendered  by 
the  Woman’s  Home  Mis¬ 
sionary  society  in  the  East 
North  Central  states.  The 
measure  of  total  achieve¬ 
ment  can  never  be  taken. 


Among  the  Indians.— The  native  red  man 
is  still  to  be  found  in  his  favorite  haunts 
of  the  Great  Lakes  Region.  Scattered 
throughout  Michigan  and  Wisconsin  are 
more  Methodist  Episcopal  Indian  missions 
than  in  any  other  two  states  of  the  union. 
The  fourteen  stations  of  Indian  work  in 
the  East  North  Central  states  are  at 
Athens,  Bradley,  Rosebush,  Mt.  Pleasant, 
Northport,  Charlevoix,  Elk  Rapids, 
Mikado,  L’Anse,  Algonquin,  Hermansville 
and  Pequaming,  Michigan,  and  at  Oneida 
and  Odanah,  Wisconsin. 

THE  MISSIONARY  NEED 

The  story  of  need  can  only  be  indicated 
by  typical  cases : 

Rapidly  growing  industrial  neighborhood,  where 
church  is  only  social  center  aside  from  saloons, 
pool  rooms  and  public  dance  halls. 

Seven  outlying  communities  in  one  parish,  en¬ 
tirely  without  religious  work. 

Eight  communities  along  a  railroad  in  a  new 
agricultural  community,  have  no  religious  services 
at  all. 

A  church  of  twenty-six  members  in  a  parish 
of  792  square  miles,  with  two  villages  and  twenty 
lumber  camps,  is  struggling  heroically. 

A  flourishing  Sunday  school  in  a  mining  camp 
which  has  been  homeless,  moving  from  place  to 
place  to  find  shelter. 


These  students  of  Purdue  University  are  in  classes  at  the 
First  Methodist  Episcopal  Church 


300 


WORLD  SERVICE 


Methodist  Hospital,  Indianapolis,  Indiana 


The  oldest  church  in  a  large  city,  in  a  thickly 
populated  section  of  50,000  people,  finds  its  mem¬ 
bers  moving  away  and  needy  Armenians,  Bulgari¬ 
ans,  Austrians,  Italians,  and  other  foreigners  mov¬ 
ing  in. 

In  another  large  city,  there  are  nine  Methodist 
Episcopal  congregations  among  the  Negroes,  and 
only  one  of  these  occupies  a  worthy  building. 

A  circuit  in  a  section  rapidly  changing  from 
lumbering  to  agriculture. 

New  site  and  building  material  required  in  a 
parish  of  7,000  people  of  eight  nationalities  in 
lumbering  and  iron  ore  region. 

.In  a  fast  growing  industrial  city,  missionary  aid 
will  make  possible  the  erection  of  eight  new 


church  buildings  and  eight  new  parsonages  badly 
needed. 

Five  Methodist  churches  around  one  county 
seat  were  abandoned  during  the  war  for  lack  of 
ministers,  and  are  still  unsupplied. 

A  church  in  industrial  community  of  1,200  peo¬ 
ple  has  received  sixty-one  young  men  into  mem¬ 
bership  in  recent  months.  One-room  frame  struc¬ 
ture,  too  far  gone  for  repair,  greatly  handicaps 
efforts  to  reach  many  others. 

A  Negro  congregation  in  a  district  of  10,000 
Negroes,  is  housed  in  a  one-room,  abandoned 
school  building.  A  corporation  will  donate  the 
site  if  the  congregation  will  build. 

Large  colonies  of  German-speaking  Russians  in 
Michigan  and  Ohio,  have  only  a  few  mission 
churches  ministering  to  them. 

1  he  largest  Belgian  settlement  in  the  world 
outside  of  Flanders  is  in  Illinois.  There  is  need 
for  Christian  literature  and  a  bi-lingual  leader. 

A  coke  town  of  4,000  unchurched  people,  half 
of  whom  are  under  twenty-one  years  of  age. 
Methodist  responsibility. 

Methodist  settlement  in  city  congested  district, 
ministering  to  social  and  religious  needs  of  native 
Americans  and  Italians,  must  enlarge  to  meet  de¬ 
mands. 

Italian  Methodist  Episcopal  congregation  has 
erected  a  new  building,  but  needs  help  in  support 
of  pastor. 

A  growing  industrial  center  has  four  Methodist 
Sunday  schools,  not  one  with  a  church  building. 
Two  meet  in  school  houses,  one  in  a  tar  paper 
shack  and  another  in  a  store. 


At  the  Cincinnati  Area  Convention,  Columbus,  Ohio,  February,  1923 


WEST  NORTH  CENTRAL  STATES 


1111111111111111111111111111111111111111) 

MINNESOTA 
IOWA 
MISSOURI 
NORTH  DAKOTA 
SOUTH  DAKOTA 
NEBRASKA 
KANSAS 


SUMMER  SCHOOL  FOR  RURAL  PASTORS 


The  ideal  solution  of  the  country  church  problem  is  to 
have  in  each  rural  community  one  strong  church,  ade¬ 
quately  supported ,  properly  equipped,  ministered  to  by 
an  able  man — a  church  which  leads  in  community 
service. 

K.  L.  Butterfield 


WEST  NORTH  CENTRAL  STATES 


A  Center  of  Traditional  Americanism 

The  West  North  Central  states  of 
today  are  sometimes  called  the  “New  Eng¬ 
land  of  yesterday.”  Here  life  is  still 
largely  rural,  and  the  population  is  mostly 
made  up  of  descendants  of  the  pioneers  of 
native  stock.  The  westward  wave  of  in¬ 
dustrialism  has  not  yet  swept  across  the 
Mississippi  river,  and  the  cultural  empha¬ 
sis  still  holds  supreme.  The  little  red 
school  houses  have  grown  up  into  colleges 
and  universities,  while  the  little  brown 
churches  have  become  centers  of  strength 
and  service. 

This  traditional  Americanism  in  its  full 
flower  is  both  materially  and  spiritually 
progressive.  Along  with  the  development 
of  fine  churches  and  schools  has  gone  the 
steady  improvement  of  farm 
and  home.  Where  a  short  half 
century  ago  the  prairie  schoon¬ 
ers  trekked  across  the  plains, 
the  motor  car  now  reigns  su¬ 
preme.  There  are  a  few  cities 


where  sharp  class  lines  are  drawn ; 
some  mining  and  lumbering  sections, 
backward  hill  regions,  and  sparsely 
settled  frontier  areas  where  extreme  con¬ 
ditions  prevail;  but  as  a  rule  the  people 
belong  to  that  great  middle  class,  individ¬ 
ualistic  in  their  thinking  and  social  in  their 
action.  They  are  neither  very  wealthy  nor 
very  poor,  but  in  normally  prosperous 
circumstances  which  foster  a  strong  home, 
community,  church  and  school  life. 

The  Region  Characterized 
People  and  occupations.  —  The  seven 
states  in  this  division  have  a  population 
of  12,544,249,  of  whom  7,816,877,  or  62.3 
per  cent  are  rural,  and  4,727,372,  or  37.7 
per  cent  are  urban.  That  a  city-ward 
movement  is  under  way,  the 
same  as  elsewhere  in  the  United 
States  is  indicated  by  the  change 
in  percentages  from  1890,  when 
the  rural  population  was  74.2 
per  cent  and  the  urban  25.8  per 


303 


304 


WORLD  SERVICE 


cent.  The  population  growth  as  a  whole 
has  been  slow,  registering  for  the  decade 
of  1910-1920  only  7.8  per  cent.  The  total 
number  of  foreign-born  is  1,371,961,  large 
numbers  of  whom  are  from  northern  Eu¬ 
rope  and  more  easily  Americanized.  The 
Negro  population  is  278,521,  an  increase  of 
14.8  per  cent.  Illiteracy  is  here  at  its 
lowest  point  in  the  United  States,  only 
193,221,  or  two  per  cent  coming  under 
that  classification. 

The  largest  iron  ore  mines  in  the  world 
are  to  be  found  in  Minnesota,  also  im¬ 
portant  lumbering,  shipping,  and  flour¬ 
milling  industries.  Large  lead  and  zinc 
mines  are  found  in  Missouri;  coal  mines 
in  Iowa  and  Kansas;  oil  wells  in  Kansas; 
and  gold,  silver,  and  lead  mines  in  South 
Dakota.  The  industrial  development  of 
the  cities  varies,  but  rests  primarily  on 
the  products  of  the  soil  in  the  given  re¬ 
gions. 

In  God’s  garden. — The  panorama  that 
unfolds  for  the  traveler  is  one  of  enchant¬ 
ment.  He  is  in  a  vast  garden — God’s 
garden,  someone  has  called  it — where 
fields  of  wheat  and  fields  of  corn  seem  to 
stretch  endlessly.  They  called  it  the 
“great  American  desert”  in  the  long  ago, 
when  the  distant  gold  fields  of  the  Pacific 
lured  multitudes  across  it.  Little  did  they 
dream,  as  they  took  their  painful,  ox-team 
pilgrimage  along  the  trails,  that  under 
their  feet  was  wealth  untold.  It  waited 
only  the  coming  of  the  settler  to  yield  its 
riches.  Today  that  desert  in  truth  blos¬ 
soms  as  the  rose,  and  the  disdained 
prairies  have  become  the  “bread  basket 
of  the  world.” 


Asbury  Hospital,  Minneapolis,  Minnesota 


The  crops  of  grain,  however,  are  not  the 
largest  harvest  of  these  states.  Closely 
allied  with  the  tilling  of  the  soil  is  the 
cultivation  of  character.  Contact  with  the 
soil  seems  to  bring  a  consciousness  of  God. 

The  fellowship  of  the  soil. — In  the  words 
of  a  great  Norwegian  man  of  letters,  the 
growth  of  the  soil  and  the  worker  go  hand 
in  hand: 

“There  you  are,  living  in  touch  with 
heaven  and  earth,  one  with  all  these  wide 

deep  rooted  things . Look,  nature’s 

there,  for  you  and  yours  to  have  and  en¬ 
joy.  Man  and  nature  don’t  bombard  each 
other,  but  agree ;  they  don’t  compete,  race 
one  against  the  other,  but  go  together. .... 
You’ve  everything  to  live  on,  everything 
to  live  for,  everything  to  believe  in ;  being 
born  and  bringing  forth,  you  are  the 
needful  on  earth . ’Tis  you  that  main¬ 

tain  life.” 

Methodist  Pioneering 

The  product  of  missions. — Here  where 
life  still  clings  to  the  soil,  churches  of 
Christ  flourish  and  bring  forth  a  large 
harvest.  Villages,  towns,  and  cities  are 
dotted  with  the  spires  and  towers  of  the 
temples  of  worship.  Nowhere  in  America 
is  Protestantism  more  virile  or  more 
vitally  related  to  the  individual  and  social 
life.  Its  fruitage  is  a  strong  missionary 
interest  which  reaches  around  the  world. 

The  religious  life  of  the  West  North 
Central  states  today  is  the  product  of 
home  missions  for  the  last  half  century  or 
more.  Nowhere  is  there  a  more  striking 
example  of  struggling  missions  in  frontier 
settlements  becoming,  through  missionary 
aid,  gloriously  strong  churches,  giving  of 
their  wealth,  their  strength,  their  prayers, 
their  manhood  and  their  womanhood  for 
the  extension  of  the  kingdom  of  Christ  in 
congested  cities,  in  isolated  country  sec¬ 
tions,  and  in  far-flung  mission  fields.  Most 
of  the  educational  institutions  of  these 
states  were  founded  on  the  religious  im¬ 
pulse,  and  many  of  them  are  still 
maintained  by  the  denominations. 

The  first  church  in  Iowa  was  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  church  which  was 
organized  at  Burlington  in  1834;  and  the 


WEST  NORTH  CENTRAL 


305 


second  was  another  Methodist  church,  at 
Dubuque.  Of  the  thousands  of  Methodist 
Episcopal  churches  which  were  founded  in 
the  ensuing  half  or  three-quarters  of  a 
century,  80  per  cent  are  said  to  be  the 
direct  results  of  home  mission  work. 
Other  denominations  throughout  this  re¬ 
gion  credit  from  75  to  95  per  cent  of  their 
present  churches,  most  of  them  self- 
supporting  and  benevolent,  to  home 
mission  labors  of  other  years. 

In  Kansas,  a  Methodist  home  missionary 
founded  the  State  Agricultural  College, 
while  other  home  missionaries  started  the 
State  Normal  School  and  the  State  Univer¬ 
sity.  The  church  colleges  which  dot 
Kansas  and  the  other  states  of  the  division 
are  likewise  a  testimony  to  home  mission 
statesmanship. 

The  measure  of  present  Methodism. 
Today  the  church  sees  as  the  visible 
result  of  its  labors  a  membership  of 
643,213  in  the  West  North  Central  states, 
of  which  606,191  are  white  English- 
speaking,  19,389  German,  6,834  Scandi¬ 
navian,  and  10,237  Negro;  a  Sunday-school 
enrolment  of  767,913,  of  which  730,969  are 
white  English-speaking,  24,319  German, 
7,021  Scandinavian,  and  4,981  Negro; 
4,564  churches,  of  which  4,089  are  white 
English-speaking,  226  German,  117  Scan¬ 
dinavian,  and  123  Negro.  The  total 
valuation  of  all  churches  and  parsonages 
is  $48,198,288,  while  the  total  paid  for 
local  expenses  in  1922  was  $11,170,396, 
and  for  benevolences  $3,585,587,  or  a  total 
for  all  purposes  of  $14,755,983,  or  $22.94 
per  capita  for  all  purposes.  There  are 
also  twenty  colleges,  universities,  and 


tesasusaaiij 


University  Methodist  Episcopal  Church, 
Salina,  Kansas 


Case  Library,  Baker  University, 
Baldwin,  Kansas 


training  schools,  and  thirty-four  hospitals, 
orphanages,  and  old  people's  homes  in 
these  states,  maintained  under  Methodist 
Episcopal  auspices. 

Problems  for  the  Church 

The  rural  situation.— The  problem  of 
Methodism  is  not  primarily  one  of  more 
churches,  but  of  adaptation  to  the  chang¬ 
ing  needs  of  the  communities  in  which 
the  churches  are  located. 

Bishop  Homer  C.  Stuntz  has  put  the 
whole  situation  in  a  few  sentences : 

“We  are  attempting  to  check  the 
down-grade  movement  among  our  rural 
churches.  The  country  population  of  the 
states  is  almost  stationary.  In  some 
places  it  is  decreasing.  The  high  prices 
of  farm  lands  and  the  increasing  number 
of  tenant  farmers  are  operating  to  check 
immigration  and  to  force  young  men 
looking  forward  to  agriculture  as  a  live¬ 
lihood  to  seek  cheaper  land.  The  coming 
of  the  automobile  and  other  influences  like 
the  radio  are  steadily  working  against  the 
country  church.  We  are  doing  our  utmost 
to  make  such  combinations  of  country 
churches  with  the  churches  in  towns  near 
which  they  are  located  and  with  one 
another  in  the  open  country  as  will  con¬ 
serve  the  membership  we  already  have 
there,  and  minister  to  the  growing  youth 
of  these  scattered  communities.” 

Adapting  the  country  church. — The  tele¬ 
phone,  the  rural  free  delivery,  the 
interurban  railway,  the  automobile,  the 
radio,  the  improvement  of  roads  and  other 
physical  betterments  have  broken  down 


306 


WORLD  SERVICE 


Community  building  in  rural  Iowa, 
Sergeant  Bluff,  Iowa 


most  of  the  isolation  of  the  West  North 
Central  states.  Modern  farm  machinery 
and  improved  farming  methods  give  more 
leisure  time  to  rural  dwellers,  except  for 
the  short  busy  seasons  of  harvest  and 
planting.  A  new  social  life  is  developing, 
centering  around  the  larger  villages  and 
towns.  The  one-room  school  is  being  super¬ 
seded  by  the  consolidated,  graded  school, 
and  the  little  country  churches  are  finding 
their  members  either  moving  to  towns  or 
transferring  their  memberships  there. 

This  problem  of  the  country  church  is 
not  one  of  a  single  denomination,  but  of 
denominational  co-operation.  The  need 
is  for  one  strong  evangelical  Protestant 
church  in  a  community,  ministering  to 
social  as  well  as  spiritual  needs,  guiding 
the  thoughts  and  efforts  for  community 
betterment,  and  providing  a  recreational 
life  which  will  overcome  the  church- 
alienating,  commercialized  amusements 
which  are  drawing  so  many  young  people 
today  away  from  church  and  religious 
influences,  and  which,  through  their  very 
purposelessness  and  uselessness,  are 
blighting  the  spiritual  life.  The  church 
with  the  trained  leadership,  with  seven- 
day-a-week  program,  with  a  desire  to  help 
and  to  serve  its  people  in  every  phase  of 
their  lives ;  the  church  which  seeks  to  make 
a  better  world  as  well  as  to  get  people 
ready  for  heaven;  the  church  with  the 
full-rounded  program  of  personal  and 
social  ministry  such  as  Jesus  preached 
and  practiced,  that  church  is  winning  in 
the  rural  field  today. 

“Out  where  the  West  begins.”  —  Al¬ 


though  North  Dakota  is  the  only  one  of 
the  West  North  Central  states  included 
in  “the  frontier”  as  defined  by  the  Metho¬ 
dist  Episcopal  Church,  the  western 
portions  of  the  Dakotas,  Nebraska,  and 
Kansas  still  have  much  of  the  pioneer 
flavor.  The  missionary  problems  that  go 
along  with  sparsely  settled  areas  are  here 
to  be  found.  Vast  prairies,  given  over  to 
“dry  farming”;  great  grain  fields;  im¬ 
mense  ranches  devoted  to  cattle  raising — 
these  mark  most  of  this  territory.  But 
there  is  some  mining,  and  some  irrigation. 
Development  is  steadily  going  ahead  and 
there  is  a  curious  mixture  of  the  old  fron¬ 
tier  and  modern  farming  in  the  process. 
Methodism  is  at  the  front  in  these  fields. 

Up  in  South  Dakota,  the  Aberdeen 
district  extends  312  miles  east  and  west 
and  seventy-two  miles  north  and  south. 
Practically  one-third  of  it  still  is  virgin 
plain.  The  district  includes  18,990  square 
miles  of  land,  with  a  population  averaging 
8.4  persons  to  the  square  mile.  It  has  but 
one  town  with  more  than  2,500  people. 

Unchurched  groups. — The  “lumber  jacks 
of  the  Northern  woods”  like  the  southern 
highlander,  are  familiar  in  song  and  story. 
They  need  greatly  both  a  social  and  re¬ 
ligious  ministry.  In  the  mining  camps, 
particularly  of  Missouri  and  Kansas,  are 
thousands  of  foreign-speaking  inhabit- 


Our  church  at  Kearney,  Nebraska 


WEST  NORTH  CENTRAL 


307 


Bible  colporteur  on  the  ranges  of  northern  Minnesota 


ants,  whose  problems  are 
the  same  as  of  the  rural 
industrial  communities  of 
the  East.  In  a  region 
where  the  native  popula¬ 
tion  is  more  predominant, 
these  foreign  -  speaking 
people  are  the  more  con¬ 
scious  of  their  isolation 
and  the  more  readily  mis¬ 
understand  and  are  mis¬ 
understood. 

Western  highlanders. — 

The  mountain  people  of  the  Ozarks  in  Mis¬ 
souri  are  the  one  “highlander”  group  of 
the  West  North  Central  states.  Here  in  a 
territory  stretching  across  part  of  Mis¬ 
souri  and  Arkansas  is  a  section  which 
seems  to  have  been  lifted  bodily  out  of  the 
mountains  of  the  Old  South  and  to  have 
been  transplanted  with  all  its  illiteracy, 
primitiveness,  superstition,  and  poverty, 
and  also  offering  the  same  need  for  ed¬ 
ucation,  evangelism,  and  community  serv¬ 
ice. 

The  migrants.— A  picturesque  group,  to 
which  the  chui'ch  has  just  begun  to  real¬ 
ize  that  it  owes  a  ministry,  is  composed 
of  the  many  thousand  migrants  who  work 
in  the  harvest  fields  of  the  West  North 
Central  and  West  South  Central  states 
every  year. 

Among  them  are  professional  seasonal 
workers,  such  as  are  found  in  railroad 
work,  in  the  ice  fields,  in  the  lumber  camps, 
and  in  the  closed  season  haunting  the 
cheap  lodging  houses  of  the  city;  college 
students,  earning  money  for  an  education ; 
vacationists,  out  for  extra  money;  house¬ 
holders,  securing  leave  of  absence  to  work 
during  the  harvest  season.  In  most  any 
harvest  crew  will  be  found  married  and 
unmarried  men,  educated  and  uneducated, 
wanderers  and  ambitious  students,  stu¬ 
dents  for  the  ministry  and  profane  athe¬ 
ists,  personal  workers  and  sceptics. 

The  West  North  Central  cities — While 
the  West  North  Central  states  are  essen¬ 
tially  rural,  the  importance  of  their  cities 
is  not  to  be  minimized.  Seven  cities  of 
more  than  100,000  population  are  located 
in  the  seven  states.  St.  Louis,  with 


772,897  people,  is  the  leader,  followed  in 
order  of  size  by  Minneapolis,  Kansas  City, 
Missouri;  St.  Paul,  Omaha,  Des  Moines, 
and  Kansas  City,  Kansas.  While  the 
growth  of  these  cities  has  been  steady, 
and  in  some  instances  rapid,  it  has  not 
been  meteoric  such  as  some  of  the  highly 
industrialized  cities  of  the  East  have 
known.  Industry  and  commerce  hold  a 
high  place  in  their  advancement,  but  it  has 
been  usually  a  variety  of  industries  which 
has  been  responsible.  The  cities  ai’e  more 
of  the  traditionally  American  type,  with  a 
comparatively  strong  religious  life. 

St.  Louis,  by  an  official  survey,  is  shown 
to  be  77  per  cent  native-born  white,  13 
per  cent  foreign-born,  and  10  per  cent 
Negro.  Of  those  employed,  40  per  cent  are 
in  industry,  15  per  cent  in  the  trades,  14 
per  cent  in  clerical  positions,  and  5  per 
cent  in  the  professions.  Religiously,  36 
per  cent  are  Protestant,  39  per  cent  Roman 
Catholic,  and  3  per  cent  Jewish.  One-fifth 
admit  no  interest  in  any  church.  “St.  Louis 
is  prosperous,”  says  the  survey,  “yet  over 
one-half  of  her  people  live  below  the 
average  of  human  welfare  and  30  per  cent 
under  distinctly  subnormal  conditions.” 

In  spite  of  many  churches,  the  tendency 
of  the  cities  is  towards  congestion  and 
social  cleavage.  The  outward  movement 
of  populations  is  causing  the  “downtown 
church”  problem,  and  there  is  need  of 
adaptation  to  the  various  types  of  city 
communities  the  same  as  in  the  eastern 
cities. 

This  adaptation  requires,  however,  lead¬ 
ership  trained  to  the  specific  city  task  and 
equipment  commensurate  with  the  need. 


308 


WORLD  SERVICE 


Epworth  School  for  Girls — A  W.  H.  M.  S.  home 
in  the  suburbs  of  St.  Louis 


Methodism  at  the  Front 

Linking  town  and  country. — The  social 
and  economic  changes  under  way  throw 
an  added  responsibility  on  the  village  and 
town  churches.  Likewise,  the  increasing 
distractions  of  commercialized  amuse¬ 
ments  and  community  effort  with  no 
church  affiliations  tend  to  sever  the 
church’s  contact  with  the  people.  The 
church’s  answer  must  be  a  ministry  which 
touches  all  the  needs  of  the  parish.  It 
should  be  the  connecting  link  between 
town  and  country  life  and  the  center  of 
the  social  as  well  as  the  religious  expres¬ 
sion  of  both. 

In  Kearney,  Nebraska,  our  church  is 
proving  the  feasibility  and  the  value  of 
such  a  program.  The  town  church  has 
linked  itself  with  the  rural  parishes  of 
Elizabeth  Valley,  Buda  School  House, 
Haven  Chapel,  and  Alfalfa  Center,  and 
has  developed  a  well-rounded  program  for 
all.  The  Kearney  church  building  is  never 
closed.  During  1922,  50,000  people  made 
use  of  its  facilities  on  week-days.  The 
farmers  and  their  families  make  large  use 
of  the  attractive  rest-room  and  reading 
room  when  in  town  shopping.  A  radio 
helps  to  furnish  entertainment.  There  is 
provided  an  employment  and  infor¬ 
mation  bureau,  and  a  gymnasium  and 
social  center.  Neighborhood  programs  are 
arranged  for  the  rural  parishes. 

The  Rapid  City  district. — Seven  hun¬ 
dred  members  were  recruited  by  the  sixty- 
four  Methodist  Episcopal  preaching  places 
in  the  sparsely  settled  territory  of  the 
Rapid  City  District,  Dakota  Conference, 
during  1922,  a  witness  to  the  fact  that  the 
church  can  adapt  itself  to  frontier  con¬ 


ditions.  The  district  covers  a  territory 
as  large  as  the  combined  area  of  Vermont, 
New  Hampshire,  Massachusetts,  Connec¬ 
ticut,  and  Rhode  Island.  It  has  a  popula¬ 
tion  of  93,292  people,  of  whom  more  than 
25,000  are  children  of  school  age.  The 
country  is  settled  for  the  most  part  by 
homesteaders  of  meagre  resources,  so  the 
territory  is  largely  missionary. 

Rebuilding  a  county. — What  a  pastor 
can  accomplish  in  community  betterment 
if  he  is  willing  to  exercise  energy,  leader¬ 
ship,  and  consecration  finds  its  epitome 
in  the  experience  of  Phelps  County,  Mis¬ 
souri.  The  Methodist  Episcopal  pastor 
launched  the  Phelps  County  Development 
Federation,  with  a  farm  bureau  to  secure 
a  county  agricultural  agent,  prepare  or 
secure  bulletins  on  crops,  organize  farm¬ 
ers’  institutes,  and  plan  exhibits  at  fairs; 
a  welfare  bureau,  to  devise  a  county  home 
for  the  unfortunate  poor,  and  to  offer  a 
constructive  plan  for  dealing  with  poverty 
and  benevolence;  a  school  bureau,  for  ad¬ 
vancing  public  education;  a  road  bureau, 
to  study  highway  needs  and  encourage 
road  building;  an  organization  bureau,  to 
aid  in  the  formation  of  commercial  clubs 
and  other  community  organizations;  and 
a  recreation  center  bureau,  to  arrange 
social  excursions  from  one  part  of  the 
county  to  another,  to  give  support  to  cen¬ 
trally  located  picnics,  and  otherwise  “to 
make  provision  for  development  of  social 
gatherings  which  will  encourage  broader 
acquaintance  among  Phelps  County  peo¬ 
ple.”  Circuits  of  school  houses  were 
arranged  for  popular  addresses  on  better 
farming  and  entertainments. 


Administration  Building,  Ozark 
Wesleyan  College 


WEST  NORTH  CENTRAL 


309 


In  other  fields. — A  term  spent  by  the 
pastor  at  a  summer  school  for  rural  pas¬ 
tors  has  resulted  in  a  community  church 
at  Hastings,  Iowa,  where  a  program  of 
steady  advance  is  maintained.  Church 
and  Sunday-school  and  Epworth  League 
membership  is  rapidly  increasing.  A 
membership  increase  of  650  per  cent  in 
three  years  has  been  achieved  at  the  Waite 
Park  church,  St.  Cloud,  Minnesota,  par¬ 
tially  through  the  help  given  by  the  Board 
of  Home  Missions  and  Church  Extension. 
The  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  at 
Wathena,  Kansas,  in  nine  months  received 
ninety-three  new  members,  and  has 
entered  into  a  community  social  and  recre¬ 
ational  program.  An  antiquated  church 
building  has  given  place  to  a  fine  new 
building  at  Walton,  Kansas,  which  has 
become  the  social  center  of  the  village  and 
surrounding  country. 

Among  the  miners. — In  the  Albia  Mis¬ 
sion,  among  the  coal  mining  camps  of 
Iowa,  a  missionary,  member  of  the  coal 
miners’  union,  was  put  in  charge  of  the 
work.  He  began  by  making  surveys  of 
the  camps,  opening  Sunday  schools,  organ¬ 
izing  preaching  services  and  prayer  meet¬ 
ings.  Within  a  few  months,  four  churches 
were  organized  in  as  many  different 
camps,  and  seven  Sunday  schools  started. 
Preaching  services  were  held  in  the  five 
other  camps,  in  school  houses,  homes  or 
wherever  room  coi  id  be  secured.  The 


These  teen-age  girls  at  Guthrie  Center,  Iowa, 
use  a  tent  as  a  Sunday-school 
classroom 


Industrial  class,  supervised  by  a  deaconess, 
church  community  house, 
Frontenac,  Kansas 


population  of  the  camps  varies  from  200 
to  1,900,  with  many  foreign-speaking  peo¬ 
ple  and  many  Negroes. 

Centering  around  Pittsburg,  Kansas, 
are  a  number  of  coal  mining  camps  with 
30,000  foreign-speaking  people,  mostly 
Italians.  A  parish  program  has  been 
worked  out  in  connection  with  the  Pitts¬ 
burg  Church,  under  the  name  of  the  Craw¬ 
ford  County  Mission,  calling  for  commu¬ 
nity  centers  in  a  number  of  the  larger 
mining  towns,  and  with  a  mission  organi¬ 
zation  patterned  after  that  of  the  Coke 
Mission  of  Pennsylvania. 

Revelations  of  a  survey. — One  of  the 
camps,  with  600  population,  composed  of 
Italians,  Austrians,  Slovaks,  Americans, 
and  others,  has  no  religious  work  what¬ 
ever.  Another  of  3,000  people  has  a  few 
churches  but  no  community  centers  save 
the  pool  halls.  In  still  another  of  900 
people,  with  Italians,  Austrians,  Poles  and 
Slovaks,  and  a  radical  element  predominat¬ 
ing,  there  is  no  social,  civic,  or  religious 
work  whatever. 

With  the  assistance  of  the  Board  of 
Heme  Missions  and  Church  Extension 
progress  has  begun  in  religious  work  in 
these  camps.  Frontenac,  with  twenty- 
eight  languages  represented  in  its  constit¬ 
uency,  has  enlarged  its  church  facilities 
and  added  a  community  hall  with  a  gym¬ 
nasium.  Excellent  contacts  have  been 
made  with  the  miners’  families,  and  all 
creeds  and  nationalities  are  served.  This 
is  Americanization  at  its  best. 


310 


WORLD  SERVICE 


Sunday  school  at  Capaldo,  Kansas 


Helping  harvest  toilers. — A  rural  serv¬ 
ice  department  director,  a  county  agri¬ 
cultural  agent,  and  a  Methodist  pastor 
planned  one  of  the  first  programs  of 
service  to  these  migrant  workers.  At 
Larned,  Kansas,  sleeping  and  entertain¬ 
ment  rooms  were  arranged,  meal  tickets 
given  to  needy  men  when  rain  delayed 
work  in  the  fields,  writing  materials  fur¬ 
nished,  neighborly  meetings  promoted, 
and  a  kindly  spirit  toward  the  harvesters 
fostered  among  the  town  and  country  peo¬ 
ple.  Much  the  same  provision  was  made 
for  them  as  for  the  soldiers  by  the  “Y” 
huts  during  the  war.  The  response  was 
so  remarkable  that  many  other  commu¬ 
nities  were  organized  to  do  similar  work. 

In  the  cities. — The  city  churches  of  the 
West  North  Central  states  are  among  the 
most  active  in  America.  Made  up  of  mostly 
a  native  American  people,  a  large  propor¬ 
tion  of  them  directly  from  the  smaller 
towns  and  open  country,  or  only  one 
generation  removed,  the 
city  problem  in  this  area 
has  not  yet  become  so 
compelling  or  so  complex 
as  of  the  industrial  cities 
of  the  east.  There  are 
foreign-speaking  colonies 
in  nearly  all  of  these  wes¬ 
tern  cities,  but  they  are 
not  so  large  as  to  be  domi¬ 
nant  or  to  displace  the 
native-born  population. 

Simpson  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church  of  Min¬ 
neapolis,  is  a  shining 
example  of  a  successful 
city  church,  growing  in 


membership  from  around 
400  to  more  than  1,500  in 
two  years  and  a  half. 
Hundreds  are  frequently 
turned  away  from  its 
doors  at  Sunday  services, 
for  the  pastor  adapts  the 
church’s  program  to  city 
needs. 

A  successful  “down¬ 
town”  church.  —  Located 
in  the  congested  downtown  area  of 

St.  Paul  is  the  Central  Park  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church.  A  survey  showed 
within  a  radius  of  four  blocks  8,081  peo¬ 
ple  of  twenty-three  nationalities  and 

twenty-six  religious  denominations,  2,669 
children,  and  2,619  roomers  and  boarders. 
In  a  mile  radius  live  60,000  people.  The 
church  building,  thirty-three  years  old, 
was  of  the  conventional  type  until  Cente¬ 
nary  help  enabled  complete  remodeling, 
and  launched  a  community  program. 

The  spiritual  results  of  four  years’  labor, 
as  far  as  figures  can  portray  them,  give 
striking  proof  of  the  value  of  the  adapted 
city  church.  Between  1918  and  1922,  the 
church  membership  increased  from  642  to 
1,107 ;  the  number  of  families  reached  by 
the  church  from  382  to  over  600 ;  the  Sun¬ 
day-school  enrolment  from  514  to  959;  the 
vacation  Bible  school  enrolment  from  191 
to  496 ;  the  winter  week-night  school  from 
118  to  416.  In  1918,  the  neighborhood  of 


The  church  at  Larned,  Kansas,  provides  a  rest  room 
for  transient  harvesters 


WEST  NORTH  CENTRAL 


311 


the  church  was  the  center  of  juvenile 
crime  in  St.  Paul.  It  has  been  driven 
back  by  the  social  and  religious  program 
until  no  child  has  been  arrested  in  two 
years  within  three  or  four  blocks  of  the 
church  in  any  direction. 

Other  city  churches. — Trinity  Church, 
St.  Louis,  is  located  in  a  semi-downtown 
changing  community  of  70,000  people, 
most  of  whom  have  migrated  from  rural 
regions  to  work  in  the  industries.  Under 
the  inspiration  of  help  from  the  Board  of 
Home  Missions  and  Church  Extension,  a 
program  has  been  launched  which  bids 
fair  to  demonstrate  beyond  a  doubt  the 
value  of  an  adapted  ministry  and  a  trained 
leadership  for  these  difficult  and  challeng¬ 
ing  situations.  Excellent  community 
equipment  has  been  provided  for  the 
Wagoner  Memorial  Church,  St.  Louis, 
enabling  it  to  develop  a  program  of  social 
and  religious  service. 

Woodland  Community  Church  of  Duluth 
has  risen  out  of  the  ashes  of  an  old  church, 
with  the  aid  of  home  mission  help.  It  was 
enabled  to  secure  a  better  location  and  a 
modern  building.  The  community  is 
growing  very  fast  and  the  church  is  keep¬ 
ing  pace. 

A  community  survey  once  a  year  enables 
the  Rustin  Avenue  Church  of  Sioux  City, 
Iowa,  to  keep  record  of  new  families  mov¬ 
ing  into  its  parish.  Calling  on  new  fami¬ 
lies  is  done  by  both  pastor  and  people.  Its 
community  work  enables  it  to  establish 
contacts  with  many  not  otherwise  obtain- 


Trinity  Church,  St.  Louis,  has  a  playground 
for  its  youngsters 


The  daily  vacation  Bible  school  teaches  much 
besides  “book-learning” — Here’s  a  sewing 
class.  Central  Park  Church, 

St.  Paul,  Minnesota 

able.  As  a  result  the  church  membership 
in  a  few  years  has  been  more  than  doubled, 
the  Sunday-school  enrolment  largely 
increased,  the  budget  trebled  and  benevo¬ 
lences  increased  600  per  cent. 

Among  the  Negroes — While  the  largest 
part  of  the  Negro  migration  north  in  the 
last  decade  has  settled  in  the  industrial 
cities  east  of  the  Mississippi  River,  the 
influx  in  the  western  part  of  the  United 
States  also  has  been  large.  A  substantial 
gift  by  the  Board  of  Home  Missions  and 
Church  Extension  made  possible  the  erec¬ 
tion  of  a  modern  plant  in  one  of  the  most 
populous  Negro  sections  of  St.  Louis  for 
the  Asbury  Memorial  Church,  which  had 
been  worshipping  in  a  store  room  and 
which  it  had  greatly  outgrown.  An  appro¬ 
priation  also  enabled  the  Negro  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church  at  St.  Joseph,  Missouri, 
to  complete  its  auditorium  and  community 
center,  by  means  of  which  it  has  greatly 
expanded  its  work.  The  church  has  made 
itself  a  part  of  the  life  of  the  community 
through  its  recreational  and  social  facili¬ 
ties  as  well  as  its  church  services.  Within 
fifteen  months  the  Haddock  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church  at  Sioux  City,  Iowa, 
developed  from  nothing  into  a  church  with 
institutional  activities.  Besides  a  full  pro¬ 
gram  of  church  services,  it  has  organized 
tennis,  baseball  and  volley  ball  clubs  for 
boys,  recreational  clubs  for  girls,  main¬ 
tains  a  library  and  night  school  and  has 
formed  a  community  association. 


312 


WORLD  SERVICE 


Mothers’  and  Daughters’  Banquet — Rnstin 
Avenue  Church,  Sioux  City,  Iowa 


Foreign-language  conference  churches. — 
Early  day  settlement,  in  the  West  North 
Central  states,  by  colonies  of  German, 
Swedish  and  Scandinavian  people  resulted 
in  the  establishment  of  many  churches  in 
their  native  languages,  which  continue  to 
this  day.  With  the  drift  of  their  children 
to  English  language  and  customs,  many  of 
these  people  have  co-operated  with  their 
children  in  adapting  their  programs  so 
that  part  of  the  services  might  be  held  in 
English.  A  few  have  made  beginnings 
toward  community  programs,  while  a 
large  number  hold  fast  to  the  traditional 
services  of  worship  in  their  respective 
languages. 

The  First  Swedish  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church  at  Minneapolis  is  one  of  the  oldest 
of  Swedish  Methodism  in  America.  The 
destruction  of  the  building  by  fire  a  few 
years  ago  called  for  help  from  the  church 
at  large  in  the  plans  for  the  future. 

Rush  County,  Kansas,  is  largely  popu¬ 
lated  by  German-speaking  Russians  and 
the  Methodist  Episcopal  church  has  about 
a  dozen  churches  throughout  the  commu¬ 
nity.  Russians  converted  in  the  churches 
of  this  community  have  returned  to  Russia 
and  have  aided  our  Methodist  centers 
there.  A  new  church  has  been  erected  at 
Bison,  and  is  exerting  a  widespread  influ¬ 
ence  for  the  Kingdom. 

In  Wright  City,  Missouri,  is  a  German 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  long  on  the 
verge  of  closing,  which  has  erected  a  new 
building  and  developed  into  a  strong  com¬ 
munity  center.  Centenary  aid  made  possi¬ 
ble  the  new  building  project,  and  through 
it  various  elements  were  fused  and  a 


church  developed  to  serve  all  classes  and 
types. 

Successful  evangelism. — A  district  evan¬ 
gelist  in  one  section  of  Iowa  worked  dur¬ 
ing  1922  in  eleven  charges,  seven  of  which 
had  been  closed  during  the  war.  In  one 
church  forty  were  at  the  altar  and  twenty 
joined  the  church,  an  old  debt  was  wiped 
out,  the  pastor’s  salary  was  increased,  and 
a  new  spirit  possesses  the  church.  In 
another  charge  with  an  unpainted  and 
run-down  church  building  which  had  been 
closed  for  seven  years  and  where  the  par¬ 
sonage  was  used  as  a  junk  shop,  a  Sunday 
school  of  one  hundred  was  enrolled  and  an 
Epworth  League  of  twenty  was  organized. 
There  are  thirty-five  members  in  the  re¬ 
organized  church,  the  finances  are  in  good 
condition,  a  community  program  is  in 
operation,  and  the  church  Is  the  most  pop¬ 
ular  place  in  town.  A  little  out-appoint- 
ment  was  reopened  and  the  former  mem¬ 
bership  of  sixteen  increased  to  fifty,  and 
the  handful  of  Sunday-school  members  in¬ 
creased  to  ninety-three. 

Hospital  evangelism. — Rochester,  Min¬ 
nesota,  is  the  world-famous  “hospital  city.” 
The  genius  of  the  Mayo  brothers  has 
resulted  in  this  little  mid-western  city 
becoming  one  of  the  world  meccas  for 
physical  relief.  Sixty-five  thousand  sick 
people  come  every  year  from  almost  every 
corner  of  the  world  for  treatment.  From 
175,000  to  200,000  people  pass  through  the 
city  yearly.  More  than  one  patient  in 
every  six  is  a  Methodist,  and  the  same 


These  Mexican  folks  had  a  great  time  in  the 
Christmas  fun  provided  for  them  by  the 
church  at  Valley  Junction,  Iowa 


WEST  NORTH  CENTRAL 


313 


proportion  would  obtain  among  the  other 
transients,  making  more  than  10,000 
Methodist  patients  and  from  25,000  to 
30,000  Methodist  visitors  in  Rochester 
yearly. 

To  serve  these  on  the  bed  of  pain  and 
those  of  anxious  heart  who  accompany 
them,  the  department  of  evangelism  of  the 
Board  of  Home  Missions  and  Church  Ex¬ 
tension  maintains  a  chaplain  at  Rochester. 

This  chaplain  averages  about  a  thou¬ 
sand  calls  a  month ;  writes  and  sends  many 
letters  and  telegrams  to  friends  of  the 
sick;  answers  many  inquiries  about  hotels, 
rooms  and  board,  hospitals,  doctors,  sur¬ 
geons,  and  operations;  meets  trains;  seeks 
to  comfort  those  who  are  dying;  tries  to 
hearten  many  discouraged  ones  over  seri¬ 
ous  operations,  puts  himself  at  the  service 
of  every  sick  person  with  whom  he  comes 
in  contact;  answers  special  calls  at  all 
hours  of  the  day  and  night;  prays  with 
people  and  tells  of  the  Good  Shepherd  and 
the  Great  Physician,  and  often  points  the 
way  to  inquiring  souls;  baptizes  and 
administers  the  Lord’s  Supper;  now  and 
then  marries  a  couple;  conducts  funerals; 
teaches  in  the  Bible  school,  and  preaches 
in  the  churches. 

The  Goodwill  Industries.  —  Three 
Goodwill  Industries  are  located  in  the 
West  North  Central  states:  at  St.  Louis, 
St.  Paul,  and  Duluth.  In  St.  Paul,  an 
abandoned  church  and  parsonage  of 
another  denomination  was  purchased  and 
houses  the  Goodwill  Industries  and  the 
Goodwill  Day  Nursery.  More  than  forty- 
four  people  gather  daily  for  chapel  service 
before  they  go  to  their  work  in  the  Indus¬ 
tries.  In  St.  Louis,  the  Goodwill  Industries 
had  their  genesis  in  the  institutional 
activities  of  the  Trinity  Methodist  Epis¬ 
copal  Church  in  the  East  End.  A  large, 
new  building  has  been  started,  but  is  as 
yet  uncompleted  on  account  of  lack  of 
funds.  However,  from  the  part  of  the 
building  usable,  the  Industries  have  gone 
steadily  ahead  in  their  activities,  in  1922 
giving  employment  to  an  average  of  thirty- 
two  persons  each  day,  and  making  sales 
of  $28,172  in  restored  articles. 

21 


It’s  at  Kansas  City,  Missouri.  What  is  it? 
Read  the  sign 


The  field  of  education.  —  Where  the 
forces  of  Christianity  are  to  be  found  in 
such  strength  as  the  West  North  Central 
states,  education,  as  one  of  them,  has 
made  great  forward  strides.  This  is  true 
not  only  of  colleges  and  universities,  but 
also  of  the  program  of  religious  education. 

The  Epworth  League  in  this  section 
finds  one  of  its  strongholds.  Iowa  ranks 
high  in  the  development  of  Junior  League 
work  and  in  Epworth  League  institutes. 
Three  districts,  Council  Bluffs,  Des 
Moines,  and  Atlantic,  each  support  a  dis¬ 
trict  deaconess.  The  Wichita  Area  is  one 
of  the  most  highly  organized  with  respect 
to  Epworth  League  work,  over  seventy- 
five  per  cent  of  the  churches  having  chap¬ 
ters.  The  Area  has  officially  adopted  the 
twenty-four-hour-day  plan  of  finance  and 
through  it  supports  an  Epworth  League 
secretary  for  the  area  and  is  pledged 
to  the  support  of  Epworth  League 
work  in  India.  There  is  need  for  the 
development  of  group  training  conferences 
for  intensive  cultivation  of  League  lead¬ 
ers.  Twenty-one  Epworth  League  insti¬ 
tutes  were  held  in  this  section  in  1922. 


314 


WORLD  SERVICE 


Epworth  League  Institutes. 

Minnesota 

1  Lake  Minnetonka,  Hopkins,  Groveland. 

2  Lake  Minnetonka,  Tipi  Wakam  (Nor- 
wegian-Danish). 

3  Park  Rapids,  Northern  Pine. 

Iowa 

4  Mount  Pleasant,  Iowa  Conference. 

5  Clear  Lake,  Clear  Lake. 

6  Indianola,  Des  Moines  Conference. 

7  Clarinda,  Southern  Iowa. 


8  Lake  Okoboji,  Spirit  Lake,  Okoboji. 

9  Glenwood,  Glenwood. 

Missouri 

10  Sedalia,  George  R.  Smith  College  (Cen 
tral  Missouri  Conference — Negro). 

11  Marionville,  Ozark  Wesleyan. 

12  Cameron,  Missouri  Conference. 

North  Dakota 

13  Lisbon,  Fargo  District. 

14  Devil’s  Lake,  Devil’s  Lake  (Minot  Dis 
trict). 

15  Mandan,  Bismarck. 


WEST  NORTH  CENTRAL 


315 


South  Dakota 

16  Mitchell,  Dakota  Wesleyan. 

17  Rapid  City,  Rapid  City. 

Nebraska 

18  Epworth  Lake  Park,  Lincoln,  Nebraska 
Conference. 

19  Norfolk,  Norfolk  District. 

20  Crawford,  Tri-State. 

Kansas 

21  Baldwin,  Baldwin. 

22  Salina,  Northwest  Kansas. 

23  Pratt,  Southwest  Kansas. 

Sunday-school  Institutes. 

Minnesota 

24  Money  Creek. 

25  Mabel. 

26  Preston. 

27  Chatfield. 

28  Kasson. 

Kansas 

29  Baxter  Springs. 

30  Topeka. 

31  Burlington. 

Schools  tor  City  Pastors. 

Conference  Institutes 

Minnesota 

32  Winona. 

33  Chisholm. 

Iowa 

34  Mason  City. 

Summer  Schools  for  Town  and  Rural  Pastors. 

Minnesota 

35  St.  Paul,  Hamline  University. 

Iowa 

36  Ames,  Wesley  Foundation. 

Schools  and  colleges.— A  deep  spirit¬ 
ual  life  as  well  as  high  educational  stand¬ 
ards  is  characteristic  of  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  colleges,  universities  and  train¬ 
ing  schools  of  these  states.  From  them 
have  gone  out  hundreds  of  ministers,  mis¬ 
sionaries,  teachers,  physicians  and  other 
professional  men  to  carry  the  Gospel  of 
Christ  around  the  world.  Difficult  city 
churches  and  rural  parishes  are  finding  a 
rich  source  of  leadership  in  these  western 
colleges.  Their  alumni  rolls  contain  im¬ 
pressive  lists  of  men  and  women,  serving 
in  varied  fields,  who  almost  uniformly  are 
actuated  by  the  Christian  impulse.  Their 
achievements  at  home  and  abroad  attest 
the  value  of  the  Christian  college  and  defi¬ 
nitely  show  that  it  is  vital  to  the  expan¬ 
sion  of  the  kingdom  of  Christ  throughout 


Missouri 

37  Warrenton,  Central  Wesleyan. 

Kansas 

38  Winfield,  Southwestern  College. 

Summer  Schools  of  Theology. 

Minnesota 

39  St.  Paul,  Hamline  University. 

Iowa 

40  Mount  Pleasant,  Iowa  Wesleyan  College. 

41  Indianola,  Simpson  College. 

42  Sioux  City,  Morningside  College. 

Missouri 

43  Marionville,  Ozark  Wesleyan  College. 

44  Cameron,  Missouri  Wesleyan  College. 

North  Dakota 

45  Grand  Forks,  Wesley  College. 

South  Dakota 

46  Mitchell,  Dakota  Wesleyan  University. 

Nebraska 

47  University  Place,  Nebraska  Wesleyan 
University. 

48  Chadron,  Northwest  Nebraska  Conference. 

Kansas 

49  Baldwin,  Baker  University. 

50  Winfield,  Southwestern  College. 

51  Salina,  Kansas  Wesleyan  University. 

Missionary  Summer  Conferences. 

Woman’s  Home  Missionary  Society 

Iowa 

52  Okoboji 

Woman’s  Foreign  Missionary  Society 

Minnesota 

53  St.  Paul  (Interdenominational). 

South  Dakota 

54  Sioux  Falls  (Interdenominational). 

the  world  that  denominational  schools 
continue  to  develop  and  to  be  supported 
adequately. 

The  fervor  of  John  Wesley  lives  in 
western  Methodism  and  finds  its  expres¬ 
sion  in  many  ways.  It  is  of  interest  to 
note  how  the  Christian  educational  impulse 
hearkens  back  to  Methodism’s  founder  by 
the  naming  of  institutions  after  him. 
Eight  of  the  eighteen  Methodist  colleges 
and  secondary  schools  in  the  West  North 
Central  states  are  named  after  the 
church’s  founder;  these  and  all  the  others 
noted  on  the  map  on  the  next  page,  al¬ 
though  not  bearing  his  name  have  the 
same  devoted  spirit  of  John  Wesley. 

Methodism  at  other  institutions. — The 
Wesley  Foundations  throughout  the  West 
North  Central  states  report  nearly  10,000 


316 


WORLD  SERVICE 


Colleges,  Universities  and  Professional  Schools. 

Minnesota 

1  St.  Paul,  Hamline  University. 

Iowa 

2  Mount  Vernon,  Cornell  College. 

3  Mount  Pleasant,  Iowa  Wesleyan  College. 

4  Fayette,  Upper  Iowa  University. 

5  Indianola,  Simpson  College. 

6  Sioux  City,  Morningside  College. 

Missouri 

7  Warrenton,  Central  Wesleyan  College. 

8  Cameron,  Missouri  Wesleyan  College. 

North  Dakota 

9  University,  Wesley  College  (affiliated  with 
State  University). 

South  Dakota 

10  Mitchell,  Dakota  Wesleyan  University. 

Nebraska 

11  University  Place.  Nebraska  Wesleyan 
University. 

Note:  The  notations  (WHMS  &  D)  indicate  that  tb 
Society  and  the  General  Deaconess  Board. 


Kansas 

12  Baldwin,  Baker  University. 

13  Winfield,  Southwestern  College. 

14  Salina,  Kansas  Wesleyan  University. 

Secondary  Schools. 

Minnesota 

15  Winnebago,  Parker  College. 

Iowa 

16  Epworth,  Epworth  Seminary. 

Missouri 

17  Sedalia,  George  R.  Smith  College  (Negro). 

18  Marionville,  Ozark  Wesleyan  College. 

Training  Schools. 

Missouri 

19  Kansas  City  (WHMS  &  D),  Kansas  Citv 
National  Training  School. 

Iowa 

20  E)es. Moines  (WHMS  &  D),  Iowa  National 
Training  School. 

institutions  serve  the  Woman’s  Home  Missionary 


WEST  NORTH  CENTRAL 


317 


Barracks  used  for  Wesley  Foundation,  Ames,  Iowa 


students  in  their  constitu¬ 
encies.  Student  work  is 
maintained  at  fourteen 
different  centers,  in  vary¬ 
ing  degree,  from  a  well- 
established  foundation 
with  student  pastor  and 
full  social  and  religious 
program  to  a  student  min¬ 
istry  in  the  local  church. 

New  building  projects  are 
under  way  at  Minneapolis;  Ames,  Iowa; 
Rolla,  Missouri;  Lincoln,  Nebraska;  and 
Hays,  Kansas.  There  are  also  large  op¬ 
portunities  ripe  for  development  at  Law¬ 
rence  and  Manhattan,  Kansas.  Ames,  in 
three  years,  sent  seven  agriculturally 
trained  missionaries  to  the  foreign  field. 

Probably  in  no  section  of  America  will 
Methodist  students  be  found  in  greater 
proportion  in  the  state  educational  insti¬ 
tutions  than  in  these  seven  states.  Bishop 
Stuntz  states  that  out  of  4,100  students  at 
xowa  State  University  1,100  are  members 
of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  church  and  380 
are  of  Methodist  preference,  making  a 
Methodist  constituency  of  1,480  students; 
that  1,790  out  of  4,400  students  at  the 
State  Agricultural  College  at  Ames  are 
Methodist;  and  that  one-third  of  the 
students  for  the  last  six  years  at  each  of 
these  institutions  have  been  Methodist. 

For  the  year  ending  in  June,  1922,  there 
were  enrolled  in  the  University  of  Minne¬ 
sota  8,943  students,  of  whom  more  than 
1,200  were  of  Methodist  preference.  Many 


New  Wesley  Foundation  unit, 
University  of  Minnesota 


of  the  students  became  full  members  of 
the  church,  others  affiliate  members.  Thir¬ 
teen  are  preparing  for  full-time  Christian 
service.  A  ten-year  program  has  been 
adopted,  which  when  fulfilled  will  make  it 
one  of  the  outstanding  Wesley  Founda¬ 
tions  of  the  country. 

Other  educational  activities. — The  total 
number  of  summer  conferences  reaches 
fifty-four,  including  Epworth  League  and 
Sunday-school  institutes,  schools  for  city 
pastors,  summer  schools  for  town  and 
rural  pastors,  summer  schools  of  theology, 
and  missionary  summer  conferences  of  the 
Woman’s  Home  Missionary  Society  and 
the  Woman’s  Foreign  Missionary  Society. 

Rural  leadership  also  is  emphasized  by 
the  Board  of  Home  Missions  and  Church 
Extension,  and  enters  largely  into  the  pro¬ 
gressive  life  of  this  distinctly  rural  region. 
Eleven  of  the  thirty-four  rural  leadership 
departments  maintained  in  as  many  dif¬ 
ferent  Methodist  educational  institutions 
are  located  in  the  West  North  Central 
states. 

Other  achievements. — Thirty-four  hospi¬ 
tals,  homes,  orphanages,  and  other  centers 
of  mercy  indicate  the  philanthropic 
achievements  of  our  church  in  these  states. 
A  noteworthy  feature  is  the  great  expan¬ 
sion  of  Methodist  hospitals.  The  Ameri¬ 
can  Bible  Society  maintains  a  depository 
in  Duluth  and  serves  the  territory  also 
from  the  Chicago  and  Denver  offices.  At 
least  twenty  more  Bible  visitors  could  be 
used.  Seven  Indian  missions  are  located 
in  this  division.  The  Woman’s  Home  Mis¬ 
sionary  Society  has  two  training  schools. 
The  General  Deaconess  Board,  the  Board 
of  Conference  Claimants,  and  the  Board 
of  Temperance,  Prohibition,  and  Public 


318 


WORLD  SERVICE 


STUDENT  WORK  AT  NON-METHODIST 
EDUCATIONAL  INSTITUTIONS 


Minnesota 

1  Minneapolis  and  St.  Paul,  University  of 
Minnesota. 

Iowa 

2  Iowa  City,  State  University  of  Iowa. 

3  Cedar  Falls,  Iowa  State  Teachers’  Col¬ 
lege. 

4  Ames,  Iowa  State  College  of  Agriculture 
and  Mechanic  Arts. 

Missouri 

5  Rolla,  Missouri  School  of  Mines  and  Met¬ 
allurgy. 

6  Warrensburg,  Central  Missouri  State 
Teachers’  College. 

North  Dakota 

7  Grand  Forks,  Wesley  College. 


South  Dakota 

8  Brookings,  South  Dakota  State  College, 
School  of  Agriculture  and  Mechanic  Arts. 

9  Vermilion,  University  of  South  Dakota. 

10  Spearfish,  State  Normal  School. 

Nebraska 

11  Lincoln,  University  of  Nebraska. 

Kansas 

12  Lawrence,  University  of  Kansas. 

13  Manhattan,  Kansas  State  Agricultural 
College. 

14  Hays,  Fort  Hays  State  Normal  School. 


Campus,  Morningside  College,  Sioux  City,  Iowa 


WEST  NORTH  CENTRAL 


319 


This  Topeka  (Kansas)  church  provides  super¬ 
vised  recreation  for  its  young 
business  women 


Morals  function  effectively  in  their  re¬ 
spective  fields  of  service  in  this  section. 

The  call  to  the  church. — Though  the 
churches  of  the  West  North  Central  states 
are  fighting  a  good  fight  and  are  keep¬ 
ing  the  faith,  the  summons  to  advance 
must  be  sounded.  Whether  it  be  in  the 
pioneer  stretches  of  the  western  border, 
with  scattered  settlements  and  primitive 
conditions,  in  the  increasingly  congested 
cities,  the  mountain  sections  of  Missouri, 
the  foreign-speaking  urban  and  rural  col¬ 
onies,  or  the  vast  rich  countryside  and 
villages  and  towns  where  dwell  most  of  the 
people,  there  is  need  for  the  hosts  of  the 
Kingdom  ever  to  be  at  their  task. 

Typical  Needs 

Here  are  a  few  of  the  missionary  needs 
of  the  West  North  Central  states: 

A  community  hall  for  an  Indian  village  where  no 
provision  is  made  for  recreation. 

A  Negro  community  work  in  a  congested  city 
colony. 

Church  buildings  and  community  houses  for  min¬ 
ing  camps  without  any  religious  service  whatever. 

Complete  a  building  in  an  industrial  suburb  with 
a  polyglot  population. 

A  woman  worker  in  an  iron  range  community  of 
9,000  foreign-speaking  people. 

New  church  and  community  house  in  industrial 
city  of  several  thousand  people,  where  one-room 
church  serves.  Children  meet  in  damp,  dark  base¬ 
ment,  and  whole  building  is  overcrowded. 

Enlarge  church  to  minister  to  500  students  in 
nearby  college. 


Community  church  for  town  of  8,000  people, 
founded  by  atheists  who  forbade  any  church  for 
many  years.  Methodist  church  has  the  field. 

Aid  in  replacing  numerous  one-room  country 
church  buildings  on  frontier. 

Establish  a  community  center  in  Ozarks. 

Finish  Scandinavian  church  left  uncompleted  be¬ 
cause  of  financial  depression. 

Help  for  church  in  a  town  whose  business  section 
was  wiped  out  by  fire. 

New  church  in  industrial  community  of  3,000 
Bohemians,  Italians,  Russians  and  Mexicans. 

New  community  church  for  Negro  congregation 
now  worshipping  in  a  store. 

Numerous  rural  demonstration  centers,  and  work 
among  lumberjacks. 

Maintenance  for  churches  in  frontier  fields  badly 
stricken  by  several  years’  drought. 

Rebuild  church  destroyed  by  fire,  congregation 
now  worshipping  in  school  house. 

Develop  Wesley  Foundations. 

Complete  a  downtown  city  center  for  working 
girls. 

Supporting  rural  program  at  seven  points  with 
population  of  8,000  people. 

Purchase  an  abandoned  church  of  another  denomi¬ 
nation  for  community  center. 

Provide  automobile  for  hospital  chaplain. 

Replace  Negro  church  now  condemned  as  unsafe 
and  unfit. 

Expand  church  activities  in  industrial  community 
of  17,000,  sole  Methodist  responsibility. 

Reopen  six  abandoned  Methodist  churches  in  the 
Northwest. 

New  churches  to  reach  large  colonies  of  German¬ 
speaking  Russians. 

Enlargement  of  church  in  a  community  of  6,000 
Bohemians  in  one  city. 

Foreign-language  pastors  for  needy  communities. 


Willard  Hall  for  employed  women,  Omaha, 
Nebraska — A  Centenary  project 


320 


WORLD  SERVICE 


Hospitals. 

Minnesota 

1  Duluth,  Free  Dispensary. 

2  Minneapolis,  Asbury  Hospital. 

3  Windom,  Windom  Methodist  Hospital. 

4  Wadena,  Wadena  Hospital. 

Iowa 

5  Cedar  Rapids,  St.  Luke’s  Hospital. 

6  Keokuk,  Graham  Protestant  Hospital. 

7  Des  Moines,  Iowa  Methodist  Hospital. 

8  Sioux  City,  Methodist  Episcopal  Hospital. 

Missouri 

9  Springfield,  Burge  Deaconess  Hospital. 

10  Joplin,  Freeman  Hospital. 

11  Saint  Joseph,  Missouri  Methodist  Hospital. 

North  Dakota 

12  Mandan,  Mandan  Deaconess  Hospital. 

13  Kenmare,  Methodist  Hospital. 

South  Dakota 

14  Brookings,  Dakota  Deaconess  Hospital. 

15  Mitchell,  Methodist  State  Hospital. 

16  Rapid  City,  Methodist  Deaconess  Hospital. 

Nebraska 

17  Omaha,  Nebraska  Methodist  Hospital. 

18  Scottsbluff,  West  Nebraska  Hospital. 


Kansas 

19  Kansas  City,  Bethany  Methodist  Hospital 

20  Wichita,  Wesley  Hospital. 

21  Belleville,  Belleville  Methodist  Hospital. 

22  Saiina,  Asbury  Hospital. 

23  Hutchinson,  Grace  Hospital. 

24  Hays,  Hays  Methodist  Hospital. 

25  Norton,  Methodist  Episcopal  Hospital. 

26  Goodland,  Goodland  Hospital. 

Homes  for  the  Aged. 

Minnesota 

27  Minneapolis,  Elim  Home  for  the  Aged. 

Nebraska 

28  Blair,  Crowell  Memorial  Home. 

Kansas 

29  Topeka,  Methodist  Home  for  Aged. 

30  Clay  Center,  Emanuel  Home  for  Aged. 
Homes  for  Children. 

Iowa 

31  Dubuque,  Hillcrest  Deaconess  Babyfold. 
Missouri 

32  Saint  Louis,  Epworth  Home  for  Girls. 

33  Warrenton,  Central  Wesleyan  Orphans’ 
Home. 

Nebraska 

34  York,  Mother’s  Jewels  Home. 


SOUTH  ATLANTIC  STATES 


iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiniiiin 


DELAWARE 

MARYLAND 

DISTRICT  OF  COLUMBIA 
VIRGINIA 
WEST  VIRGINIA 
NORTH  CAROLINA 
SOUTH  CAROLINA 
GEORGIA 
FLORIDA 


Distribution  of  Methodist  Episcopal  churches  in  the  South  Atlantic  states 


The  one  curse  of  the  race  held  both  in  tether; 

They  are  rising,  all  are  rising, 

The  black  and  white  together. 

Booker  T.  Washington 

SOUTH  ATLANTIC  STATES 


The  Old  South  and  the  New 
If  the  father  of  his  country  were  to 
awake  from  his  sleep  at  Mount  Vernon, 
on  the  banks  of  the  Potomac,  and  journey 
southward  to  the  far  shores  of  the 
expanded  nation,  he  would  pass  through  a 
land  which  spans  three  centuries  in  its 
present-day  life.  He  might  travel  by  the 
ox-team  and  springless  cart  of  the 
eighteenth  century ;  the  carriage  and  horse 
of  the  nineteenth  century;  the  automobile 
and  airplane  of  the  twentieth  century. 
He  might  tarry  for  a  day  at  the  log  hut 
of  a  mountaineer,  who  farms  with  a  hoe 
and  whose  wife  operates  the  spinning 
wheel,  as  in  the  days  of  the  Revolution; 
he  might  journey  on  to  a  cotton  or  cane 
plantation  where  Negroes  work 
in  the  field,  much  as  in  the  days 
of  the  Civil  War;  he  might  end 
his  pilgrimage  in  a  modern  in¬ 
dustrial  city,  where  the  roar  of 
strange  machinery  and  the  hab¬ 


its  and  customs  of  twentieth  century 
living  would  be  as  of  another  world. 

Such  is  the  strange  contrast  as  it  is 
found  in  that  changing  empire  called  the 
South  Atlantic  states.  The  section  is  one 
of  varied  complex.  One  of  the  oldest 
divisions  of  the  United  States,  much  of 
it  of  Colonial  setting,  it  holds  stretches  of 
territory  where  people  dwell  in  primitive 
contentment,  unaware  of  the  civilization 
which  has  passed  them  by,  leaving  them  a 
century  or  two  behind  the  times.  Here, 
too,  a  process  of  fundamental  change  has 
begun,  and  industrialism,  which  has  swept 
agriculture  out  of  first  place  in  the  occu¬ 
pations  of  American  people,  has  started 
its  conquest.  It  means  that  a  new  South 
is  being  born  out  of  the  old. 

Peoples  and  occupations. — The 
faddist  in  “undiluted  American¬ 
ism”  will  find  in  the  13,990,272 
people  who  live  in  that  sweep 
of  the  Atlantic  Coast  from 


324 


WORLD  SERVICE 


Vestiges  of  the  Old  South 


Maryland  to  the  southern  tip  of  Florida,  a 
situation  to  delight  his  heart,  so  far  as  na¬ 
tionalities  are  concerned.  It  is  populated 
by  an  almost  exclusively  native  people,  of 
the  white  and  black  races.  Only  315,920,  or 
2.3  per  cent,  are  foreign  born,  one  of  the 
lowest  percentages  in  the  United  States. 
The  dominating  problem  which  presents 
itself  to  the  church,  therefore,  is  not  one 
of  fusing  nationalities,  as  in  the  case  of 
vast  regions  of  the  industrial  North,  but 
in  inter-relating  the  white  and  Negro 
races,  and  in  improving  the  conditions  and 
opportunities  of  each.  Almost  one  third, 
or  4,325,120,  of  the  people  are  Negroes. 

The  growth  registered  in  the  South 
Atlantic  states  in  the  decade  of  1910-1920 
was  1,795,377  people,  or  14.7  per  cent. 
This  is  approximately  the  same  for  the 
United  States  at  large,  14.9  per  cent.  A 
distinctive  feature  and  an  especially  hope¬ 
ful  one  from  the  standpoint  of  the  church, 
at  least  for  the  present,  is  that  the  section 
is  essentially  a  rural  one,  9,651,480  people, 
or  69  per  cent,  being  classified  as  rural, 
and  4,338,792,  or  31  per  cent,  as  urban. 

If,  however,  the  above  percentages  are 
contrasted  with  the  figures  for  1890,  when 
the  South  Atlantic  states  registered  80.5 
per  cent  rural  and  only  19.5  per  cent 
urban,  the  universal  American  tendency 
of  drift  toward  the  city  even  in  this  still 


largely  unindustrialized  section  of  the 
South  is  apparent. 

The  types  of  people  and  the  occupations 
are  extremely  varied.  In  Delaware  and 
Maryland,  farms,  shipping,  manufac¬ 
tures,  and  fisheries  afford  employment. 
In  Washington,  D.  C.,  almost  the  entire 
activity  is  governmental,  between  110,000 
to  120,000  being  so  employed.  In  Virginia 
and  West  Virginia,  agriculture,  coal 
mining,  manufacturing,  and  shipbuilding 
are  the  leading  occupations,  while  in 
North  and  South  Carolina  agriculture  and 
lumbering  vie  with  the  rapidly  growing 
textile  industries.  Georgia  is  a  noted 
agricultural  state,  with  25,000,000  of  its 
40,000,000  acres  in  settled  farms.  Yet,  in 
the  last  census,  manufacturing  has  sur¬ 
passed  agriculture  in  relative  importance, 
so  great  has  been  the  development  of  the 
cotton  mill  industry.  Florida  presents  the 
anomaly  of  a  far  southern  state  with  a 
distinctly  northern  atmosphere,  due  to  its 
climate  and  winter  resort  attractions  and 
agricultural  development,  which  have 
attracted  many  thousands  of  northerners 
either  to  live  there  permanently  or  at  least 
six  months  out  of  every  year. 

Illiteracy. — With  all  the  social  ills  which 
ignorance  and  superstition  bring  in  their 


One-third  of  the  population  of  this  section  is 
Negro — 69  per  cent  of  the  population 
is  rural 


SOUTH  ATLANTIC 


325 


wake,  illiteracy  is  here  more  prolific 
than  in  any  other  section  of  the  United 
States,  with  the  single  exception  of  the 
group  immediately  adjoining  at  the  West, 
the  East  South  Central  states.  Out  of  the 
13,990,272  inhabitants  in  the  South 
Atlantic  states,  there  are  1,212,942  illit¬ 
erate  persons,  or  11.5  per  cent  of  those  ten 
years  of  age  or  older.  Distinct  hope  lies 
in  the  fact  that,  as  the  result  of  the  work 
of  both  church  and  state,  this  percentage 
has  been  reduced  from  16  in  1910  to 
11.5  in  1920.  The  greatest  illiteracy  is 
among  the  Negroes,  25.2  per  cent. 

The  District  of  Columbia,  of  course, 
shows  the  least  illiteracy,  with  2.8  per 
cent.  Among  the  states,  Maryland  has 
the  best  record,  with  only  5.6  per  cent 
illiteracy.  South  Carolina  has  the  worst, 
with  18.1  per  cent. 

New  blood  in  the  veins. — Shifts  in  popu¬ 
lation  and  migration  from  the  North 
are  causing  upheavals  in  many  areas 
which  have  knowm  little  change  from  the 
atmosphere  and  setting  of  the  “Old 
South”  for  a  century.  Colonization  move¬ 
ments  for  the  old  farming  regions  of 
Virginia  have  brought  in  many  aggressive 
young  farmers  from  the  middle  west, 
inaugurating  a  new  era  of  live-stock 
husbandry  and  fruit  raising.  Great  num¬ 
bers  of  northerners  also  have  flocked  in, 
buying  up  estates  and  country  homes  in 
the  mountains.  Development  of  the  min¬ 
ing  industry  is  causing  rural  people  of 
both  W'hite  and  Negro  races  to  move  to 
industrial  centers,  creating  serious  social 
and  religious  problems,  imperatively 
demanding  the  attention  of  both  chui’ch 
and  community. 

The  textile  expansion  in  the  Carolinas 
and  Georgia  affords  one  of  the  marvels 
of  twentieth-century  America.  Good 
shipping  facilities,  both  rail  and  water; 
much  water  power  and  raw  materials 
available;  and  increasing  labor  troubles 
and  industrial  friction  to  the  north, 
especially  in  New  England,  have  caused 
the  removal  of  many  mills  to  the  Caro¬ 
linas  and'  Georgia.  South  Carolina,  with 
4,974,460  spindles,  stands  second  only  to 


But  even  the  dominantly  rural,  agricul¬ 
tural  South  feels  the  pull  toward  the 
city  and  its  industrialism 


Massachusetts  in  the  production  of  cloth. 

Industrialism  and  child  labor. — This 
industrialism  is  causing  one  of  the  great¬ 
est  social  changes  in  these  old  southern 
states.  Cheap  labor  is  sought,  and  with 
no  foreign-born  element  to  draw  upon,  as 
in  the  North,  recourse  is  had  to  the  moun¬ 
tain  people.  Great  numbers  of  these  have 
been  induced,  by  the  offer  of  higher  income 
than  the  bare  subsistence  afforded  by 
mountain  life,  to  leave  their  mountain 
cabins  and  to  work  in  the  mills.  Whole 
families  are  engaged  in  the  cotton  mills, 
sometimes  performing  long  hours  of 
exhausting  toil. 

It  is  here  that  child  labor  is  at  its  worst. 
Often  the  ignorance  of  these  credulous 
highlanders  is  capitalized  by  exacting 
employers.  Insanitation,  bad  working 
conditions,  and  poor  nourishment,  added 
to  the  deadening  effect  of  mechanical  toil 
on  boys  and  girls  of  ten  and  twelve  years, 
as  well  as  older,  portend  social  disaster. 
These  sinister  conditions  hurl  out  at  the 
Christian  church  a  challenge  to  remove 
from  the  borders  of  a  so-called  Christian 
nation  a  condition  of  barbarism  bred  by 
an  unchristian  industrialism. 

Achievements  of  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church 

The  fruits  of  service. — Heroic  vision  and 
sacrificial  service  are  golden  threads 
woven  into  the  fabric  of  achievement  of 
the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  in  the 
South  Atlantic  states  since  it  began  its 


326 


WORLD  SERVICE 


/iMountain  Lake  Park 

J  X3*4'13'16’17 

west  /  \r>  i 
^  J  Baltimorei 

Buckhannon  .  ^  \ 

510  Ay 


Princes' 


VIRGINIA 


#G,eensboro 


•Atljnta  CAROLINA 

8  II  \  ft 


FLORIDA® 
ISamt  Petersbul 


SUMMER  SCHOOLS  AND  INSTITUTES 


Epwokth  League  Institutes. 

Delaware 

1  Dover,  Delmarvia. 


Georgia 

il  Atlanta,  Gammon  Theological  Seminary. 


Maryland 

2  Baltimore,  Morgan  College  (Washington 
and  Delaware  Conferences — Negro). 

3  Mountain  Lake  Park,  Pittsburgh  Confer¬ 
ence. 

4  Mountain  Lake  Park,  Baltimore  Confer¬ 
ence. 

West  Virginia 

5  Buckhannon,  West  Virginia  Wesleyan 
(West  Virginia  Conference). 

North  Carolina 

6  Greensboro,  Bennett  College  (North  Caro¬ 
lina- — Negro). 

South  Carolina 

7  Orangeburg,  Claflin  (Negro). 

Georgia 

8  Atlanta,  Clark  University  (Atlanta — 
Negro). 

Summer  Schools  for  Town  and  Rural  Pastors. 

Maryland 

9  Baltimore,  Morgan  College. 

West  Virginia 

10  Buckhannon,  West  Virginia  Wesleyan. 


Summer  Schools  of  T^heology. 

Maryland 

12  Princess  Anne,  Princess  Anne  Academy. 

13  Mountain  Lake  Park,  Pittsburgh  Area. 

North  Carolina 

14  Greensboro,  Bennett  College. 

Missionary  Summer  Conferences 

Missionary  Education  Movement 

North  Carolina 

15  Blue  Ridge. 

Woman’s  Home  Missionary  Society 

Maryland 

16  Mountain  Lake  Park  (Interdenomina 
tional ). 

W Oman’s  Foreign  Missionary  Society 

Maryland 

17  Mountain  Lake  Park  (Interdenomina¬ 
tional). 

Florida 

18  Miami  (Interdenominational). 

19  DeLand  (Interdenominational). 

20  St.  Petersburg  (Interdenominational). 


SOUTH  ATLANTIC 


327 


extensive  missionary  work  there  more 
than  half  a  century  ago.  Today  the  fruit 
of  that  toil  is  found  in  the  record  of  3,696 
Methodist  Episcopal  churches  of  which 
2,128  are  for  white  people  and  1,550  for 
Negroes;  in  the  recorded  membership  of 
398,579  persons,  of  whom  236,259  are 
white  and  161,153  are  Negro;  in  the  Sun¬ 
day-school  enrolment  of  409,952,  of  whom 
296,981  are  white  and  111,580  Negro. 
Delaware  has  the  highest  proportion  of 
members  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church  of  any  state  in  the  Union,  or  120 
members  to  each  1,000  population.  The 
total  gifts  for  all  purposes  were  $6,252,- 
630,  of  which  $4,707,930  was  paid  by  the 
white  congregations,  and  $1,514,330  by 
the  Negro.  The  per  capita  giving  for  all 
purposes  was  $15.69. 

A  bit  of  history. — When  the  Civil  War 
ended  and  4,000,000  Negroes  were 
thrown  on  self-support,  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church  entered  upon  a  ministry 
to  them  which  was  to  prove  of  profound 
significance.  On  December  25,  1865,  it 
organized  a  mission  conference  with  a 
dozen  Negro  preachers,  not  one  of  whom 
could  read  or  write.  The  work  rapidly 
extended  until  in  the  General  Conference 
in  Chicago  in  1868,  delegates  of  eleven 
new  mission  conferences  in  the  far  South, 
including  not  only  portions  of  the  present 
South  Atlantic  states,  but  of  other 
southern  sections  as  well,  were  received. 

The  ministry  which  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church  began  rendering  in  the 
South  to  white  people  after  the  division 
in  1844-45  and  continuing  since,  and 
among  the  Negroes  after  the  Civil  War, 
was  a  welcomed  and  sought-after  ministry, 
not  a  forced  one.  The  mountain  peoples 
of  that  territory  stretching  down  like  a 
long  arm  through  and  between  the  South 
Atlantic  and  East  South  Central  states 
held  firm,  as  a  group,  in  their  loyalty  to 
the  Union  throughout  the  period  of  unrest 
and  agitation  preceding  the  war  and 
during  the  war  itself.  They  wanted  and 
sought  the  ministry  of  the  church  of  the 
North.  The  work  among  the  Negroes 
was,  at  first,  of  necessity,  a  task  for  the 
church  from  the  North. 


Bishop  Hartzell  speaks. — Bishop  Hart- 
zell  has  told  the  story  in  this  way: 

“There  was  serious  trouble  over  the 
proposed  dividing  territorial  line.  In 
1848  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church 
General  Conference  unanimously  decided 
to  extend  its  work  further  south.  Later 
the  Church  South  General  Conference 
extended  its  work  northward  wherever 
the  way  opened.  In  1876,  with  the  cordial 
approval  of  both  General  Conferences,  a 
joint  commission  was  appointed  to 
‘remove  all  obstacles  to  formal  fraternity 
between  the  two  churches.’  The  co-ordi¬ 
nate  relations  of  the  two  churches  as 
branches  of  Episcopal  Methodism  were 
affirmed,  and  provision  was  made  for 
settling  property  titles.  The  work  of  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church  was  then 
organized  in  the  whole  South,  and  one  of 
the  first  administrative  acts  of  the  com¬ 
mission  was  to  confirm  property  titles  to 
three  churches  occupied  by  Methodist 
Episcopal  congregations  in  the  city  of 
New  Orleans.  When  the  appointment  of 
the  Commission  on  Fraternity  was 
arranged  for,  the  General  Conference  of 
the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  called 
special  attention  to  work  of  that  church 
in  the  southern  states  as  an  integral  part 
of  its  responsibility.  All  property  diffi¬ 
culties  between  the  churches  were  in  the 
southern  states.  That  action  confirmed 
the  legal  and  moral  right  of  either  church 
to  extend  its  work  wherever  it  felt  provi¬ 
dentially  called.” 

Education  and  philanthropy. — Education 
and  philanthropic  and  social  service  are 
broad  avenues  to  a  missionary  evangelism 
which  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church 
has  followed  in  its  effective  ministry 
throughout  the  South.  Noteworthy  are  the 
growth  in  churches  and  members  and  the 
development  of  educational  institutions. 

In  the  South  Atlantic  states  will  be 
found  fifteen  of  our  educational  institu¬ 
tions,  of  which  eight  are  for  white  people 
and  seven  for  Negroes.  Student  work  is 
conducted  at  two  non-Methodist  educa¬ 
tional  institutions.  Twelve  hospitals, 
orphanages,  and  old  people’s  homes  also 
are  maintained. 


328 


WORLD  SERVICE 


Colleges,  Universities,  and  Professional  Schools. 

Maryland 

1  Baltimore,  Goucher  College. 

2  Baltimore,  Morgan  College  (Negro). 

District  of  Columbia 

3  Washington,  The  American  University. 

West  Virginia 

4  Buckhannon,  West  Virginia  Wesleyan 
College. 

South  Carolina 

5  Orangeburg,  Claflin  College  (Negro). 

Georgia 

6  Atlanta,  Gammon  Theological  Seminary 
(Negro). 

7  Atlanta,  Clark  University  (Negro). 

Secondary  Schools. 

Delaware 

8  Dover,  Wesley  Collegiate  Institute 


Maryland 

9  Princess  Anne,  Princess  Anne  Academy 
(Negro). 

North  Carolina 

10  Washington,  Washington  Collegiate  Insti¬ 

tute. 

11  Greensboro,  Bennett  College  (Negro). 

Georgia 

12  Epworth,  Epworth  Seminary. 

13  Mount  Zion,  Mount  Zion  Seminary. 

Florida 

14  Jacksonville,  Cookman  Institute  (Negro). 

Training  Schools. 

District  of  Columbia 

15  Washington,  Lucy  Webb  Hayes  National 
Training  School. 


SOUTH  ATLANTIC 


329 


Problems  Which  Chal¬ 
lenge  the  Church 
The  new  industrial  re¬ 
gime — The  rapid  develop¬ 
ment  of  manufacturing 
and  mining  in  the  South 
Atlantic  states  means  that 
there  will  be  a  relocation 
of  populations,  a  draining 
of  the  rural  regions  to 
supply  labor,  an  increas¬ 
ing  foreign-speaking  ele¬ 
ment,  greater  congestion 
in  the  cities,  more  exploi¬ 
tation  of  child  labor— if  „  r  . 

the  aroused  conscience  of  A  diminutive  black  agriculturalist  from  Georgia 


the  nation  does  not  find 
means  to  prevent  it — and  all  the  other 
intensification  of  evil  conditions  which  de¬ 
prave,  both  socially  and  morally. 

The  exploitation  of  child  labor  and 
oppressive  working  conditions  point  to  a 
repetition  of  those  evils  which  have 
brought  such  industrial  warfaie  and 
bitterness  in  other  manufacturing  centeis. 

It  is  not  a  condition  of  undevelopment, 
as  among  the  superstitious  whites  of  the 
highlands  or  the  ignorant  Negroes  of  the 
plantations,  but  rather  is  it  a  condition  of 
perverted  development.  Industrial  expan¬ 
sion  itself  is  not  the  problem,  but  the 
social  conditions  which  industrialism  by 
its  present  standards  permits  and  fosteis 
in  very  many  cases — congested  housing, 
insanitation,  exhausting  hours,  and  exploi¬ 
tation  of  the  workers  in  multifarious 
ways. 

The  southern  Negro.— The  North  knows 
the  Negro  almost  exclusively  as  a  city 
dweller,  engaged  in  unskilled  work.  It  is 
difficult  to  visualize  him  as  a  farmer,  as 
he  is  seldom  seen  on  a  northern  farm.  In 
the  South,  however,  the  Negro  population 
is  largely  rural. 

Composing  more  than  4,000,000  of  the 
population  of  the  South  Atlantic  states, 
the  Negroes  inevitably  present  an  oppor¬ 
tunity  for  vast  missionary  service.  The 
range  in  percentage  of  colored  people  in 
the  different  states  of  the  section  is  very 
great.  It  varies  from  5.9  per  cent  in  West 


Virginia  to  51.4  per  cent  in  South  Caro¬ 
lina.  The  District  of  Columbia  is  twenty- 
five  per  cent  Negro,  while  in  Maryland  and 
Delaware  the  percentage  is  very  much 
smaller.  Virginia  is  29.9  per  cent 
Negro,  North  Carolina  29.8,  and  Florida 
34  per  cent.  Georgia  has  the  largest  Negro 
population. 

Many  of  the  Negroes  of  these  states 
have  made  astonishing  progress  since 
their  emancipation,  and  credit  must  be 
given  to  their  heroic  spirit  and  determi¬ 
nation  to  conquer  in  spite  of  difficulties. 
Credit  goes  also  to  many  sympathetic 
white  people  of  the  South  who  have  aided 
these  Negroes  in  their  fight  for  financial 
independence,  and  to  the  northern  people 
who,  principally  through  the  churches, 
have  poured  out  their  money  and  personal 
service  to  help  them.  The  sectional  spirit, 
however,  which  still  is  rife  in  the  more 
backward  regions  is  a  veritable  barrier 
to  the  development  of  other  thousands  of 
Negroes. 

Achievements  of  the  Negroes  must  not 
go  unrecognized,  but  in  this  presentation 
the  achievements  yet  to  be  recorded  are 
the  paramount  issue,  and,  therefore,  the 
problems  incident  thereto  must  be  empha¬ 
sized. 

The  forces  of  harm.— Two-thirds  of  the 
Negro  farmers  of  the  South  are  renters. 
One-third  of  them  own  their  farms.  In 
Georgia,  alone,  4,498,836  acres  are  farmed 


22 


330 


WORLD  SERVICE 


by  Negro  tenants.  The  significance  of 
these  facts  lies  in  the  accompanying  condi¬ 
tions,  primitive  methods  of  cultivating  the 
soil,  irresponsibility,  low  development, 
miserable  housing,  and  a  system  of  prac¬ 
tical  slavery  effected  through  the  mainte¬ 
nance  of  “plantation  stores”  whereby  the 
Negro  workers  are  kept  continuously  in 
debt.  This  latter  situation,  however,  is 
said  to  be  becoming  less  acute. 

In  brief,  the  Negro  through  disfran¬ 
chisement  and  oppression  has  been  kept 
in  a  well-nigh  hopeless,  helpless  condition. 
Ignorance  has  made  him  the  prey  of  dis¬ 
eases  of  the  mind,  and  insanitary  condi¬ 
tions  the  victim  of  diseases  of  the  body. 
Educational  facilities  on  a  par  with  those 
accorded  the  white  people  have  been  denied 
to  the  Negro  in  most  of  the  South  Atlantic 
states. 

In  the  District  of  Columbia  alone  does 
the  Negro  population  receive  its  propor¬ 
tionate  share  of  school  money  to  educate 
its  children.  Maryland,  Delaware,  and 
West  Virginia  come  next  nearest  to  pro¬ 
viding  equal  opportunities  of  education, 
but  in  the  other  states 
the  discrepancy  is 
glaring.  Virginia  and 
Florida  spend  less 
than  one-fourth  as 
much  on  Negro  edu¬ 
cation  as  white,  in 
proportion  to  popula¬ 
tion,  while  North  Car¬ 
olina  spends  about 
one  -  fifth,  Georgia 
about  one  -  seventh 
and  South  Carolina 
about  one-eighth.  The 
number  of  Negro  chil¬ 
dren  entirely  out  of 
school  is  even  more 
appalling.  The  range 
is  from  26.5  per  cent  in  Delaware  to 
fifty-two  per  cent  in  Georgia. 

Forces  of  progress.— Progress  has  been 
made  among  the  Negroes  of  the  South 
where  the  northern  and  southern  mis¬ 
sionary  agencies  have  been  at  work.  This 
is  shown  in  less  illiteracy,  larger  owner¬ 


Two-thirds  of  the 
renters — A  Negro 


ship  of  land,  more  wealth,  better  schools, 
and  improved  social  conditions.  Morals 
also  are  much  higher. 

A  current  movement  in  the  south  seeks 
to  improve  race  relations  and  give  the 
Negro  his  proper  chance  at  work  and 
education.  This  is  reflected  in  larger 
appropriations  for  Negro  education  by  the 
southern  states  and  in  a  better  inter-racial 
feeling.  In  our  own  church,  the  situation 
calls  for  more  buildings  and  more  leader¬ 
ship  for  the  work  conducted  by  the  Board 
of  Home  Missions  and  Church  Extension 
and  the  Board  of  Education  for  Negroes. 

Opportunities  in  student  centers. — One 
of  the  greatest  college  and  university  sec¬ 
tions  of  America  is  to  be  found  in  the 
northern  part  of  the  South  Atlantic  states. 
Here  for  many  decades  some  of  the 
choicest  young  minds  have  come  for 
training,  and  from  here  many  of  the 
leaders  in  national  and  world  affairs  have 
gone  out.  Such  a  student  center  of 
achievement  and  influence  calls  from  the 
church  the  very  flower  of  its  spiritual 
leadership  in  order  to  impart  the  definitely 

religious  viewpoint  on 
life  to  the  hosts  of 
young  people  who  will 
be  directing  affairs  in 
the  coming  genera¬ 
tion. 

In  Washington,  D. 
C.,  are  located  the 
American  University, 
George  Washington 
University,  Howard 
University  for  Ne¬ 
groes,  two  normal 
schools  for  the  train¬ 
ing  of  teachers,  and 
two  Roman  Catholic 
universities.  Hun¬ 
dreds  of  students 


Negro  farmers  are 
tenant  farmhouse 


from  the  nation  over  are  at  Johns  Hopkins 
University  and  Goucher  College  in  Balti¬ 
more  and  at  the  United  States  Naval  Acad¬ 
emy  at  Annapolis.  Virginia  is  far-famed 
for  its  institutions  of  higher  learning, 
among  them  the  University  of  Virginia, 
founded  by  Thomas  Jefferson,  located  at 


SOUTH  ATLANTIC 


331 


Charlottesville;  Washington  and  Lee  Uni¬ 
versity  at  Lexington;  and  William  and 
Mary  College  at  Williamsburg,  the  oldest 
in  the  United  States,  and  the  alma  mater 
of  Phi  Beta  Kappa. 

Hampton  Normal 
School  at  Hampton, 

Virginia,  was  the 
first  well  developed 
school  for  Negroes 
established  in  the 
South. 

The  primitive  high¬ 
landers. — Strange  as 
it  may  seem,  the 
purest  strain  of 
American  blood  to  be 
found  today  is  in  the 
most  backward  sec¬ 
tion  of  the  United 
States.  Hidden  away 
in  the  picturesque 
slopes  and  ravines 
of  the  Appalachian 
mountains,  these  de¬ 
scendants  of  a  “lost 
race”  live  in  their 
log  cabins,  run  bare¬ 
footed,  marry  in 
childhood,  cherish 
their  superstitions, 
fight  out  their  feuds, 
and  talk  in  the  lan¬ 
guage  and  live  by  the 
customs  of  pre-Revolutionary  days.  No¬ 
where  in  American  life  are  more  romantic 
people  to  be  found,  and  their  quaint  ways 
and  manners  have  been  sung  in  story  until 
they  are  familiar  to  nearly  every  mind. 

Romance  may  serve  to  thrill,  but  it 
often  serves  to  hide.  So  has  it  served  in 
the  public  mind,  hiding  the  deprivations, 
the  miserable  surroundings  and  condi¬ 
tions,  and  the  general  mental,  physical 
and  spiritual  blight  endured  by  these 
descendants  of  fine  old  Colonial  stock, 
potentially  one  of  the  greatest  sources  of 
American  talent  and  idealism. 

Between  3,000,000  and  4,000,000  of 
them  are  scattered  throughout  the 
southern  states,  principally  in  a  strip 


about  1,000  miles  long,  which  follows  the 
mountain  levels  from  Virginia  and  West 
Virginia  through  the  Carolinas,  Kentucky, 
Tennessee  into  Alabama  and  Georgia. 

The  religion  of  the 
hills. — A  small  pro¬ 
portion  of  them  are 
very  religious,  but  as 
a  class  the  mountain 
people  are  below  the 
average.  Church 
services  are  not  reg¬ 
ular,  once  in  a  month 
or  two  is  a  heavy 
average,  and  the 
preachers  are  as  il¬ 
literate  as  their  con¬ 
gregations.  Church 
buildings  are  old,  de¬ 
crepit,  one-room 
cabin  affairs,  and 
many  of  the  commu¬ 
nities  have  no 
churches  or  services 
at  all.  Their  belief 
is  little  more  than 
a  superstition,  op¬ 
poses  a  trained  min¬ 
istry,  holds  to  denom¬ 
inational  bigotry,  and 
permits  the  relent¬ 
less  feuds  which 
have  saturated  the 
southern  hills  with 
blood  for  generations,  often  long  after  the 
cause  of  disagreement  has  been  forgotten. 
It  is  an  old  saying  that  if  a  highlander 
likes  you  he  will  die  for  you,  and  if  he  dis¬ 
likes  you,  you  will  probably  die  for  him. 

Both  northern  and  southern  churches 
have  long  carried  on  their  missionary  work 
among  these  mountain  people,  establishing 
colleges,  industrial  schools,  agricultural 
schools,  churches,  and  mission  stations; 
and  furnishing  teachers,  nurses,  physi¬ 
cians,  and  pastors  to  minister  to  their 
needs  and  provide  education. 

The  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  at 
Work 

Building  the  Kingdom. — While  condi¬ 
tions  of  dire  poverty  and  distressing 


Mountain  woman,  hand  to  plow 


332 


WORLD  SERVICE 


ignorance  have  called  for  an  unusual 
emphasis  upon  education  and  social  serv¬ 
ice,  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  has 
been  true  to  its  Great  Commission  in  the 
South  Atlantic  states. 

Its  evangelism  can  be  seen  in  the  roll  of 
its  membership,  already  cited,  or  in  the 
stories  of  splendid  work  done  in  congested 
city  districts,  in  lonely  mountain  commu¬ 
nities,  in  fertile  farming  regions  or  among 
the  plantation  Negroes. 

Dead  churches  revived,  static  and  dis¬ 
couraged  congregations  enlivened  and  en¬ 
larged,  and  a  large  harvest  of  converted 
men  and  women,  boys  and  girls,  brought 
into  the  Kingdom,  form  some  of  the  re¬ 
sults  of  sustained  evangelistic  effort. 

A  fifty-two  year  old  frame  church  was 
insufficient  to  meet  the  needs  of  a  rapidly 
growing  section  of  Baltimore.  Hard¬ 
working  people  who  composed  the  mem¬ 
bership  and  appreciated  the  need  of  a  new 
church  tried  heroically  to  float  it  alone. 
In  co-operation  with  the  Baltimore  City 
Missionary  and  Church  Extension  Society 


This  lad,  they  say,  thought  the  World  War 
was  a  mountain  feud 


and  the  Board  of  Home  Missions  and 
Church  Extension,  the  new  Summerfield 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church  was  erected 
in  a  parish  where  dwelt  450  Methodist 
families,  and  where  there  were  600  other 
Protestant  families  inadequately  cared  for 
spiritually.  Scores  had  to  be  turned  away 
at  every  service  in  the  old  structure.  The 
new  plant  has  adequate  Sunday-school 
and  social  rooms,  an  auditorium  seating 
900,  a  gymnasium  and  other  features.  In 
one  year  the  membership  has  grown  from 
259  to  373,  and  a  Sunday  school  of  700 
members  is  already  outgrowing  its  new 
quarters. 

Stories  that  thrill. — -Church  members 
gathering  stones  for  a  foundation  is  indic¬ 
ative  of  a  warm  desire  for  a  new  building. 
Such  was  the  happening  at  Johnsville, 
Maryland,  where  for  ten  years  the  people 
had  been  saving  for  a  new  church  and  yet 
the  total  savings  were  only  $100!  With 
help  from  the  church  at  large  they  built 
a  new  $4,000  building.  In  the  first  year 
thereafter,  235  people  were  converted ! 

“Give,  and  ye  shall  receive,”  might  be 
the  revised  admonition  to  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church  at  large,  by  virtue  of  a 
strange  happening  in  a  little  church  to 
which  it  gave  a  friendly  hand.  The 
Charles  Wesley  Church  at  Centreville, 
Maryland,  not  long  ago  was  discouraged. 
Its  debt  was  increasing  instead  of  decreas¬ 
ing  and  its  property  was  suffering  from 
lack  of  care.  Then  help  came  from  the 
church  at  large.  The  debt  was  cut  in  half, 
the  buildings  renovated  and  restored,  and 
here’s  the  punch  to  the  story — benevolent 
giving  was  largely  increased.  So  heart¬ 
ened  was  the  congregation  that  where 
before  it  had  given  $45  a  year  to  home 
and  foreign  missions,  it  raised  the  amount 
to  more  than  $400 ! 

Turning  people  away  at  prayer-meeting 
frequently  occurs  at  the  winter  resort 
cities  of  Florida.  Standing  room  is  often 
at  a  premium  and  at  the  regular  church 
services  hundreds  cannot  get  inside. 
Local  congregations  are  struggling  bravely 
to  provide  the  equipment  necessary  to 
meet  the  great  hosts  of  visitors,  but  in 


SOUTH  ATLANTIC 


333 


Above,  The  old  house  where  the  mission  at 
Marietta,  Georgia,  began,  three  years  ago 
Below,  The  new  church  building  ar.d  some  of 
the  162  members.  No  debt.  A  Centenary 
enterprise 


many  cases  they  are  unable  to  carry  the 
burden  alone. 

Good  and  faithful  servants. — Similarly 
splendid  achievements  are  to  be  recorded 
of  the  work  among  the  Negroes  of  the 
South  Atlantic  states. 

To  a  Negro  pastor  from  South  Carolina, 
the  Board  of  Home  Missions  and  Church 
Extension  gave  a  scholarship  to  attend 
the  school  for  rural  pastors  at  Gammon 
Theological  Seminary  at  a  cost  of  only 
$20.  Fired  with  zeal,  he  returned  and 
doubled  the  benevolent  giving  of  his 
church,  the  net  increase  so  far  being  $600. 

Redeeming  a  community. — Vice  and 
waywardness  have  received  a  body  blow 
in  the  Negro  community  of  5,000  or  more 
people  in  Annapolis,  Maryland,  through 
the  zeal  of  Asbury  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church  in  providing  a  community  house 
as  well  as  services  of  worship.  The  pastor 
and  congregation  believe  in  worship  and 


in  prayer  meetings  and  also  in  the  church 
being  the  recreational  and  social  center 
instead  of  the  street  corner  or  saloons  and 
commercialized  loafing  places. 

Besides  the  resident  colored  people, 
there  are  250  to  500  Negro  sailors  sta¬ 
tioned  at  the  Naval  Academy  as  mess 
attendants  and  in  other  work.  There  was 
no  Y.  M.  C.  A.,  Y.  W.  C.  A.  or  club  rooms 
for  any  of  these,  and  the  social  needs 
were  desperate.  The  new  three-story 
building  has  twenty-one  rooms  which  are 
beehives  of  activity  for  clubs,  games, 
library,  and  office.  There  is  a  playground 
large  enough  to  care  for  scores  of  children. 
Athletic  events  are  encouraged,  field  days 
observed,  boy  and  girl  scout  work  regu¬ 
larly  carried  on,  and  music  classes  devel¬ 
oped.  The  wholesome  ministry  of  the 
church  and  community  house  is  felt 
throughout  the  entire  section. 

A  modern  Negro  city  church. — In  the 
Sharp  Street  Memorial  Church,  Baltimore, 
where  the  church  at  large  and  the  congre¬ 
gation  worked  together  in  the  erection  of  a 
$75,000  community  house,  one  hundred 
and  ten  conversions  were  reported  in  a 
single  year,  mostly  among  people  who 
were  first  led  into  the  church  through  its 
community  welfare  undertakings. 

The  parish  plan.— The  development  of 
the  “parish  plan”  by  the  Rural  Depart¬ 
ment  of  the  Board  of  Home  Missions  and 
Church  Extension  is  being  tried  out  with 
success  in  the  Lansing  Parish  of  the  Blue 
Ridge-Atlantic  Conference.  Twenty-six 
churches  which  nestle  among  the  high 
mountains  of  western  North  Carolina 
form  the  parish.  Trained  leadership  is 
provided  and  a  program  laid  out  to  bring 
each  one  of  the  churches  to  the  standard 
of  regular  services  every  Sunday,  with  all 
departments  organized  and  functioning. 

A  trained  leadership. — The  South  Buck- 
hannon  Circuit  in  the  West  Virginia  con¬ 
ference  was  for  years  an  eight-point  cir¬ 
cuit,  paying  a  salary  of  $850.  Adrian,  a 
school  house  appointment  on  that  circuit, 
paid  $60  a  year  as  its  share  of  the  salary 
and  had  twenty  members.  Under  strong 
and  better  leadership  and  more  thorough 


334 


WORLD  SERVICE 


Drinking  fountain  before  new  Ebenezer 
Church,  Jacksonville,  Florida 


cultivation  of  the  field  the  entire  circuit 
has  been  greatly  strengthened.  Adrian 
has  now  a  church  and  parsonage  property 
costing  $18,000.  Of  this  amount  $1,700 
was  appropriated  by  the  Board  of  Home 
Missions  and  Church  Extension.  The 
membership  of  that  church  has  now 
reached  200.  The  circuit  at  the  present 
time  employs  one  full  time  minister  and 
two  part  time  men  and  pays  a  total 
salary  of  $3,200. 

Help  from  the  church  at  large  has 
enabled  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church 
at  Cecilton,  Maryland,  to  enlarge  its 
service  not  only  to  the  residents,  but  also 
far  into  the  open  country.  For  a  half 
century  a  one-room  brick  church  was  the 
sole  equipment.  Then  new  leadership  and 
funds  and  an  aroused  vision  on  the  part 
of  the  people  made  possible  a  splendid 
community  house.  Volunteer  labor  was 
furnished  for  the  excavating  and  hauling 
of  material.  The  building  is  now  in  use 
seven  days  of  the  week  and  is  counter¬ 
acting  the  evil  influences  prevalent  in  so 
many  rural  communities. 

In  Winston-Salem,  North  Carolina,  a 
full  equipped  building  in  the  down-town 
center  has  been  purchased  from  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South,  and  a 
good  work  is  under  way.  This  is  our  only 
church  in  a  city  of  50,000,  to  which  large 
numbers  of  people  are  moving  from  the 
mountain  districts  in  order  to  work  in  the 
industries. 


A  young  Negro  pastor  in  Virginia, 
quickened  by  his  contacts  and  inspiration 
at  the  summer  school  at  Gammon  Theo¬ 
logical  Seminary,  was  sent  to  a  church 
which  was  worshipping  in  an  old  building 
standing  more  than  a  century.  In  nine 
months  a  new  church  was  built  and  dedi¬ 
cated,  the  parsonage  remodelled,  the 
pastor’s  salary  increased  to  a  living 
standard,  and  the  church  put  on  an  aggres¬ 
sive  and  successful  basis. 

Educational  achievements- — Goucher  col¬ 
lege  at  Baltimore  and  the  American  Uni¬ 
versity  at  Washington  are  typical  insti¬ 
tutions  of  higher  learning,  of  Methodist 
origin  and  development,  and  of  prestige 
and  influence  which  transcend  all  lines  of 
denomination.  The  West  Virginia  Wes¬ 
leyan  College,  at  Buckhannon,  West  Vir¬ 
ginia  offers  courses  in  liberal  arts,  music, 
the  fine  arts,  and  oratory.  It  was  founded 
in  the  same  spirit  as  its  predecessor, 
Clarksburg  Academy,  to  meet  the  pioneer 
hardships  in  the  lack  of  schools  for  the 
children. 

Negro  education. — -In  the  field  of  Negro 
education,  Atlanta,  Georgia,  is,  in  a  large 
way,  the  hub  of  activities  for  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church.  Here  are  located  Gam¬ 
mon  Theological  Seminary  and  Clark 
University,  familiar  throughout  the  edu¬ 
cational  and  religious  world  as  institutions 
of  influence  and  power,  and  known, 
through  the  leadership  being  trained,  as 
the  molders  of  a  race. 


Our  church  at  Johnsville,  Maryland 


SOUTH  ATLANTIC 


335 


Gammon  Theological  Seminary. — Few 
institutions  have  exerted  a  more  profound 
influence  in  the  development  of  a  race  than 
Gammon  Theological  Seminary.  As 
practically  the  “only  well-equipped,  well- 
endowed,  and  well-manned  theological 
seminary  for  the  training  of  Negro 
preachers  in  the  world,”  it  has  for  forty 
years  been  uplifting  and  clarifying  the 
standards  of  the  Christian  ministry  among 
the  Negroes  and  training  students  for  the 
broad  service  so  necessary  to  overcome 
the  religious  blight  brought  on  by  an  illit- 


HOSPITALS  AND  HOMES 


Hospitals. 

Maryland 

1  Baltimore,  Maryland  General  Hospital. 

District  of  Columbia 

2  Washington,  Sibley  Memorial  Hospital. 

West  Virginia 

3  Spencer,  Methodist  Episcopal  Hospital. 

Florida 

4  Jacksonville,  Brewster  Hospital. 

Homes  for  the  Aged. 

Maryland 

5  Baltimore,  Home  for  the  Aged. 

6  Baltimore,  Methodist  Home  for  Aged 
Men  and  Women. 


erate,  superstitious,  and  transient  leader¬ 
ship.  Gammon  Theological  Seminary,  in 
training  an  educated  as  well  as  a  conse¬ 
crated  ministry,  is  laying  the  foundations 
for  winning  generations  yet  to  come  to 
Christ. 

The  work  being  done  by  the  rural  exten¬ 
sion  department  of  Gammon  Seminary 
reaches  throughout  the  south.  It  takes  on 
three  phases :  work  within  the  school ; 
supervision  of  student  pastors;  and  co-op¬ 
eration  with  district  superintendents  and 
pastors  on  the  field.  Courses  are  offereci 

District  of  Columbia 

7  Washington,  Methodist  Episcopal  Home. 

South  Carolina 

8  Charleston,  Centenary  Home  for  the 
Aged. 

Homes  for  Children. 

Maryland 

9  Baltimore,  Kelso  Home  for  Orphans. 

District  of  Columbia 

10  Washington,  Swartzell  Methodist  Home. 

North  Carolina 

11  Winston-Salem,  Methodist  Orphanage. 
Other  Institutions. 

Florida 

12  Eustis,  Retired  Ministers’  Home. 


STUDENT  WORK  AT  NON-METHODIST 
EDUCATIONAL  INSTITUTIONS 
Maryland 

1  Annapolis,  United  States  Naval  Academy. 

West  Virginia 

2  Morgantown,  West  Virginia  University. 


336 


WORLD  SERVICE 


Student  body  at  Bennett  College, 


in  rural  sociology,  rural  economics,  and 
public  health.  The  extension  department 
is  the  point  of  contact  between  the  teach¬ 
ing  of  the  classroom  and  the  demonstra¬ 
tion  on  the  field. 

Clark  University. — Clark  University  is 
looked  upon  as  the  university  center  of 
the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  for  the 
Negroes  of  the  South,  and  as  such  has 
developed  into  an  institution  of  far- 
reaching  scholastic  and  religious  influ¬ 
ence.  It  enrols  more  than  five  hundred 
students  who  come  from  many  states.  As 
a  result  of  the  Centenary,  the  new  admin¬ 
istration  building,  Leete  Hall,  named  after 
Bishop  Leete,  has  been  completed  at  a 
cost  of  $200,000,  enabling  the  school  to 
expand  its  teaching  facilities.  High  edu¬ 
cational  and  spiritual  standards  are  main¬ 
tained  at  Clark  University,  and  it  is  rated 
as  one  of  the  outstanding  enterprises  of 
the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church. 

Claflin  University. — Another  important 
center  of  Negro  education  is  Claflin  Uni¬ 
versity,  located  at  Orangeburg,  South 
Carolina.  The  plant  is  composed  of  seven 
well-equipped  brick  and  five  frame  build¬ 
ings.  Complete  high  school  and  college 
courses  are  offered.  Claflin  University 
has  had,  in  its  history,  a  total  enrolment 
of  about  20,000  students,  and  has  gradu¬ 
ated  from  all  departments  about  1,200 
students.  As  a  result  of  the  annual  reviv¬ 
als,  about  2,500  students  have  professed 
Christ  as  their  personal  Savior.  A  historic 
service  to  the  church  and  to  the  Kingdom 
of  God  has  recently  closed  with  the  resig¬ 


nation  of  the  presidency  of  Claflin  College 
by  Dr.  L.  M.  Dunton.  He  served  the  colored 
people  of  South  Carolina  for  fifty  years, 
forty  years  in  connection  with  Claflin 
College.  In  that  half  century,  Dr.  Dunton’s 
labors  have  definitely  reached  for  Chris¬ 
tian  consecration  more  than  50,000  lives. 

Bennett  College.  —  Forty  years  of 
achievement  written  into  the  lives  of  a 
multitude  of  splendid  Christian  men  and 
women  is  the  record  of  Bennett  College, 
located  at  Greensboro,  N.  C.  From  its 
halls  have  gone  two  men  to  be  elected  to 
the  office  of  Bishop,  R.  E.  Jones  and  M.  W. 
Clair.  Others  among  the  alumni  are  suc¬ 
cessful  physicians,  ministers,  teachers, 
merchants,  nurses,  and  farmers.  For 
years  Bennett  College  went  heroically 
along  at  its  task,  crowding  its  halls  and 
accommodations  to  the  limit  and  yet  hav¬ 
ing  to  turn  away  applicants.  Its  buildings 
and  equipment  became  less  and  less  serv- 


Students  of  Wesleyan  College,  Buckhannon, 
West  Virginia,  leaving  for  week-end 
preaching  engagements 


SOUTH  ATLANTIC 


337 


Greensboro,  North  Carolina 

iceable,  until  an  awakened  church  started 
in  on  a  new  era  of  efficiency  by  providing 
new  structures  for  those  worn  out  or 
destroyed  by  fire.  The  enrolment  is  in 
excess  of  300. 

Morgan  College. — An  institution  which 
radiates  constructive  influence  among  the 
colored  people  of  both  North  and  South 
is  Morgan  College,  located  at  Baltimore, 
Maryland,  in  a  strategic  position  to  reach 
thousands  of  Negroes.  Recently  relocated 
with  the  aid  of  the  Centenary,  on  a  beauti¬ 
ful  site  of  eighty-five  acres  in  the  suburbs 
of  the  city,  with  fifteen  buildings,  the  col¬ 
lege  is  in  a  position  greatly  to  expand  its 
work.  In  1922,  it  had  599  students  and 
forty-two  teachers.  The  Morgan  College 
Corporation,  in  addition  to  its  Baltimore 
institution,  has  holdings  of  117  acres  and 
ten  buildings  at  Princess  Anne  Academy, 
the  eastern  branch  of  the  University  of 
Maryland.  The  college  provides  industrial, 


Faculty  and  students,  Gammon  Theologi¬ 
cal  Seminary,  Atlanta,  Georgia 


agricultural,  home  economics,  normal, 
collegiate,  and  graduate  education  courses. 
More  than  two  hundred  Negro  students 
are  now  preparing  for  teaching. 

Cookman  Institute. — The  first  school  for 
the  higher  education  of  Negroes  to  be  es¬ 
tablished  in  Florida  is  Cookman  Institute, 
located  at  Jacksonville,  Florida.  It  is  a 
worthy  institution  with  a  splendid  history, 
and  renders  a  wholesome  influence  for 
Christian  education  and  consecration  to 
a  widespread  community. 

Women’s  educational  work. — The  train¬ 
ing  of  young  women  in  the  far-flung  fields 
of  social  service  and  religious  education  is 
the  program  of  the  Lucy  Webb  Hayes  Na¬ 
tional  Training  School,  including  the  Sib¬ 
ley  Memorial  Hospital  and  Robinson  Hall, 
at  Washington,  D.  C.,  the  work  of  which 
is  connected  up  with  the  church  at  large 
through  the  Woman’s  Home  Missionary 
Society  and  the  General  Deaconess  Board. 
Here  Christian  young  women  are  trained 
to  become  nurses,  deaconesses,  mission¬ 
aries,  church  secretaries,  directors  of  re¬ 
ligious  education,  social  service  workers, 
domestic  science  teachers,  or  kindergarten 
teachers.  Through  connections  with 
churches,  settlement  houses,  the  Associ¬ 
ated  Charities,  the  hospital  and  other  in¬ 
stitutions,  splendid  opportunities  for  field 
work  are  provided. 

Fields  of  opportunity  open. — Great  op¬ 
portunity  awaits  further  activity  for  the 
religious  care  of  the  needy  young  people 
of  the  South  Atlantic  states,  of  both  the 
white  and  Negro  races.  The  stories  al¬ 
ready  told  of  backward  communities,  of 


338 


WORLD  SERVICE 


ignorance,  of  depraving  conditions,  mor¬ 
ally,  and  of  the  general  physical,  mental, 
moral  and  spiritual  stagnation  among 
thousands  of  poverty-stricken 
illiterates — these  revelations 
find  their  greatest  tragedy  in 
the  blighted  and  barren  lives 
of  boys  and  girls  who  would 
develop  if  they  could. 

The  Sunday-school  work. — 

So  pitiful  are  these  conditions 
that  the  contrast  is  made  all 
the  greater  between  these 
communities  and  the  more 
progressive  cities  and  towns 
where  the  church  and  social 
life  have  kept  apace  with  the 
times  in  development  and  in¬ 
fluence.  To  enlarge  and  im¬ 
prove  the  Sunday-school 
work,  the  Board  of  Sunday 
Schools  has  four  members  of 
its  extension  field  force  in  the 
South  Atlantic  states.  Two 
of  them  are  white  and  two 
are  Negro.  The  success  of 
these  few  workers  giving 
themselves  to  the  promotion 
of  larger  and  better  Sunday 
schools  warrants  the  faith 
•that  a  greatly  increased  force 
of  such  workers  would  richly 
repay  the  church  in  spiritual 
results. 

Epworth  League  activities. 

— The  Epworth  League  is 
carrying  on  a  varied  program 
in  the  South  Atlantic  states, 
including  both  a  spiritual  and 
social  ministry.  The  leagues 


Lad  from  Cookman  Insti¬ 
tute,  Jacksonville,  Florida, 
who  took  the  part  of  Abra¬ 
ham  Lincoln  in  Lincoln 
Day  celebration 


of  Baltimore  maintain  an  Aged  People’s 
Outing  Association,  providing  summer 
vacations  for  needy  and  deserving  old 
people.  The  Epworth  League  of  the  Rose- 
dale  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  at  Wash¬ 
ington  has  equipped  a  community  play¬ 
ground  for  both  young  and  old.  Eight 
successful  summer  institutes  were  con¬ 
ducted  in  1922. 

The  Goodwill  Industries. — Two  of  the 
twenty-one  Goodwill  Industries  affiliated 


with  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  are 
located  in  the  South  Atlantic  states — at 
Wilmington,  Delaware  and  Baltimore, 
Maryland.  Located  at  the 
old  Broadway  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church,  the  Balti¬ 
more  Goodwill  Industries  uses 
five  different  buildings,  three 
of  which  it  owns.  More  than 
17,000  homes  in  the  city  use 
the  “Goodwill”  bags  which 
two  motor  trucks,  running 
daily,  collect.  Each  truck 
averages  fifty  calls  per  day. 
There  is  a  constantly  increas¬ 
ing  demand  for  the  remade 
clothing  and  reclaimed  furni¬ 
ture  which  the  Goodwill  In¬ 
dustries  sell. 

Wesley  Foundations. — Pro¬ 
vision  is  made  for  the  social 
and  spiritual  care  of  Metho¬ 
dist  students,  at  the  United 
States  Naval  Academy  at 
Annapolis,  Maryland,  and  at 
West  Virginia  University, 
Morgantown,  West  Virginia. 
Special  interest  attaches  to 
the  Wesley  Foundation  activi¬ 
ties  at  these  institutions  be¬ 
cause  at  least  200  midshipmen 
of  Methodist  preference  are 
located  at  Annapolis,  while  at 
Morgantown  there  is  one  of 
the  largest  Methodist  Epis¬ 
copal  Churches  in  the  coun¬ 
try.  The  number  of  Methodist 
students  at  the  West  Virginia 
University  increased  from 
650  to  800  during  the  last 
year.  State-wide  publicity  was  given  to 
its  Wesley  Foundation  activities  through 
bulletins,  speeches  and  letters.  The  Meth¬ 
odist  Student  Council  was  organized  con¬ 
sisting  of  twenty-two  representative  stu¬ 
dents  and  two  faculty  members.  Marked 
progress  was  made  in  church  attendance, 
student  Bible  classes  and  Epworth  League 
work. 

The  Bible  in  the  South  Atlantic  states. — 
It  is  estimated  that  there  are  150,000 


SOUTH  ATLANTIC 


339 


families  without  Bibles  in  this  section. 
There  is  need  of  Bible  distribution  and 
teaching  to  overcome  the  prevalent  fanat¬ 
icism,  ignorance,  and  superstition. 

Woman’s  Service. — An  extensive  and 
blessed  service  is  being  rendered  by  the 
Woman’s  Home  Missionary  Society  in  a 
widespread  missionary  and  social  service 
program  throughout  the  South  Atlantic 
states.  Description  of  the  work  of  each  is 
impossible  here,  but  stories  of  great 
achievement  for  the  Kingdom  of  Christ 
are  written  into  the  records  of  the 
institutions  which  the  society  maintains 
in  this  section. 

Vast  missionary  needs. — Neither  tongue 
nor  pen  can  portray  the  tremendous  and 
appalling  need  of  the  backward  districts 
of  the  South  Atlantic  states  for  the  whole 
ministry  of  the  church.  It  is  true  that 
great  beginnings  have  been  made,  yet 
these  are  but  the  gateways  to  the  larger 
opportunity.  A  river  has  been  spanned, 
yet  a  whole  sea  lies  just  ahead.  Poverty, 
illiteracy,  ignorance,  fanaticism,  super¬ 
stition,  hatred,  hopelessness — they  tell 
the  story.  What  more  is  needed  to  reveal 
the  plight  of  those  whom  the  church  must 
succor? 

In  West  Virginia  there  are  1,200  mining  camps,  at 
least  300  of  which  are  spiritually  destitute — children 
growing  up  in  the  darkness,  parents  living  in  deadly 
indifference.  What  can  come  but  spiritual  decay? 
In  an  industrial  village  of  1,400  people,  mostly 
Spanish-speaking  and  Italian,  in  the  same  state, 
there  is  no  church  building  of  any  kind.  The  super¬ 
intendents  of  the  plants  have  come  asking  that  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church  enter  the  field.  Near 


In  the  bawl-room — Sibley  Hospital, 
Washington,  D.  C. 


Sharp  Street  Memorial  Church,  Baltimore 


Fairmont,  Virginia,  are  twenty  different  mill  and 
mining  villages  with  a  population  of  thousands  of 
Italians  and  Slavs  without  a  religious  ministry.  Five 
centers  should  be  organized  and  adequate  and  prac¬ 
tical  buildings  for  Sunday  school  and  community 
service  should  be  established  and  the  workers  pro¬ 
vided. 

Of  the  many  thousands  of  highlanders  living  in 
this  section,  probably  less  than  ten  per  cent  have 
adequate  church  connection  or  religious  instruction. 

Down  in  the  Everglades  sections  of  Florida,  thou¬ 
sands  of  settlers  have  poured  in  from  the  north  to 
make  their  homes  on  reclaimed  lands.  They  need 
the  ministry  of  their  home  church,  yet  whole  com¬ 
munities  are  without  religious  services  whatever. 

In  the  very  center  of  the  Cherokee  Indian  section 
of  North  Carolina,  the  Indian  Methodists  are  at¬ 
tempting  to  worship  in  a  small,  dilapidated,  one- 
room  shed.  There  is  need  for  a  suitable  house  of 
worship  and  a  community  center.  The  church  has 
the  opportunity  of  winning  many  of  these  Indians  to 
Christ  by  providing  a  constructive  ministry  for 
them.  There  is  no  provision  whatever  for  the  social 
or  recreational  life  of  either  old  or  young  among 
them. 

In  a  cotton  milling  center  of  20,000  people,  of 
whom  5,000  are  Negroes,  our  church  building  is  old. 
dilapidated.  A  community  house  is  imperative  to 
win  the  people  from  wrong  indulgences  and  bring 
them  into  the  way  of  the  church,  which  also  should 
have  a  modern  building.  A  larger  and  more  ade¬ 
quate  program  would  contemplate  the  development 
of  the  parish  plan,  with  a  central  church  and  outly¬ 
ing  points  of  neighborhood  service. 

A  summer-resort  community  with  small  church 
needs  an  adequate  plant  to  minister  to  throngs  who 
spend  six  months  of  the  year  there. 

The  Methodist  church  building  in  a  fishing  village 
of  2.000  has  been  condemned  as  unsafe.  Help  must 
come. 

A  city  church  in  a  poor  neighborhood  has  a  Sun¬ 
day  school  of  700  children  who  meet  in  unsightly 


340 


WORLD  SERVICE 


Class  of  1922,  Ebenezer  Mitchell  Home, 
Misenheimer,  North  Carolina 


surroundings  while  others  have  to  be  turned  away 
for  lack  of  room.  Proper  equipment  would  double 
the  ministry  of  this  church  in  a  short  time. 

Help  is  needed  in  a  mining  town  of  2,500  to  rebuild 
the  church  destroyed  by  fire;  in  a  Negro  community 
of  1,700  too  poor  to  build  alone;  to  save  a  situation 
in  a  community  where  people  have  pledged  their 
farms  as  collateral  for  church  debt  and  are  now 
threatened  by  mortgage  holders;  to  build  a  com¬ 
munity  house  in  a  congested  Negro  community  of 
25,000 ;  to  move  the  Methodist  work  from  an  alley 
in  a  Negro  community  of  17,000  people;  and  to 
develop  more  demonstration  churches  in  mountain 
communities. 

The  church’s  task. — The  challenge  for  a 
great  vision  and  heroic  spirit,  demanded  of 
the  church  to  meet  the  missionary  needs 
of  the  South  Atlantic  states,  was  accepted 
long  ago  by  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church  and  for  many  years  it  has 
toiled  steadily  onward  toward  the 
achievement  of  its  goal.  It  is  in  the 


A  West  Virginia  coal  field 


spirit  of  greater  advance,  rather  than  any 
retreat,  in  the  present  hour.  It  must 
labor  at  a  varied  task.  It  must  toil  in 
many  ways.  It  must  build  churches  among 
the  thousands  of  unchurched  people, 
white  and  colored.  It  must  extend  its 
schools  and  build  more  of  them.  More 
hospitals  and  homes  and  orphanages 
must  follow.  It  must  develop  leader¬ 
ship  which  can  not  only  build  in  new 
territory,  but  recreate  where  devastating 
teaching  has  done  harm  to  the  advance¬ 
ment  of  Christ’s  kingdom.  It  sorely  needs 
a  theological  school  in  the  South  where  the 


Am  I  not  a  man,  and  a  brother? 


sons  of  the  mountains  can  be  trained  and 
sent  to  the  people  whose  psychology  they 
understand  and  in  whose  condition  they 
can  live. 

“For  generations,”  says  Bishop  Richard¬ 
son,  concerning  the  backward  sections  of 
the  South,  “a  part  of  the  settled  church 
teaching  has  been  that  education  is  wrong, 
evangelism  foolish,  missionary  enterprise 
is  unnecessary,  and  paying  salaries  to 
ministers  is  a  sin.  Against  the  lack  of 
education  and  this  settled  theology,  it  is 
hard  to  contend.” 


EAST  SOUTH  CENTRAL  STATES 


. . . 


KENTUCKY 


TENNESSEE 


ALABAMA 

MISSISSIPPI 


Distribution  of  Methodist  Episcopal  churches  in  the  East  South  Central  states 


PITTMAN  CENTER,  TENNESSEE  MOUNTAINS 

For  the  strength  of  the  hills  we  bless  Thee 
Our  God,  our  fathers’  God 
Thou  hast  made  Thy  children  mighty 
By  the  touch  of  the  mountain  sod. 

Hymn  of  the  Vaudois  Mountaineers 


EAST  SOUTH  CENTRAL  STATES 


New  Wars  for  Old 

Amid  the  historic  scenes  of  the  Civil 
War,  where  grass  grows  green  over  old 
battlefields,  where  wounds  of  the  spirit 
find  healing  in  the  touch  of  time,  and 
where  enemies  in  life  gain  comradeship  in 
death,  peace  is  now  winning  victories  no 
less  renowned  than  those  of  battle.  The 
ground  hallowed  by  the  blood  of  brave  men 
is  again  the  setting  for  strife,  not  man 
against  man,  but  man  and  God  against  the 
forces  of  ignorance  and  misunderstanding. 
New  wars  are  replacing  the  old,  that  pov¬ 
erty  and  superstition  may  disappear  and 
knowledge  and  wealth  may  take  their 
place. 

Nowhere  is  there  a  more  interesting 
chapter  in  American  progress  than  in 
these  East  South  Central  states 
—  Kentucky,  Tennessee,  Ala¬ 
bama,  and  Mississippi — whose 
names  have  been  written  into 
American  history  in  letters  of 
crimson.  Men  of  the  Blue  and 


men  of  the  Gray  who  fought  up  and  down 
and  across  these  states  in  the  dread  fratri¬ 
cidal  strife  are  living  to  see  the  day  when 
their  sons  and  daughters  are  uniting  for 
a  betterment  of  life  and  its  opportunities. 

Changes  in  the  old  South. — Developing 
industrial  activities  are  drawing  the  rural 
people  slowly  but  surely  to  the  cities. 
Negroes  are  migrating  north  at  a  rapid 
rate.  The  isolated  mountain  life  is  break¬ 
ing  up.  A  new  agriculture  is  evolving. 
But  more  profound  than  any  of  these  is 
an  essentially  spiritual  progress  in  over¬ 
coming  ignorance  and  seeking  after  knowl¬ 
edge,  and  in  a  new  social  ministry  and  com¬ 
munity  rebuilding.  It  means  a  new  day 
for  the  traditional  South. 

“Ye  shall  know  the  truth.” — The  wit¬ 
ness  of  this  advancement  is 
found  in  the  steadily  growing 
victory  over  illiteracy.  Even 
today  the  East  South  Central 
states  have  the  highest  percent¬ 
age  of  illiteracy  in  America, 


343 


344 


WORLD  SERVICE 


Aunt  Lydia,  widow  of  a  Union  soldier 


but  the  significance  lies  in  its  rapid  re¬ 
duction  in  the  past  decade — from  17.4 
per  cent  in  1910  to  12.7  per  cent  in 
1920.  It  means  that  the  heroic  efforts  of 
the  churches  and  the  schools  to  provide 
education  for  the  boys  and  girls  of  the 
backward  regions  of  these  states  are  not 
in  vain.  It  signifies  that  the  movement 
to  banish  illiteracy  is  gathering  speed, 
and  that  the  next  census  should  reveal  it 
cut  in  half. 

A  part  of  the  old  South. — A  glance  at 
these  four  southern  states  will  reveal 
that  they  comprise  a  section  almost  wholly 
native  American.  Out  of  a  total  popula¬ 
tion  of  8,893,307  will  be  found  only  71,939 
who  are  foreign-born,  or  less  than  one  per 
cent.  The  total  Negro  population  is 
2,523,532.  The  states  are  essentially 
rural,  77.6  per  cent  of  the  people  living  in 
the  villages  and  open  country,  while  only 
22.4  per  cent  live  in  the  cities.  However, 
the  urban  population  is  growing  more  rap¬ 
idly,  for  in  1890  the  census  showed  87.3 
per  cent  rural  and  only  12.7  per  cent  urban. 

Rural  life  is  undergoing  an  economic  as 
well  as  a  social  change.  Boll-weevil 
inroads  in  the  cotton  fields  are  hastening 
diversified  farming  and  rotation  of  crops. 


More  attention  is  being  paid  to  grain  and 
thoroughbred  livestock.  Cotton,  cane, 
tobacco,  and  rice  continue  heavy  in  pro¬ 
duction.  The  changes,  however,  have 
meant  a  removal  from  the  rut  of  half  a 
century  and  consequent  new  ideas  and 
thoughts  of  life.  The  general  spirit  of 
progress  is  an  invitation  to  the  church 
to  strike  out  on  new  paths. 

The  growth  of  industrialism. — Numerous 
shifts  in  population  also  are  to  be  noted, 
the  white  people  to  the  cities,  and  the 
Negroes  to  the  North.  Industrialism  is 
primarily  responsible  for  both.  Water 
power,  nearness  to  coal  fields  and  to 
sources  of  raw  materials,  harbor  advan¬ 
tages,  and  exploitation  of  commercial 
opportunities,  all  these  are  factors  in  the 
growing  manufacturing  business  of  the 
South.  At  the  same  time,  restrictions  of 
immigration  are  causing  the  northern 
demand  for  labor  to  continue,  and  the 
Negro  migration  north,  started  during  the 
late  war,  steadily  continues.  During  the 
decade  of  1910-1920,  the  East  South  Cen¬ 
tral  states  lost  approximately  five  per 
cent  of  their  Negro  population,  Kentucky 
leading  with  a  loss  of  9.8  per  cent.  Ken¬ 
tucky  has  the  smallest  proportion  of 
Negro  population,  less  than  ten  per  cent, 
while  Mississippi  has  the  largest,  52.2 
per  cent. 

Along  with  industry,  mining  also  has 
developed  tremendously,  especially  in  the 
mountain  regions  of  Eastern  Kentucky  and 
Tennessee.  A  number  of  the  largest  cor¬ 
porations  in  America  have  their  own  coal 
fields  in  the  South,  have  constructed  rail¬ 
roads  into  the  mountain  fastness  and 
built  their  company  towns.  The  miners 
are  largely  Negroes  and  highlanders, 
attracted  by  offers  of  higher  wages.  In 
some  of  these  camps,  excellent  conditions 
prevail,  in  others  they  are  very  bad.  Lum¬ 
bering  also  continues  as  an  important 
industry. 

The  larger  cities.-— Louisville,  a  typical 
southern  city,  is  the  metropolis  of  the  area, 
with  a  population  of  234,891.  Birming¬ 
ham,  with  178,806  people,  is  known  as  the 
“Pittsburgh  of  the  south”  because  of  its 
great  steel  mills.  Memphis,  with  162,351 


EAST  SOUTH  CENTRAL 


345 


people  and  Nashville,  118,342  population, 
complete  the  list  of  cities  with  move  than 
100,000  people. 

The  church  today. — The  present  status 
of  the  church  and  its  activities,  as  far  as 
statistics  may  reveal,  in  the  East  South 
Central  states  is  as  follows:  155,793 
members,  of  whom  79,417  are  white 
English-speaking,  75,059  Negro,  and  1,317 
German;  134,058  Sunday-school  enrol¬ 
ment,  of  which  82,866  are  white  English- 
speaking  pupils,  1,813  German,  and  49,359 
Negro;  1,878  church  buildings,  of  which 
923  are  for  white,  English-speaking  peo¬ 
ple,  949  for  Negroes,  and  six  for  German. 
The  total  paid  for  all  purposes  was 
$1,615,177  for  the  year,  or  $10.37  per  cap¬ 
ita.  The  number  of  educational  institu¬ 
tions  is  thirteen,  six  for  Negroes,  and 
seven  for  whites.  There  are  also  three 
hospitals. 

Our  church  in  the  South. — From  the 
pen  of  the  venerable  Bishop  Hartzell  the 
following  summaries  show  that  if  we  con¬ 
sider  everything,  especially  the  testing 
times  during  the  Civil  War  and  the  re¬ 
construction  period  following,  the  de¬ 
velopment  has  scarcely  any,  if  any,  paral¬ 
lel  in  Methodist  annals: 

“There  are  thirty-seven  annual  confer¬ 
ences,  seventeen  white  and  twenty  Negro, 
each  group  covering  the  territory  from 
Delaware  to  the  Rio  Grande,  and  together 
entitled  to  180  delegates  in  the  General 
Conference. 

“These  are  the  remarkable  facts: 


Portable  houses  in  logging  camp, 
Elkmont,  Tennessee 


Sunday-school  teachers  in  training  class, 
St.  Paul’s  church,  Tuscaloosa,  Alabama 


“Annual  conferences,  thirty-seven,  with 
3,814  traveling  and  4,922  local  preachers ; 
full  and  preparatory  members,  846,511, 
483,353  white,  and  363,156  Negro;  church 
and  parsonage  properties,  $49,170,988; 
seventy-three  institutions  of  learning,  a 
large  proportion  of  high  grade,  with  1,196 
teachers,  13,413  students,  and  properties 
valued  at  $13,649,142,  including  $4,969,626 
in  endowments;  also  two  hospitals,  with 
$675,000  properties.  Total  church,  par¬ 
sonage,  school,  and  hospital  properties 
$63,495,130.  That  is  several  million  more 
than  one-fifth  of  the  net  property  of  the 
whole  church.” 

The  problems  of  the  field.— Why  is  there 
a  missionary  problem  in  the  South?  The 
South,  of  course,  has  its  progressive  cities, 
its  wide-awake  towns  and  villages,  and 
large  stretches  of  open  country  where 
flourishing  churches  are  witnesses  to 
progressive  communities.  The  church  is 
also  the  leading  factor  in  the  conservative 
and  unchanging  towns  and  districts  which 
are  reminiscent  of  days  of  long  ago  and 
retain  the  flavor  of  the  “Old  South.”  The 
South  covers  a  vast  geographical  area, 
however,  and  not  all  its  territory  nor  all 
its  people  are  absorbed  in  these  classifica¬ 
tions. 

In  the  mountains. — There  are  scores  of 
counties  in  the  East  South  Central  states, 
as  well  as  the  South  Atlantic  states,  where 
the  highlanders  dwell  in  poverty  and  woe¬ 
ful  ignorance  and  superstition,  so  familiar 
in  song  and  story.  Estimates  place  the 
number  dwelling  in  the  mountainous  ter- 


23 


346 


WORLD  SERVICE 


The  mission  Sunday  school  at  Somerset,  Kentucky 


ritory  stretching  from  Virginia  to  Ala¬ 
bama  and  Georgia  at  from  3,000,000  to 
5,000,000.  They  vary  greatly  in  their 
conditions  of  life,  from  those  in  neighbor¬ 
hoods  where  some  educational  and  social 
privileges  are  provided  to  other  communi¬ 
ties  where  extreme  poverty,  ignorance  and 
isolation  exist.  A  small  proportion  of  the 
people  are  exceedingly  religious  in  an 
emotional  way,  but  the  facts  indicate  that 
the  masses  are  untouched.  In  ten  counties 
of  the  Holston  Conference  not  more  than 
twenty-five  per  cent  of  the  people  belong 
to  any  church;  everywhere  church  mem¬ 
bership  is  small. 

The  program  of  the  church,  therefore, 
is  more  than  the  mere  illiterate  mountain 
“preachin’.”  In  a  number  of  the  more 
isolated  and  needy  mountain  communities, 
the  social,  educational,  and  religious  pro¬ 
gram  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church 
has  achieved  results  in  a  short  time  far 
exceeding  expectations.  Public  improve¬ 
ment  of  the  roads  has  been  stimulated 
and  beginnings  made  in  the  development 
of  agriculture  suited  to  the  mountains. 
Household  arts  and  crafts  are  being 
renewed.  The  sentiment  regarding  the  il¬ 
licit  manufacture  of  liquor  has  been  defi¬ 
nitely  changed ;  and  the  local  feuds  result¬ 
ing  in  frequent  killings  lessen  as  larger 
community  interests  prevail. 

A  new  inter-racial  attitude. — A  change 
in  attitude  toward  the  Negro  has  begun 
to  take  place  in  the  South.  It  is  his  star 
of  hope.  It  is  the  omen  of  an  era  of  jus¬ 
tice  and  opportunity  for  him.  The  para¬ 
mount  cause  of  the  changing  attitude  is 
the  Christian  spirit  which  has  animated  a 
growing  group  of  southern  white  people 
to  give  to  the  Negro  his  due,  social  justice, 
economic  opportunity,  and  a  neighborly 
spirit.  Their  determination  is  to  live  the 


brotherhood  of  man,  re¬ 
gardless  of  inherited  prej¬ 
udices  or  antagonisms. 
They  seek  to  work  out  the 
so-called  Negro  problem 
on  the  basis  of  inter-racial 
good  will,  with  justice  for 
all;  and  are  developing  a 
national  movement  for 
the  promotion  of  the  spirit  of  Christian 
fraternalism,  that  it  may  be  the  basis  of 
adjustment  of  all  differences.  Through 
hundreds  of  communities  of  both  South 
and  North,  the  leavening  influence  of  an 
inter-racial  adjustment  is  spreading. 

Negro  advance., — In  spite  of  the  many 
handicaps,  however,  the  achievements  of 
the  Negroes  from  the  close  of  the  Civil 
War  to  the  present  time  show  racial  char¬ 
acteristics  of  high  ambition  and  great 
capacity  for  development.  It  has  been 
said  that  there  are  few  parallels,  if  any, 
in  history,  where  a  people  have  journeyed 
upward  so  quickly  and  so  far.  A  gauge  of 
that  progress  is  in  the  following  table: 

Negro  Accomplishments  in  Fifty-four 
Y  ears 

i 8 66  1920 

12,000  Homes  owned  .  600,000 

20,000  Farms  operated  .  1,000,000 

90%  Illiteracy  .  20% 

100,000  Students  in  public  schools  1,800,000 

700  Churches  owned  .  43,000 

600,000  Church  memberships  .  4,800,000 

$20,000,000  Wealth  accumulated  . $1,100,000,000 

60,000  Value  of  higher  educa¬ 
tional  property  .  22,000,000 

1,500,000  Valuation  of  church  prop¬ 
erty  . 85,900,000 


The  shack  where  the  Sunday  school,  pictured 
above,  has  to  meet.  To  remodel  this, 
outside  aid  is  asked 


EAST  SOUTH  CENTRAL 


347 


Chapel  service  at  Murphy  Collegiate  Institute,  Sevierville,  Tennessee 


Chief  credit  for  that 
progress  goes  to  the 
Negro  himself.  The  aid 
of  friendly  whites  in  both 
the  North  and  the  South 
has  been  of  inestimable 
value  and  profound  inspi¬ 
ration.  Were  it  not  for 
the  Negro’s  burning  de¬ 
sire  for  better  things, 
however,  his  willingness 
to  undergo  suffering  for 
his  principles,  his  zeal  in 
sacrificing  that  his  chil¬ 
dren  might  have  an  edu¬ 
cation  and  other  advantages,  and  the 
flaming  purpose  of  an  evangel  to  invest 
life  with  a  spiritual  meaning  as  well  as 
material  significance,  his  help  would  have 
been  in  vain.  As  Bishop  Robert  E.  Jones 
has  well  said,  ‘‘Lincoln  plighted  his  faith 
in  the  Negro;  the  great  Lincoln,  with  his 
faith  in  the  Negro,  risked  his  all,  his  place 
in  history,  and  the  Negro  made  good  his 
faith.” 

Yet  a  great  need. — While  this  great  prog¬ 
ress  is  to  be  acknowledged,  the  tremendous 
missionary  need  among  them  must  still 
be  emphasized  and  the  achievements  of  the 
past  and  present  be  made  the  augury  for 
the  future.  The  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church  has  done  much.  It  must  needs  do 
more. 

The  need  of  resident  pastors.  —  The 
church  must  also  substitute  educated,  pro¬ 
gressive,  resident  pastors  to  take  the  place 
of  the  non-resident  and  often  uneducated 
ministers.  One  of  the  blights  of  the  south¬ 


ern  rural  church  is  the  “absentee  treat¬ 
ment”  by  ministers  living  in  town  and 
journeying  to  the  country  once  a  month  or 
bi-monthly  to  hold  services.  On  one  short 
railroad  journey  in  Mississippi,  sixty-five 
preachers  were  counted  on  one  train,  going 
out  to  country  appointments  for  over  Sun¬ 
day,  to  desert  the  fields  on  Monday  for 
the  town  or  city  home. 

More  adequate  buildings. — The  church 
also  faces  the  problem  of  replacing  the  old 
shacks  in  which  it  has  attempted  the  min¬ 
istry  of  Christ  for  decades.  Some  of  our 
so-called  “churches”  in  the  rural  South, 
especially  in  the  Negro  communities,  are 
nothing  but  shanties  handed  down  from 
slavery  days  or  outworn,  outgrown,  and 
outlived  clap-board  buildings  erected  half 
a  century  ago. 

The  industrial  fields. — The  industrial  sit¬ 
uation,  especially  in  the  mining  sections  of 
eastern  Kentucky  and  Tennessee,  presents 
a  tremendous  problem  for  both  church  and 
community.  Here  thou¬ 
sands  of  Negroes  and 
highlanders,  accustomed 
to  the  open  spaces  and  the 
freedom  of  rural  life, 
have  been  drawn  in  for 
work  in  the  mines  and 
coke  ovens.  The  abrupt 
changes  in  living  and 
working  conditions,  poor 
enough  before,  in  many 
instances  have  made  for 
the  worse.  Racial  prej¬ 
udice  is  made  keener  by 


Community  leaders  in  training  for  effective  religious  education. 
University  of  Chattanooga 


348 


WORLD  SERVICE 


EDUCATIONAL  INSTITUTIONS 

Colleges,  Universities  and  Professional  Schools. 

Kentucky 

1  Barbourville,  Union  College. 

T  ennessee 

2  Chattanooga,  University  of  Chattanooga. 

3  Nashville,  Meharry  Medical  College 
(Negro). 

Mississippi 

4  Holly  Springs,  Rust  College  (Negro). 

Secondary  Schools. 

Tennessee 

5  Chuckey,  Wesleyan  Academy. 

6  Morristown,  Morristown  Normal  and  In¬ 
dustrial  Institute  (Negro). 

7  Sevierville,  Murphy  Collegiate  Institute. 

8  Athens,  The  Athens  School. 

9  Baxter,  Baxter  Seminary. 

10  Nashville,  Walden  College  (Negro). 

11  McLemoresville,  McLemoresville  Collegi¬ 
ate  Institute. 

Alabama 

12  Boaz,  John  H.  Snead  Seminary. 

13  Birmingham,  Central  Alabama  Institute 
(Negro). 

Mississippi 

14  Meridian,  Haven  Institute  (Negro). 


closer  contacts.  Hundreds,  often  thou¬ 
sands,  of  people  have  come  into  the  camps 
within  a  few  months  to  live  and  work. 
Church  and  social  facilities  often  are  woe¬ 
fully  lacking. 

Dangerous  conditions.— -One  county  re¬ 
ports  seventy-nine  mining  camps  only 
twelve  of  which  have  any  social  or  reli¬ 
gious  work  of  any  kind ;  in  another  county 
are  seventy-eight  camps,  only  ten  of  which 
have  religious  services.  In  other  camps, 
churches  and  community  halls  have  been 
erected  by  the  companies  and  conditions 
are  much  better. 

Over-churched  and  under-churched  com¬ 
munities. — In  those  words  are  written  the 
tragedy  of  ill-advised  and  unrelated  mis¬ 
sionary  work  by  different  denominations. 
Unholy  competition  by  denominations  in 
some  neighborhoods,  spiritual  starvation 
in  others,  that  is  the  story  to  make  Chris¬ 
tian  people  think  and  so  to  organize  their 
activities  that  co-operation  will  be  the  key¬ 
note  in  the  future.  Such  a  situation  can 
be  found  in  many  parts  of  the  East  South 
Central  states  and  the  nation. 

A  striking  example  is  to  be  found  in 
certain  counties  in  Kentucky.  Educa¬ 
tional  and  commercial  growth  has  been 
the  most  important  development  of  the 
past  twenty-five  years  in  the  eastern  part 
of  the  state.  Within  that  time,  the  church 
instead  of  keeping  pace  with  educational 
and  commercial  advancement,  seems  to 
have  followed  a  plan  of  retrenchment. 

Taking  the  line  of  least  resistance,  the 
church  has,  as  a  rule,  held  to  the  well- 
beaten  paths  of  the  railroad  and  main 
water  courses.  In  most  every  case,  a 
church  in  an  isolated  community  has,  in 
the  process  of  time,  been  abandoned.  In 
Mason  County,  Kentucky,  which  is  easily 
traveled,  there  are  17,760  people  and  48 
per  cent  of  them  are  church  members, 
while  in  Pike  County,  very  hard  to  travel, 
with  49,477  people,  only  ten  per  cent  of 
the  people  are  church  members.  There 
are  two  or  three  churches  at  nearly  every 
cross-roads  in  Mason  County,  while  there 
are  twenty-one  communities  with  more 
than  1,000  people  in  Pike  County  without 
even  an  occasional  religious  service. 


EAST  SOUTH  CENTRAL 


349 


A  Various  Ministry 

The  ministry  of  service. — The  church  has 
long  realized  that  poverty,  isolation,  igno¬ 
rance,  and  insanitary  conditions,  as  well  as 
immorality  and  unbelief,  are  enemies  of 
the  kingdom  of  Christ  and  must  be  con¬ 
quered.  Therefore  its  service  has  been 
more  than  that  of  Sunday  worship.  It 
has  aimed  to  regenerate  communities 
socially  and  physically,  to  provide  educa¬ 
tion  of  mind  and  heart,  and,  as  the  climax, 
to  win  disciples  for  the  Master  on  the  basis 
of  Christianity  as  it  is  understood  by  the 
best  minds  and  hearts  of  the  church. 

The  correction  of  the  weird  and  harm¬ 
ful  beliefs  which  have  been  scattered 
abroad  by  illiterate  “shouters”  is  a  neces¬ 
sary  part  of  that  labor.  If  the  program  of 
the  Christian  church  of  today  is  anywhere 
near  right  at  all,  then  perverted  concep¬ 
tions  of  Christianity  must  be  replaced  by 
sane  interpretation.  Judgment  should  be 
by  the  fruits  of  the  two  teachings.  The 
accompaniment  of  the  prevalent  theology 
is  social  and  spiritual  depravity;  of  the 
missionary  teaching,  social  and  spiritual 
progress. 

Trained  leadership  needed. — The  solution 
of  the  problem  is  in  a  trained,  intelligent 
leadership.  Already  definite  steps  have 
been  taken  through  the  establishment  of 
professorships  for  rural  training  at  Gam¬ 
mon  Theological  Seminary  and  at  Baxter, 
McLemoresville,  Boaz,  and  Murphy  Col¬ 
leges,  and  through  the  holding  of  summer 
schools  for  rural  pastors  already  in 
service. 

The  Negro  pastor  in  a  rural  church  is 
confronted  with  such  conditions  of  disease, 
lack  of  sanitation,  inadequate  nourishment, 
poverty,  and  lack  of  social  and  educational 
opportunities  that  he  must  be  equipped 
to  lead  his  people  to  better  things.  The 
policy  and  program  of  the  Board  of  Home 
Missions  and  Church  Extension  is  to  min¬ 
ister  to  all  of  these  various  needs  and  thus 
bring  a  richer  and  fuller  life  to  our  Negro 
Americans. 

“Demonstration”  community  centers. — 
“Sign-boards  which  point  the  way  to  bet¬ 
ter  things”  is  the  description  which  has 
been  given  to  the  six  major  and  several 


minor  centers  of  mountain  work.  Five  of 
these  are  in  Tennessee:  Pittman  Center, 
Beersheba  Springs,  Parham’s  Chapel, 
Luminary,  and  Patten  Center. 

Pittman  Center. — Back  in  the  hills  of 
Sevier  County,  Tennessee,  was  found  a 
remote  mountain  section.  Here  were  2,500 
people,  living  in  the  most  primitive  man¬ 
ner.  In  not  a  single  home  was  discovered 
anything  pertaining  to  a  bathroom,  and 
screens  were  almost  unknown.  Contagious 
diseases  spread  and  hookworm  was  preva¬ 
lent.  The  health  of  the  people  was  deplor¬ 
able,  so  bad  that  vigorous  work  was  almost 
impossible.  There  was  only  one  doctor 
for  200  square  miles  of  mountain  gorges 
with  a  population  of  5,000.  The  report  of 
the  draft  board  for  the  county  indicated 
that  seventy  per  cent  of  those  between  the 
ages  of  twenty-one  and  thirty-five  could 
not  read  or  write.  Only  two  newspapers 
were  taken  by  1,000  people.  At  one  of 
the  first  community  meetings  ninety  per 
cent  of  those  present  had  never  seen  a 
movie  or  lantern  slide  lecture,  and  fifty 
per  cent  of  the  women  had  never  seen  a 
railroad. 

A  new  day  in  the  mountains. — It  was 
decided  that  here  was  the  strategic  point 
for  the  location  of  a  church  community 
house  and  educational  center,  an  institu¬ 
tion  which  would  change  the  miserable 
conditions  not  only  of  a  neighborhood  but 
of  a  whole  section. 

Work  was  begun  at  the  site  late  in  1920. 
In  early  January,  1921,  the  contractor 
started  pouring  the  concrete  foundation, 
the  cement,  hardware,  glass  and  equip¬ 
ment  being  hauled  twenty-six  miles  over 
indescribable  mountain  roads.  By  August 
15,  the  structure  was  ready  for  occupancy. 
On  the  first  enrolment  day  of  school  87 
pupils  registered,  125  at  the  end  of  the 
first  week,  and  finally  300.  The  school  is 
the  only  one  in  Eastern  Tennessee  which 
conducts  an  eight  months’  term,  furnish¬ 
ing  books  and  school  supplies  without  cost. 
Many  pupils  walk  daily  from  four  to  six 
miles  to  avail  themselves  of  the  advan¬ 
tages,  and  the  teacher  of  the  primary 
grades  and  the  principal  say  they  have 
never  met  classes  which  average  better. 


350 


WORLD  SERVICE 


Dedication  day  at  Patten  Center 
Community  House 


Pittman  Center  has  class  rooms  for 
vocational  and  manual  training,  sanitary 
plumbing,  the  use  of  water  power,  car¬ 
pentry,  and  agricultural  shop  work,  and 
home  economics  quarters  for  girls,  for 
cooking,  sewing,  knitting,  and  weaving. 
Classrooms  with  modern  desks  and  black¬ 
boards,  large  casement  windows  and  artis¬ 
tic  draperies,  a  large  auditorium,  with 
stage  and  dressing  room  for  entertain¬ 
ments,  a  library  and  other  quarters  and 
equipment,  are  also  provided.  It  was  a 
strange  sight  indeed  to  the  mountaineers 
to  whom  kitchen  ranges,  electric  lights, 
running  hot  water,  and  plumbing  were 
mysteries !  (Picture  on  page  343.) 

The  operation  of  the  school,  community 
center,  and  church  is  along  four  well-de¬ 
fined  lines.  They  are: 

1.  Improvement  of  public  health.  Em¬ 
ployment  of  a  doctor  on  occasion  and  the 
maintenance  of  a  community  nurse.  Public 
conveniences  in  the  school  and  community 
building,  constant  instruction  in  matters  of 
health,  such  as  screening  against  flies, 
open  window  sleeping,  right  preparation 
of  food  and  insistence  on  sanitary  meas¬ 
ures  and  precautions — all  these  are  pro¬ 
ducing  good  results. 

2.  Development  of  better  economic  con¬ 
ditions.  It  was  estimated  that  the  aver¬ 
age  annual  income,  in  products  as  well  as 
cash,  for  a  family  of  five  persons  in  the 
community  was  $200.  The  agricultural 
department  works  to  increase  the  yield 
of  the  land  and  to  provide  a  market.  Seed 
wheat  is  treated  to  prevent  smut.  Farm¬ 


ers  are  encouraged  to  buy  fertilizers.  New 
forage  plants  are  grown  to  be  used  as  a 
base  for  improving  the  small  farm  crops. 
Thorough-bred  livestock  is  being  intro¬ 
duced  into  the  community.  Fruit  raising 
is  being  developed  with  a  nursery  of 
standard  fruit  tree  varieties. 

3.  Establishment  of  modern  education. 
The  Pittman  Center  school  is  an  official 
public  school,  the  state  recognizing  it  and 
aiding  in  its  maintenance.  The  parsonage 
has  been  given  up  for  a  home  for  the  school 
teachers. 

4.  Maintenance  of  a  well-rounded  evan¬ 
gelistic  and  religious  educational  program. 
All  the  teachers  are  expected  to  approach 
their  work  from  the  religious  viewpoint 
and  to  lay  emphasis  on  a  modern  religious 
program  for  the  community.  Prayer- 
meetings,  Epworth  Leagues,  song  services, 
Bible  classes,  social  events  and  stereopti- 
con  lectures  go  hand  in  hand. 

The  fruitage.' — Does  such  a  broad  policy 
pay  as  a  missionary  enterprise?  It  does. 
In  a  recent  few  months  more  than  fifty 
conversions  occurred  in  the  Pittman  Cen¬ 
ter  charge,  every  one  of  which  was  a  con¬ 
scious,  voluntary,  and  eager  decision  for 
Christ.  There  has  been  a  tremendous 
improvement  in  the  moral  consciousness 
of  the  neighborhood,  where  formerly  the 
moonshiner  was  a  hero.  Today  he  is  looked 
upon  as  a  lawbreaker.  Feuds  are  being 
forgotten  and  fellowship  is  increasing  as 
the  larger  community  interests  prevail. 
The  crowning  fact  is  that  Pittman  Center 
has  twenty-five  young  men  now  preparing 
for  the  Gospel  ministry — young  men  who, 
as  trained  leaders,  will  help  to  redeem, 
physically  and  spiritually,  the  wretched 
and  blighted  communities  whence  they 
came. 

Other  mountain  lighthouses. — The  John 
A.  Patten  Community  Center  at  the  village 
of  Melvine,  in  the  Sequatchie  Valley, 
twelve  miles  from  Pikeville,  Tennessee,  is 
another  outstanding  demonstration.  The 
mountain  walls,  five  hundred  feet  high,  are 
underlaid  with  soft  coal,  not  yet  touched  in 
a  commercial  way.  Great  quantities  of 
timber  are  now  being  cut.  Fifteen  hundred 


EAST  SOUTH  CENTRAL 


351 


people  live  within  a  radius  of  four  miles. 
The  school  year  averaged  three  and  a  half 
months  in  1919,  when  we  began  our  work. 
The  buildings,  one-room  churches  and 
school  houses  were  very  poor. 

In  addition  to  Patten  Center,  there  are 
six  small  schools  in  isolated  communities 
around  the  mountain  rim.  These  small 
schools  have  one  resident  teacher  each 
who  gives  time  during  the  vacation  period 
to  religious  and  social  welfare  work.  The 
average  cost  of  each  of  these  schools  is 
about  $300  a  year  and  each  school  averages 
seventy-five  in  attendance. 

This  has  been  a  feud  section  almost  ever 
since  its  settlement.  There  were  well 
defined  lines  between  the  parties  and  the 
feuds  and  killings  continued  until  our  work 
began.  With  full  time  workers  resident 
in  the  community  not  a  killing  has  oc¬ 
curred  since  our  work  was  launched  Jan¬ 
uary  1,  1920. 

This  work  among  the  highlanders  is 
supervised  by  the  superintendent  of  moun¬ 
tain  work  of  the  Board  of  Home  Missions 
and  Church  Extension.  Pie  has  ten  proj¬ 
ects  and  twenty-seven  workers. 

The  circuit-rider’s  field. — While  trained 
leadership  and  demonstration  commu¬ 
nity  centers  and  churches  are  the  far- 
visioned  program,  immediate  religious 
needs  are  being  ministered  to  in  the  only 
manner  possible  with  present  resources 
and  personnel,  through  the  maintenance  of 
as  many  preaching  points  and  circuits  as 
possible. 

The  church  in  the  coal  camps. — A  new 
day  is  dawning  for  many  of  those  coal 
camps  of  southeastern  Kentucky  where 
social  and  spiritual  starvation  is  the  rule. 
Three  years  ago  the  start  was  made  at 
Black  Mountain.  So  impressed  was  the 
community  by  the  service  rendered  that  it 
volunteered  a  per  capita  contribution  to 
the  support  of  the  work.  The  charge 
became  self-supporting.  The  district 
superintendent  then  received  invitations  to 
extend  the  work  at  twenty  other  mining 
camps,  with  promise  of  partial  support. 

The  aim  is  to  group  camps  around  one 
of  the  points  on  a  circuit,  then  put  a  strong 


man  at  the  head  of  each  group.  It  is 
hoped  to  establish  social  and  industrial 
centers  in  the  camps,  of  which  there  are 
more  than  fifty  in  southeastern  Kentucky 
without  organized  social  or  religious  effort. 

The  plan  calls  for  the  erection  of  a  build¬ 
ing  in  each  camp  for  religious  services, 
gymnasium,  recreation  and  social  pur¬ 
poses.  One  end  of  the  building  would 
have  apartments  for  the  workers. 

Examples  of  success. — Crushing  and 
hauling  rock  is  often  a  prison  punishment 
and  is  not  often  indulged  in  by  church 
members  in  order  to  get  a  new  building. 
Such  was  the  happening  at  Somerset,  Ken- 


SUMMER  SCHOOLS  AND  INSTITUTES 

Epworth  League  Institutes. 

Kentucky 

1  Epworth,  Ruggle’s  Camp. 

Tennessee 

2  Sevierville.  Murphy  College  (Holston 
Conference). 

Mississippi 

3  Holly  Springs,  Rust  College  (Upper  Mis-* 
sissippi  Conference — Negro). 

Summer  Schools  for  Town  and  Rural  Pastors. 

Tennessee 

4  Athens,  The  Athens  School. 

Summer  Schools  of  Theology. 

Tennessee 

5  Athens,  The  Athens  School. 

Mississippi 

6  Meridian,  Haven  Institute. 


352 


WORLD  SERVICE 


tucky,  a  railroad  and  mining  town  of  8,000 
people,  where  destructive  influences  men¬ 
aced  hundreds  of  men  and  boys.  The 
Methodist  Episcopal  people  decided  on  a 
community  church.  A  site  was  secured, 
and  aided  by  the  Board  of  Home  Missions 
and  Church  Extension,  the  people  worked 
with  their  own  hands  at  the  task,  and  the 
first  unit,  with  facilities  for  religious  edu¬ 
cation,  bowling  alleys,  game  room,  swim¬ 
ming  pool,  etc.,  was  soon  under  way. 

In  the  center  of  a  coal  mining  region 
in  Tennessee,  we  have  a  church  and  com¬ 
munity  house  located  at  Jellico.  Here  a 
building  with  splendid  facilities  for  wor¬ 
ship  and  social  purposes  has  recently  been 
completed.  It  contains  auditorium,  read¬ 
ing  rooms,  banquet  hall,  gymnasium,  and 
other  quarters.  The  Sunday-school  and 
church  services  are  both  well  attended, 
while  the  community  rooms  are  a  beehive 
of  activity. 

Out  of  bondage. — That  freedom  may  be 
a  gift  but  its  blessings  must' be  earned  was 
one  of  the  first  statesmanlike  teachings 


HOSPITALS  AND  HOMES  OF  THE  METH¬ 
ODIST  EPISCOPAL  CHURCH 

Hospitals. 

Kentucky 

1  Pikeville,  Kentucky  Methodist  Hospital. 

2  Louisville,  Methodist  Deaconess  Hospital. 

Tennessee 

3  Nashville,  Hubbard  Hospital. 


which  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church 
bore  to  the  new  freedmen  when  the 
shackles  of  slavery  had  been  stricken  from 
them.  This  policy  has  continued  through 
the  years  as  the  church  has  labored  to 
help  the  Negroes  to  help  themselves. 
Churches  and  schools  and  the  training  of 
leadership  have  been  the  keynotes. 

In  the  delta  section.— ~In  the  Mississippi 
delta,  there  are  28,000  square  miles  of  the 
most  fertile  soil  in  the  world.  Four  hun¬ 
dred  thousand  Negroes  live  in  the  delta, 
and  turn  out  one  million  bales  of  cotton 
annually.  Almost  all  of  the  land  is  divided 
into  plantations,  some  of  them  running 
into  more  than  a  thousand  acres. 

In  the  delta,  six  years  ago,  we  had  on 
what  is  now  the  Clarksdale  and  Sardis 
Districts,  of  the  Upper  Mississippi  Con¬ 
ference,  1,200  members,  and  1,000  Sunday- 
school  children  in  twenty-six  churches. 
We  now  have  2,024  members  and  2,778 
Sunday-school  children  in  fifty-six 
churches.  The  benevolent  collections 
increased  from  $359  to  $3,766. 

What  happened  in  four  years  in  Tupelo, 
one  of  these  delta  towns  is  shown  below: 


In  igi8 

A  frame,  one-room  building,  value . $  1,500 

Salary  of  pastor  . $  500 

Benevolence  . $  60 

Average  Sunday-school  attendance .  35 

Membership  .  162 

Prayer  meeting  .  None 

Social  activities  .  None 

In  1922 

Modern  brick  church,  value . $14,000 

Salary  of  pastor  . . $  1,000 

Benevolence  . $  303 

Average  Sunday-school  attendance .  120 

Membership  .  329 

Prayer  meeting  .  90 


Social  activities :  Playground,  Girls’  Clubs, 

Boys’  Club,  Mothers’  Clubs,  Men’s  Clubs, 
Sewing  Circle. 

The  plantation  section. — The  boundaries 
of  the  Upper  Mississippi  Conference 
embrace  the  greatest  plantation  section  of 
the  South.  The  churches  are  usually  of 
the  crudest  and  most  neglected  type.  Of 
the  106  pastors  in  this  Annual  Conference, 
about  one-half  have  been  in  attendance  at 
one  of  our  rural  schools  and  thirty-two 
have  regular  weekly  social  and  recrea¬ 
tional  programs.  Better  schools,  more 


EAST  SOUTH  CENTRAL 


353 


sanitary  home  surroundings  and  better 
church  buildings  are  being  developed. 

An  Example— New  Albany,  Mississippi 


In  1920 

A  point  on  a  circuit 
A  condemned  frame 
building 
135  members 
A  Sunday  school  of  49 
Pastor’s  salary  $500 
A  $200  Centenary  offer¬ 
ing 

No  social  activities 


In  1922 
A  station 

A  four-room  brick 
church 
203  members 
109  in  Sunday  school 
$840  salary 

$300  Centenary  collection 
Playground  and  clubs 


The  Board  of  Home  Missions  and  Church 
Extension  has  invested  $27,317.50  in  the 
building  program  of  the  Upper  Mississippi 
Conference  and  $13,688.75  in  leadership. 
This  conference,  which  raised  $11,424  dur¬ 
ing  the  three  years  prior  to  the  Centenary, 
has  paid  to  the  Centenary  treasurer  up 
to  October  31,  1922,  $87,968. 

A  reconstructed  circuit.  —  A  striking 
example  of  the  need  to  be  found  among 
the  rural  agricultural  Negroes  is  told  by 
the  district  superintendent  of  the  Opelika 
District,  Central  Alabama  Conference : 
“Ashland  is  a  three  point  circuit  of  about 
twenty-four  miles.  At  Spring  Hill,  there 
are  fifty  children  enrolled  in  the  public 
school,  the  people  paying  a  teacher  for 
four  months  in  a  year.  Because  the  Negro 
school  cannot  secure  a  ‘licensed  teacher,’ 
the  state  fund  goes  to  the  white  school. 
The  church  here  is  a  miserable  structure. 
At  Glades,  one  of  the  points  on  the  circuit, 
fourteen  miles  from  the  railroad,  we  have 
a  crude  building  without  windows,  the 
shutters  being  used  to  keep  out  the  cold 
and  rain.  There  is  also  a  Baptist  Church 
in  Glades  and  each  denomination  is  giving 
once  a  month  service.  A  Gammon  Theo¬ 
logical  Seminary  graduate  is  now  serving 
this  circuit.  He  has  received  as  little  as 
$1.05  after  driving  fourteen  miles  to  serve 
the  Glades  congregation.  A  small  main¬ 
tenance  appropriation  enables  us  to  keep 
this  trained  man  on  this  work.  As  a 
result,  we  have  today  at  the  central  point 
a  $4,500  church  building,  practically  free 
from  debt.  The  Board  of  Home  Missions 
and  Church  Extension  gave  $1,100.” 

This  achievement  is  typical  of  the  work 
done  on  the  entire  Opelika  District,  where 


Barskin  schoolhouse,  Sevier  County,  Tennessee. 
Forty-five  pupils  study  here,  seated 
on  wooden  benches 


with  trained  leadership  and  a  little  aid, 
twelve  churches  and  parsonages  have  been 
built  or  remodeled  and  a  district  program 
developed  which,  aside  from  Tuskegee 
Institute,  is  the  greatest  single  factor  in 
improving  the  economic,  social,  educa¬ 
tional  and  religious  life  of  the  people. 

One  of  the  strongest  Negro  Methodist 
Episcopal  churches  in  the  South  is  located 
at  Greenwood,  Mississippi,  an  important 
town  in  the  center  of  the  Mississippi  delta. 
It  has  a  Negro  population  of  3,000.  The 
church  has  a  large  auditorium  with  class 
rooms,  club  rooms  and  dining  hall.  A  pub¬ 
lic  library  for  Negroes  is  maintained  in 
the  building. 

In  the  cities. — In  a  great  industrial  and 
manufacturing  section  of  Chattanooga,  the 
St.  James  Methodist  Episcopal  church  is 
the  only  church  and  social  center  of  any 
sort  among  9,000  people. 

In  Birmingham,  the  first  floor  of  a  large 
plant  for  Negro  work  has  been  constructed. 
In  Bessemer,  Alabama,  a  thriving  mill  cen¬ 
ter,  a  fine  new  structure  has  been  made 
possible  by  the  Board  of  Home  Missions 
and  Church  Extension. 

The  service  of  these  churches  is  as  wide 
as  human  need.  At  Centenary  Church, 
Memphis,  people  are  turned  away.  The 
membership  has  doubled,  the  Sunday 
school  quadrupled.  Besides  religious  serv¬ 
ices,  there  are  lessons  in  physical  culture, 
a  tea  room,  a  story  hour  for  children.  At 
the  Jackson  Street  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church,  Louisville,  the  church  work 
includes  boys’  and  girls’  clubs,  dramatic 


354 


WORLD  SERVICE 


Wesley  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  Greenwood,  Mississippi 


clubs,  services  for  Negro  soldiers,  noon 
meetings  in  railroad  shops,  social  welfare 
work  at  city  hospital,  employment  agency, 
emergency  lodgings,  and  social  evenings. 

Religious  education. — The  corner-stone 
of  the  missionary  structure  of  the  Meth¬ 
odist  Episcopal  Church  in  the  south  is  edu¬ 
cation.  It  ranges  from  teaching  little 
children  the  alphabet  to  training  ministers 
for  specialized  leadership  in  their  com¬ 
munities.  Its  aim  is  to  uplift  body,  mind 
and  soul.  To  this  end  all  the  agencies  of 
the  church  give  primary  concern  to  reli¬ 
gious  education. 

The  Board  of  Sunday  Schools  now  has 
two  field  directors  in  the  East  South  Cen¬ 
tral  states.  The  activities  are  as  varied 
as  the  problems  of  the  Sunday  school. 
Enlarging  existing  Sunday  schools,  estab¬ 
lishing  efficient  programs,  securing  better 
leadership,  opening  up  new  Sunday 
schools,  reviving  abandoned  schools,  and 
developing  a  missionary  interest  through 
all  of  them — these  are  some  of  the  things 
being  done.  The  missionary  opportunity 
is  an  outstanding  one  from  the  Sunday- 
school  standpoint.  This  is  not  only 
because  of  the  lack  of  Sunday  schools  in 
many  spiritually  starved  neighborhoods, 
but  also  because  large  families  are  the 
usual  thing,  especially  in  the  backward 
regions. 


Trained  leadership 
sought  .-—I  n  addition, 
many  of  the  charges  are 
circuits,  which  make  it  al¬ 
most  impossible  for  the 
pastor  to  have  intensive 
supervision,  were  he 
trained  for  it,  over  the 
several  communities  com¬ 
mitted  to  him.  In  these 
situations,  a  well-trained 
director  of  religious 
education  would  afford 
the  minister  the  most 
valued  reinforcement,  and 
would  do  more  perhaps 
than  any  other  single 
type  of  service  to  give 
permanency  to  the  work, 
and  to  insure  steady  growth. 

The  Epworth  League  finds  its  problem, 
aside  from  the  building  up  of  its  member¬ 
ship,  is  to  provide  the  young  people  of  the 
isolated  mountain  sections  with  educating 
and  broadening  influences.  Among  the 
Negroes,  there  is  the  problem  of  effecting 
standardized  organization  and  programs 
for  the  young  people.  There  is  need  for 
more  institutes  for  both  white  and  Negro 
groups  and  conferences  for  intensive  train¬ 
ing  of  League  officers.  There  is  need 
among  the  Negroes  of  specially  prepared 
literature  with  emphasis  on  social  serv¬ 
ice  and  recreational  programs.  For  the 
white  group,  there  is  need  for  the  accept¬ 
ance  of  greater  responsibility  on  the  part 
of  the  young  people  in  well  established  cen¬ 
ters  for  their  comrades  in  the  sparsely 
settled  sections. 

Educational  institutions. — In  the  four¬ 
teen  colleges,  universities,  secondary 
schools,  and  professional  schools,  which  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church  has  through¬ 
out  these  states,  will  be  found  a  fountain 
of  Christian  influence  and  leadership. 

The  University  of  Chattanooga. — From 
inauspicious  beginnings  to  a  noteworthy 
university  with  261  students  and  twenty- 
three  faculty  members  is  the  romance  of 
the  University  of  Chattanooga.  It  com- 


EAST  SOUTH  CENTRAL 


355 


Nottingham  primary  school  (W.  H.  M.  S.)  Boaz,  Alabama 


prises  also  within  its  jurisdiction  the  Ath¬ 
ens  School,  Athens,  Tennessee,  a  stand¬ 
ard  college  preparatory  and  normal  school 
with  a  faculty  of  twenty-five  and  a  student 
body  of  324. 

Fortunately  situated  in  a  district  hold¬ 
ing  more  than  a  million  people — a  district 
of  which  Chattanooga  is  the  metropolis, 
the  university  wields  an  influence  for 
Christian  education  far  greater  than  the 
mere  number  of  enrolled  students  would 
seem  to  indicate. 

Other  centers  of  learning. — Union  Col¬ 
lege  at  Barbourville,  Kentucky,  for  the 
development  of  Christian  leaders,  contains 
departments  of  liberal  arts  and  sciences, 
normal  training,  music  and  expression, 
and  academy. 

A  quarter  of  a  century  ago  some  girls 
came  out  of  the  mountains  and  asked  the 
wife  of  a  Methodist  preacher  to  give  them 
“some  book  lamin’ She  consented  and 
opened  her  home  to  them.  That  was  the 
beginning  of  the  present  John  H.  Snead 
Seminary,  at  Boaz,  Alabama,  a  school 
where  1,000  students  are  now  enrolled. 

Located  in  the  little  town  of  Sevierville, 
Tennessee,  is  Murphy  Collegiate  Institute, 
with  a  record  of  transforming  lives  and 
sending  out  well-equipped  boys  and  girls 
to  live  out  useful  careers  and  to  render 
Christian  service.  From  its  halls  have 
gone  those  who  are  teachers,  missionaries, 
and  builders  of  communities.  It  is  said 
that  within  a  radius  of  forty  miles  of 


Sevierville  are  30,000 
young  people  of  school 
age.  Murphy  Collegiate 
Institute  cares  for  500 
more.  Baxter  Seminary 
has  an  enrolment  of  500, 
and  strongly  features  re¬ 
ligious  education  and  the 
training  of  rural  leaders. 

Freedmen’s  progress. — 
Teaching  a  class  of  freed- 
men  in  the  same  room  in 
which  he  was  sold  as  a 
slave  before  the  Civil  War 
was  the  strange  experi¬ 
ence  of  a  man  now  a  mem¬ 
ber  of  the  faculty  of  the 
Morristown  Normal  and  Industrial  Col¬ 
lege,  Morristown,  Tennessee.  In  that  same 
room,  his  grandfather,  mother,  and  him¬ 
self  were  baptized.  Today  the  school  has 
400  students,  and  has  won  the  respect  and 
friendship  of  both  races.  At  Meridian, 
Mississippi,  will  be  found  Haven  Institute, 
another  splendid  Negro  work. 

Walden  College,  located  at  Nashville, 
Tennessee,  began  its  life  in  a  church  base¬ 
ment,  and  spent  its  childhood  in  a  gun 
factory,  erected  for  that  purpose  by  the 
Confederate  government  but  never  used. 
For  more  than  half  a  century  it  has  been 
serving  to  advance  Negro  education  in  the 
south.  Several  other  schools  under  the 
administration  of  the  Negro  Board  of  Edu¬ 
cation  are  doing  splendid  work  in  prepar¬ 
ing  of  the  Negro  race  for  better  things. 

Meharry  Medical  College. — To  be  known 
as  “the  light-house  of  a  race”  would  seem 
to  be  as  high  a  goal  as  any  institution 
could  wish  to  attain.  Yet  such  is  Meharry 
Medical  College,  Nashville,  Tennessee, 
from  whose  portals  have  gone  from  one- 
third  to  one-half  the  trained  physicians, 
surgeons  and  dentists  of  the  Negro  race 
in  America.  Hundreds  of  them  there  are, 
scattered  throughout  the  densely  popula¬ 
ted  Negro  areas  of  the  south,  in  the  old 
and  newr  Negro  colonies  of  the  northern 
industrial  cities,  in  fact  wherever  their 
people  are  congregated  in  numbers,  eighty- 
seven  of  them  are  in  Chicago  alone.  Highlv 
trained  in  science,  their  professions-. 


356 


WORLD  SERVICE 


Training  school  for  rural  pastors,  Athens,  Tennessee 


education  built  upon  the 
Christian  foundation  of 
service,  these  graduates, 
now  approaching  3,000  in 
number,  are  doing  more 
than  healing  bodies  and 
prolonging  life.  Their 
profession  brings  them 
into  close  contact  with 
folk  of  all  types  and 
conditions,  and  through 
such  avenues  of  helpful 
service  they  instil  new 
ideals  and  aspirations  into 
the  hearts  of  their  people. 

Philanthropic  service. — Charitable  work 
is  done  by  the  three  hospitals  at  Louisville, 
Pikeville,  and  Nashville.  The  Deaconess 
Board  serves  in  various  ways.  The  Wom¬ 
an’s  Home  Missionary  Society  directs  its 
endeavors  to  the  maintenance  of  acad¬ 
emies,  industrial  homes  for  mountain 
girls  and  for  educational  and  relief  work 
among  Negroes. 

Some  Challenging  Needs 

Here  are  typical  individual  and  general 
reeds  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  work  in 
the  East  South  Central  states: 

Complete  a  church  building  In  an  industrial  com¬ 
munity  of  12,000  people.  Building  is  partly  erected 
but  not  inclosed.  Pastor  and  two  members  have 
been  laying  brick.  Sunday  school  meets  in  a  moving 
picture  hall.  Great  expansion  will  come  with  new 
building. 

Minister  to  14,000  men  in  263  mining  villages  of 
Tennessee.  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  has  effective 
work  in  only  one. 

Complete  our  only  adequate  church  plant  among 
40,000  Negroes  in  one  city. 

Provide  a  woman  worker  in  a  city  manufacturing 
community  where  vice  and  corruption  prevail  and 
where  ours  is  the  sole  religious  and  social  center. 

Provide  salary  for  missionary  and  assist  in  con¬ 
struction  of  chapels  among  Negro  miners  in  spir¬ 
itually  destitute  coal  camps. 

Build  a  parsonage  in  mountain  center  where  pas¬ 
tor’s  home  has  been  turned  over  to  house  school 
teachers. 

Help  to  erect  a  church  for  a  community  of  rail¬ 
road  shopmen.  A  site  has  been  secured  but  building 
is  halted  awaiting  aid. 


Help  a  village  congregation,  now  worshipping  in 
an  old  storehouse,  to  erect  a  house  of  worship. 

Assist  in  paying  for  new  building  for  a  highland 
school. 

Save  from  bankruptcy  a  church  building  enter¬ 
prise  brought  to  a  crisis  by  business  and  industrial 
depression. 

Help  to  support  woman  worker  in  textile  and  iron 
mill  town  where  workers  are  largely  composed  of 
former  mountaineers. 

Remodel  building  for  community  work  in  parish 
of  8,000  people. 

Large  amounts  to  make  possible  a  building  pro¬ 
gram  to  replace  the  disreputable  shanties  serving  as 
churches  throughout  the  poverty-stricken  Negro  sec¬ 
tions  of  the  East  South  Central  states  and  among 
the  destitute  mountain  people. 

Special  Needs 

Such  examples  give  a  hint  as  to  the 
needs  of  buildings  and  equipment  for 
church  work.  There  is  just  as  crying  a 
need  for  equipment,  support  and  expan¬ 
sion  of  the  training  schools  so  that  ade¬ 
quate  leadership  may  be  provided.  These 
schools  are  striving  desperately  to  main¬ 
tain  high  standards  of  scholarship.  Trained 
leadership  is  absolutely  essential  to  com¬ 
munity  progress.  Highlanders,  who  know 
the  psychology  and  needs  of  their  people, 
must  be  trained  and  sent  back  as  ministers. 
Southern  Negroes  must  likewise  be 
equipped  to  serve.  No  greater  statesman¬ 
ship  could  be  shown  by  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church  than  to  meet  these  lead¬ 
ership  training  needs. 


WEST  SOUTH  CENTRAL  STATES 


iiiiiiiiimiiiiimmmiimmiiiiii 


ARKANSAS 

LOUISIANA 

OKLAHOMA 


TEXAS 


TULSA,  OKLAHOMA 


There  is  always  a  new  horizon  for 
forward-looking  folk 


WEST  SOUTH  CENTRAL  STATES 


A  Cosmopolitan  Empire 

Contrast  and  color,  high  lights  and 
shadows  enter  into  the  picture  of  the 
West  South  Central  states.  Here  in  a 
vast  empire,  where  distances  seem  to 
fade  away,  will  be  found  the  Old  South 
meeting  the  New  West,  and  the  New 
South  crossing  paths  with  the  Old  West. 

The  cowboy  of  the  plains  and  the  busi¬ 
ness  man  of  the  city,  the  old-time  south¬ 
ern  gentleman  and  the  up-to-the-minute 
efficiency  expert,  the  derrick  worker  of  the 
oil  fields  and  the  farmer  of  the  rich  grain 
belt,  the  Mexican  section  hand  and  the 
Negro  cotton  picker,  the  coal  miner  and 
the  mountaineer  and  the  minister — all 
these  are  thrown  together  in  the 
crucible  of  the  development  of 
this  region. 

State  by  state. — Arkansas  and 
Louisiana  form  the  western 
outpost  of  the  old  south,  whilQ 


Texas  and  Oklahoma  are  in  the  proc¬ 
ess  of  change  from  the  old  west  of  the 
frontier  to  the  new  south  of  industry  and 
stabilized  agriculture.  Arkansas,  once 
derided  in  jest  and  story,  is  fast  winning 
a  deserved  place  in  the  sun  because  of  its 
vast  potential  resources  and  its  rapid 
development.  It  has  extensive  agricul¬ 
tural  interests  of  cotton,  grain  and  fruit, 
vast  lumber  and  timber  products,  consid¬ 
erable  coal,  lead  and  manganese  mining, 
important  phosphate  deposits,  and  a  grow¬ 
ing  textile  industry.  There  is  a  continu¬ 
ous  influx  of  northern  people,  who  engage 
in  both  agriculture  and  industry.  Little 
Rock  is  fast  becoming  a  typical  northern 
city.  Back  in  the  hills  are  to  be 
found  many  primitive  mountain 
people,  while  the  Negroes  num¬ 
ber  472,220  out  of  a  population 
of  1,752,204. 

Oklahoma,  famous  as  the  state 


359 


360 


WORLD  SERVICE 


which  was  made  in  a  day,  more  than  a 
quarter  of  a  century  ago,  by  the  race  of 
settlers  who  had  lined  up  at  the  border  and 
awaited  the  signal  to  go,  has  some  of  the 
element  of  the  pioneer  days  left,  such  as 
ranches,  cowboys,  with  their  sombreros 
and  “chaps,”  and  blanketed  Indians,  but  in 
most  ways  its  development  has  brought 
it  everything  which  appertains  to  modern 
life.  It  has  fertile  soil  a:  d  a  fine  farm 
development.  Its  industrial  life  centers 
around  oil  production  and  refining;  it 
ranks  at  the  front  by  producing  more 
than  100,000,000  barrels  yearly. 

Louisiana  is  still  an  old  southern  state, 
with  the  picturesque  elements  of  its 
French  population,  its  cotton  plantations 
and  its  river  traffic.  Its  industrial  life  cen¬ 
ters  around  its  heavy  oil  production,  its 
exports  and  fisheries,  although  agriculture 
is  its  primary  occupation. 

Texas,  the  Lone  Star  State,  embraces 
nearly  eight  per  cent  of  the  entire  area 
of  the  United  States.  Roughly,  its  dimen¬ 
sions  are  800  miles  long  and  800  miles 
wide.  It  is  the  only  state  in  the  union  in 
which  the  crops,  by  the  census  reports, 
exceeded  one  billion  dollars  in  value.  It 
is  first  in  cotton  production.  It  has  the 
largest  railway  mileage  of  any  state.  It 
has  a  heavy  oil  development  and  some 
large  industries.  There  is  extensive  lum¬ 
bering  and  some  coal  mining.  The  west¬ 
ern  portion  is  largely  given  over  to  stock 
raising. 

Facts  of  the  whole  group. — The  total 
population  of  the  West  South  Central 
states  is  10,242,224,  of  whom  2,063,579 
are  Negro  and  459,333  are  foreign-born. 
That  it  is  an  essentially  rural  area,  second 
only  to  the  East  South  Central  States  in 
percentage  of  rural  population,  is  indi¬ 
cated  by  the  census  figures  for  1920,  show¬ 
ing  71  per  cent  rural  and  29  per  cent 
urban.  In  thirty  years  the  shift  has  been 
from  84.9  per  cent  rural  and  15.1  per  cent 
urban.  The  rural  population  is  7, 271, '395, 
while  the  urban  population  is  2,970,829. 

The  number  of  illiterates  reaches 
773,637,  or  10  per  cent.  The  illiteracy 


among  foreign-born  whites  is  29.9  per 
cent,  as  compared  with  12.8  per  cent  in 
the  South  Atlantic  states,  and  13.1  per 
cent  for  all  the  United  States.  This  is 
due  largely  to  the  Mexican  immigration. 
The  illiteracy  among  the  Negroes  is  25.3 
per  cent  and  among  native  whites  4.1  per 
cent.  Louisiana  registers  the  highest  illit¬ 
eracy  in  the  United  States,  21.9  per  cent, 
of  which  10.5  per  cent  is  among  the  native 
whites,  21.9  per  cent  among  the  foreign- 
born  and  38.5  per  cent  among  the  Negroes. 
The  significant  fact,  however,  is  the  reduc¬ 
tion  of  this  total  percentage  in  a  single 
decade  from  29  per  cent  to  21.9  per  cent. 
Oklahoma  has  the  least  illiteracy/  only  3.8 
per  cent.  Its  Negro  and  foreign-born  pop¬ 
ulation  is  very  small,  compared  to  the 
other  West  South  Central  states. 

The  section  registered  the  largest  pro¬ 
portionate  increase  of  foreign-born  in  the 
decade,  31.7  per  cent.  By  the  1920  census, 
the  foreign-born  white  population  con¬ 
sisted  of  47,217  Germans,  14,652  Rus¬ 
sians,  27,724  Italians,  15,488  Czecho-Slo- 
vaks,  and  259,007  Mexicans. 

Concerning  the  church. — The  measure  of 
Methodist  Episcopal  work  throughout  the 
West  South  Central  states  must  be  more 
in  terms  of  goals  and  service  than  in  sta¬ 
tistical  record,  if  it  is  to  be  correctly  made. 
While  its  strength  is  not  great,  a  spirit 
of  achievement  has  permeated  the  church 
in  this  region,  with  the  result  that  rapid 
progress  is  being  made.  Much  of  it  lies 
within  the  Wichita  Area,  which  led  all  the 
areas  in  Methodism  in  1922  in  net  increase 
in  membership.  These  states  as  a  whole 
are  still  largely  home  missionary  territory. 
The  Methodist  Episcopal  work  is  almost 
evenly  distributed  between  the  whites  and 
the  Negroes.  The  white  work  is  largely 
centered  in  Oklahoma,  which  is  more  of 
a  western  state  than  a  southern,  and  in 
the  cities  of  Texas.  The  Negro  work  is 
scattered  through  all  the  states,  but  is 
largely  developed  in  Louisiana.  The  Meth¬ 
odist  Episcopal  Church,  South,  is  very 
strong  throughout  these  states,  but  com¬ 
petition  has  been  reduced  to  a  minimum, 


WEST  SOUTH  CENTRAL 


361 


Oil  wells  aflame,  Oklahoma 


and  fraternal  relations 
are  growing. 

The  Methodist  Episco¬ 
pal  Church  has  122,263 
members  here,  of  whom 
58,482  are  white  English- 
speaking,  and  57,728  Ne¬ 
gro,  4,212  German  and 
1,574  Scandinavian;  the 
Sunday-school  enrolment 
is  117,148,  of  which  72,408  are  white  Eng¬ 
lish-speaking,  37,616  Negro,  5,688  German 
and  1,229  Scandinavian;  1,227  churches,  of 
which  435  are  white  English-speaking,  724 
Negro,  53  German  and  12  Scandinavian. 
The  net  value  of  churches  and  parsonages 
is  $6,485,206,  while  the  total  paid  for  local 
expenses  was  $1,825,371.  Benevolences 
were  $456,280,  and  the  total  for  all  pur¬ 
poses,  $2,281,651,  or  $18.66  per  capita. 

Problems  of  the  Field 

The  rural  situation.— No  single  designa¬ 
tion  can  cover  the  rural  situation  of  the 
West  South  Central  states,  so  varied  are 
the  conditions  and  occupations.  Agricul¬ 
ture  has  a  wide  meaning  and  can  be  spe¬ 
cifically  applied  only  in  a  geographical 
sense.  In  the  cotton  belt  where  thousands 
of  Negroes  are  employed,  the  problem,  as 
universally  elsewhere  throughout  the 
South,  is  one  of  overcoming  poverty,  igno¬ 
rance,  superstition  and  discouragement. 
Among  the  white  people,  it  is  establish¬ 
ing  a  modern  church  program,  promoting 
a  better  racial  feeling,  and  setting  higher 
educational  standards. 

In  the  timber  regions  will  be  found  the 
usual  condition  of  spiritual  deprivation 
among  the  lumberjacks.  Many  thousands 
of  men,  away  from  families  or  without 
family  ties,  are  here  employed,  under  con¬ 
ditions  that  tend  to  destroy  both  soul  and 
body.  The  attention  of  the  church  has 
been  directed  of  late  years  to  the  necessity 
for  religious  work  in  the  great  forest 
regions  of  the  north  and  northwest.  The 
south  should  not  be  forgotten. 

The  vast  farming  sections  of  the  west¬ 
ern  portion  of  the  division  range  all  the 
24 


way  from  thickly  settled,  grain-raising 
regions,  with  modern  homes  and  splendid 
equipment,  to  the  old-time  cattle  ranches. 
The  problems  of  the  former  are  the  same 
as  have  been  emphasized  before :  the  adap¬ 
tation  of  the  open  country  and  village 
church  to  the  changing  communities,  and 
the  inauguration  of  a  seven-day  social  and 
religious  ministry  to  reach  the  entire 
neighborhood ;  while  the  problem  of  the 
latter  is  that  of  the  frontier,  where  travel 
is  often  over  dim  trails  through  cattle 
pastures,  between  ranch  houses  often 
twenty  miles  apart,  an  isolation  and  a  lone¬ 
liness  which  makes  the  missionary  pastor 
a  welcome  visitor.  He  is  the  circuit-rider 
of  the  new  day,  travelling  by  automobile 
instead  of  in  the  saddle  and  rendering- 
just  as  vital  an  influence  for  the  Kingdom 
as  did  his  forebears  in  the  long  ago. 

The  oil  fields. — The  famous  “gold 
rushes”  of  by-gone  days  to  California,  to 
Cripple  Creek,  Colorado,  and  to  Death  Val¬ 
ley,  produced  some  of  the  great  home  mis¬ 
sionary  enterprises  of  the  early  day. 
Somewhat  similar,  with  part  of  the  “scenic 
effects”  of  six-shooters,  open  gambling 
and  prostitution,  and  frequent  killings 
gone,  have  been  the  oil  rushes  to  Okla¬ 
homa  and  Texas,  where  “flowing  gold”  has 
been  discovered  in  unparalleled  quantities. 

The  discovery  of  an  oil  pool  means  a 
population  influx  over  night,  with  new 
towns  laid  out,  drilling  outfits  imported, 
and  a  tremendous  industry  launched  in  a 
twinkling.  With  the  drillers  and  promot¬ 
ers  come  the  oil  camp-followers  of  every 
description.  “Tent  cities”  often  are  the 
result,  and  lax  moral  conditions  and  reli¬ 
gious  indifference  create  a  tremendous 


362 


WORLD  SERVICE 


Negroes  at  Tulsa  were  forced  to  use  this  tent  as  a  temporary  church 


missionary  problem.  This  situation,  now 
largely  passed  in  Oklahoma  and  Texas 
because  the  oil  industry  is  now  in  the  stage 
of  extension  of  old  fields  rather  than  the 
discovery  of  new  ones,  has  been  followed 
by  a  well-defined,  stabilized  industry, 
engaging  the  efforts  of  large  numbers  of 
people.  They  form  a  heterogeneous  group. 
A  splendid  opportunity  awaits  the  church 
to  develop  a  community  church  work  in  the 
oil  centers. 

Foreign-speaking  residents. — The  scat¬ 
tered  colonies  of  the  Germans,  Russians 
and  Czecho-Slovaks  throughout  the  rural 
regions  of  the  West  South  Central  states 
principally  in  Oklahoma  and  Texas,  the 
Italians  in  the  industrial  centers  and  the 
French  in  the  old  south  present  a  definite 
missionary  problem.  Large  contingents  of 
Germans  emigrated  to  Texas  in  1848,  and 
whole  counties  were  given  over  to  them 
by  the  government.  They  transformed 
the  wilderness  into  a  rich  agricultural  sec¬ 
tion,  throughout  large  portions  of  which 
the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  is  giving 
the  only  religious  ministry  to  the  people. 

Little  is  known  in  the  church  at  large 
of  the  religious  situation  among  the 
French  settlements  of  Louisiana.  They 
are  not  catalogued  among  the  foreign 
bom,  as  they  are  descendants  of  old  French 
settlers.  But  like  the  Canadian  French, 
they  are  very  tenacious  of  their  language 
and  customs,  and  in  actuality  remain  more 


of  a  foreign  problem  than 
many  of  the  newer  colo¬ 
nies  of  foreign-born.  An 
illuminating  picture  of 
them  is  given  in  a  chroni¬ 
cle  of  missionary  work  in 
Basile,  Louisiana. 

A  French  romance. — “In 
1911  the  first  sermon  was 
preached  in  the  saw-mill. 
So  faithfully  did  the  first 
pastor  live  and  preach  the 
gospel  and  with  such  tell¬ 
ing  effect  that  the  wrath 
of  the  roughs  of  the  com¬ 
munity  was  stirred  and 
they  upon  one  occasion 
shot  at  him  while  he  was 
preaching.  The  church  was  built  in  1912. 

“In  Basile  we  are  in  the  heart  of  the 
Evangeline  country.  In  the  Evangeline 
Parish  there  are  28,000  people,  95  per  cent 
ot  whom  are  of  French  descent;  85  per 
cent  of  those  over  21  years  of  age  cannot 
read  or  write;  50  per  cent  of  those  of 
sc  100I  &ge  cannot  do  so,  while  55  per  cent 

of  those  of  school  age  do  not  attend 
school. 

“The  descendants  of  the  first  Acadians 
are  nominally  Roman  Catholic.  The  great 
majority,  however,  are  so  little  in  sym¬ 
pathy  with  their  church  and  so  loosely  tied 
to  it  m  practice  as  to  be  practically  with¬ 
out  church  affiliation.  Of  the  28,000  people 
90  per  cent  are  nominally  Catholic,  yet 
there  are  only  four  Roman  Catholic 
churches  in  the  parish  which  is  forty 
miles  long  and  thirty  miles  wide. 

The  church  secured,  the  problem  of  the 
school  remained.  An  endeavor  was  made 
to  secure  a  high  school,  but  it  was  met 
by  open  and  determined  opposition  of  the 
Catholic  priest.  The  school  did  not  mate¬ 
rialize.  Later  twelve  acres  of  land  were 
purchased  and  a  church  school  was 
planned.  When  the  Catholic  priest  saw 
that  a  church  school  was  likely  to  come 
to  his  community,  he  and  neighboring 
pnests  at  once  endeavored  to  hinder  the 
Pi  eject.  Many  of  the  French,  however, 
stood  loyally  by  when  they  believed  it 
would  bring  new  opportunity  to  their 


WEST  SOUTH  CENTRAL 


363 


These  students  from  the  Agricultural  and  Mechanical  College, 
Stillwater,  Oklahoma,  attend  the  Methodist  Sunday  school 


children.  A  building  was 
erected  and  in  September, 

1922,  the  first  Methodist 
school  for  the  French  in 
America  became  a  fact. 

The  Woman’s  Home  Mis¬ 
sionary  Society  has  un¬ 
dertaken  the  part  of  the 
project  which  will  develop 
into  an  industrial  home 
for  French-American 
girls.” 

The  Methodist  Episcopal  work  among 
them  is  now  carried  on  at  three  churches 
and  two  school  houses  as  well  as  in  con¬ 
nection  with  the  college. 

Among  the  Mexicans. — One  of  the  tre¬ 
mendous  migrations  to  America  to  which 
comparatively  little  attention  has  been 
paid  in  the  past  ten  years  has  been  that 
of  the  Mexicans  across  the  southern  bor¬ 
der.  The  church  and  the  nation  think  of 
the  foreign-speaking  problem  in  terms  of 
southern  Europeans  principally,  yet  this 
influx  of  more  than  a  million  aliens  creates 
a  Spanish-speaking  problem  which  places  a 
monumental  missionary  burden  on  the 
church.  Not  only  is  it  a  missionary  prob¬ 
lem  in  terms  of  humanity,  but  also  one 
in  terms  of  international  relations.  The 
prejudice  and  hatred  aroused  by  selfish 
jingoism  make  it  especially  urgent  that 
the  church,  by  wise  home  and  foreign  mis¬ 
sions,  should  demonstrate  that  neighborli¬ 
ness  is  possible  among  the  nations. 

The  movement  of  the  Mexicans  into 
America  has  been  largely  industrial.  Rail¬ 
roads  particularly  have  brought  them  in 
by  the  thousands  to  work  in  construction 
camps  and  on  right-of-ways.  Hundreds 


A  Centenary  task  begun  but  not  finished — An 
uncompleted  Negro  church 


of  towns  in  Oklahoma  and  Texas,  increas¬ 
ing  as  the  southern  border  is  approached, 
have  their  Mexican  colonies,  much  the 
same  as  industrial  towns  and  cities  of  the 
east  have  their  foreign-speaking  sections. 
In  El  Paso,  out  of  a  population  of  78,000 
there  are  45,000  Mexicans.  San  Antonio 
has  many  thousands,  also.  They  engage 
in  the  commonest  of  labor.  Illiteracy, 
ignorance,  poverty,  superstition,  and  low- 
moral  standards  are  common  among  them. 
They  fall  an  easy  prey  to  disease.  They 
have  been  exploited  in  many  ways,  and 
only  rarely  has  any  effort,  aside  from  the 
missionary  activity  of  the  church,  been 
made  to  understand  or  reach  them.  They 
have  lived  and  been  treated  as  a  people 
inferior  and  apart — the  “greasers.”  Yet 
they  are  essentially  spiritual  by  nature, 
and  responsive  to  an  appeal  by  those  in 
whom  they  have  confidence.  The  success 
of  the  Methodist  work  in  Mexico  is  a  wit¬ 
ness  to  that  fact,  as  well  as  in  specific 
communities  in  the  United  States, 
although  only  a  few  of  these  are  in  this 
division.  With  their  quarter  million  pop¬ 
ulation  in  the  West  South  Central  states, 
they  form  a  community  which  the  church 
must  heed. 

The  cities. — An  important  feature  of 
the  West  South  Central  states  is  its  rap¬ 
idly  growing  cities,  especially  in  Oklahoma 
and  Texas.  The  expansion  of  the  oil  indus¬ 
try  and  other  elements  of  commerce  have 
caused  a  tremendous  influx  of  northern 
capital  and  personnel.  New  Orleans,  one 
of  the  oldest  cities  of  the  nation,  is  the 
metropolis  of  the  area,  with  387,219  peo¬ 
ple,  its  growth  being  but  14.2  per  cent  dur- 


364 


WORLD  SERVICE 


Church  and  community  hall  at  Roosevelt, 
Oklahoma 


ing  the  decade.  It  is  also  the  most  cosmo¬ 
politan  city  of  the  southland,  containing 
about  110,000  Negroes,  an  increase  of  25 
per  cent  in  ten  years,  most  of  them  com¬ 
ing  from  the  rural  sections.  There  are 
also  about  40,000  people  of  foreign  birth, 
chiefly  Italian,  German,  French,  Spanish 
and  Jewish,  drawn  mostly  to  it  as  a  port. 

The  four  largest  cities  of  Texas,  San 
Antonio  with  161,379  people,  Dallas  with 
158,976,  Houston  with  138,276,  and  Fort 
Worth  with  106,482,  increased  during  the 
decade  67,  72.6,  75.5,  and  45.2  per  cent 
respectively.  Oklahoma  City,  with  91,295 
people,  is  the  largest  in  Oklahoma.  Tulsa, 
in  the  heart  of  the  oil  field,  advanced  from 
18,182  in  1910  to  72,075  in  1920,  a  gain 
of  296.4  per  cent,  making  it  one  of  the 
fastest  growing  cities  in  America.  To  keep 
pace  with  the  new  neighborhoods  as  they 
develop  and  to  adapt  the  established 
churches’  programs  to  the  changing  city 
needs  is  the  task  of  the  church. 

Methodist  Episcopal  Achievements 

The  church  in  the  field. — This  story  of 
a  reborn  village  church  and  community 
is  the  story  of  twentieth  century  home 
missions  as  it  is  at  work  in  numerous 
sections  of  the  middle  west,  and  as  it  will 
be  in  greater  measure  in  the  future,  if  the 
progress  demanded  of  the  church  is  main¬ 
tained. 

A  few  years  ago,  Roosevelt,  Oklahoma, 
was  a  typical  rural  village  of  600  people, 
with  four  feeble  churches  struggling  in 
wasteful  competition.  Assigned  to  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  church  was  a  for¬ 
merly  successful  business  man  who  had 
given  up  his  work  to  become  a  country 


preacher.  With  a  salary  of  $400  a  year 
and  seven  children  in  his  family,  there  was 
but  one  thing  to  do.  He  rented  a  farm  and 
raised  cotton  to  make  ends  meet,  preach¬ 
ing  on  Sundays  and  doing  his  parish  call¬ 
ing  in  between  times.  Hard  work  and  dis¬ 
couragement  did  not  daunt  him,  however, 
and  he  went  straight  ahead  toward  the 
goal  which  he  had  set  up,  the  establish¬ 
ment  of  a  community  center. 

A  pastor  at  work.— -He  organized  the 
boys  and  girls  of  the  town,  irrespective 
of  denomination,  into  troups  of  Boy 
Scouts  and  Camp  Fire  Girls.  For  the 
boys  he  built  an  attractive  club  house 
across  from  the  parsonage.  He  laid  the 
first  concrete  sidewalk,  a  stretch  of  360 
feet  from  the  main  street  to  the  church. 
He  worked  successfully  to  have  a  course  in 
domestic  science  added  to  the  curriculum 
of  grade  and  high  schools.  He  organized 
a  cemetery  improvement  association  which 
cleared  the  cemetery  of  weeds  and  built 
a  fence  around  it  to  keep  out  the  live  stock. 
And  he  brought  about  the  construction  of 
three  and  a  half  miles  of  graded  road  from 
Roosevelt  to  the  village  of  Cold  Springs 
in  the  Wichita  Mountains.  Going  into 
Cold  Springs  which  was  without  religious 
advantages,  he  held  a  revival  that  so 
stirred  up  things  that  a  bootlegging  gang 
was  routed  whose  leader  became  one  of 
the  promoters  of  the  $2,500  chapel  which 
was  later  built. 

The  result  is  that  a  $32,000  community 
house  was  erected,  and  it  and  the  church 
have  become  the  center  of  the  life  of  the 
people.  Lectures,  school  exercises,  wom¬ 
en’s  meetings,  farmers’  institutes,  and 
other  educational  and  social  activities  are 
held  there.  The  church  has  become  an 
essential  part  of  the  community  and  the 
spiritual  and  moral  value  of  the  service 
rendered  is  apparent  in  many  ways. 

Other  active  churches. — A  night  school 
for  the  benefit  of  those  who  must  work 
to  support  dependents  is  one  of  the  fea¬ 
tures  of  the  community  service  of  the 
Medford,  Oklahoma,  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church.  There  is  also  a  junior  congrega¬ 
tion,  composed  of  boys  and  girls  eight  to 
fifteen  years  of  age,  pledged  to  attend  wor- 


WEST  SOUTH  CENTRAL 


365 


ship.  The  church  already  has  two  of  its 
young  women  members  as  missionaries 
in  India  and  has  twelve  life  service  recruits 
now  in  preparation  in  high  school  and 
college.  The  building  burned  early  in  1922, 
but  has  been  replaced  by  a  larger  structure 
with  good  Sunday-school  equipment  and 
quarters  for  community  work,  in  co-oper¬ 
ation  with  the  Board  of  Home  Missions  and 
Church  Extension. 

Jasper,  Arkansas,  is  twenty-two  miles 
inland  from  the  railroad.  The  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church  has  the  leadership  of  the 
whole  county.  Avery’s  Chapel,  in  Hem- 
stead  County,  Arkansas,  is  forty  miles 
from  the  nearest  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church,  and  is  supplied  by  the  pastor  at 
Amity,  he  driving  that  distance  once  per 
month  and  being  compelled  to  cross  two 
treacherous  rivers  in  the  journey.  St. 
Joe,  Everton  Circuit,  Arkansas,  is  a  town 
of  500  people  with  no  church.  This  is  a 
type  of  critical  situation  where  we  have 
the  sole  responsibility  and  which  has 
always  been  accepted  as  a  challenge  to 
missionary  endeavor.  Everton  Circuit, 
Arkansas,  covers  an  area  of  200  square 
miles  and  is  our  sole  responsibility.  Center 
Valley,  in  the  same  district,  covering  a 
similar  area,  has  produced  twenty  minis¬ 
ters  in  the  past  fifty  years.  It  still  needs 
aid  like  the  others  to  keep  trained  men  in 
the  field  until  a  strong  modern  program 
can  be  developed. 

In  the  cities. — The  cities  of  the  south 
have  been  largely  pre-empted  by  the  south¬ 
ern  branches  of  the  various  denominations. 


Campfire  girls  from  the  Methodist  Sunday 
school  at  Crescent,  Oklahoma 


Methodist  tabernacle  in  the  heart  of 
Fort  Worth,  Texas 

Yet  in  nearly  all  of  them  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church  is  represented  by 
churches  which  are  serving  communities 
which  need  their  ministry.  The  steady 
influx  of  people  from  the  north  enhances 
the  opportunity  presented. 

A  survey  in  1922  revealed  a  rapidly 
growing  unchurched  section  of  Oklahoma 
City,  where  there  was  a  large  number  of 
Methodist  families.  The  need  of  a  new 
church  was  recognized,  but  it  seemed 
unwise  to  build  an  insignificant  frame 
structure  out  of  keeping  in  appearance 
with  the  homes  and  public  buildings  of  the 
section.  Through  the  aid  of  the  City 
Union  and  the  Board  of  Home  Missions 
and  Church  Extension  the  first  unit  of  a 
good  community  church  plant  was  erected. 

In  San  Antonio,  the  largest  boys’  pro¬ 
gram  of  any  church  in  the  city  is  main¬ 
tained  by  the  new  Trinity  Methodist  Epis¬ 
copal  Church  in  an  impressive  new  build¬ 
ing,  modern  in  every  respect  and  complete 
for  meeting  community  needs  in  the  heart 
of  the  residential  section.  It  maintains 
weekly  movies,  a  kindergarten  and  gymna¬ 
sium  classes. 

Haven  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  at 
Hot  Springs,  Arkansas,  is  another  modern 
church  adapted  to  its  community.  First 
Church,  located  in  the  heart  of  the  city, 
has  an  ambitious  program  of  community 
service. 

West  Tulsa,  Oklahoma,  is  a  purely  indus¬ 
trial  community  of  5,000  people  and  forms 
the  parish  of  our  church.  The  congrega¬ 
tion  was  enabled  to  move  from  an  made- 


366 


WORLD  SERVICE 


Mallalieu  Church,  Fort  Smith,  Arkansas — 
One  of  our  newer  Negro  churches 


quate  structure  to  their  new  plant  and 
Sunday-school  classes  that  met  on  a 
vacant  lot  are  now  sheltered.  An  oil  refin¬ 
ery  donated  native  stone  which  was  hauled 
free  by  the  street  car  company.  The  refin¬ 
ery  also  gave  $4,000  for  the  new  church, 
recognizing  its  value  to  the  community. 
The  church  and  community  house  are 
planned  to  meet  every  need  of  the  neigh¬ 
borhood.  Room  is  provided  for  the  audi¬ 
torium  and  Sunday  school,  for  a  social  hall, 
and  for  an  athletic  and  recreational  pro¬ 
gram. 

Among  the  Negroes. — The  heart  of  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church  has  ever  been 
quickened  to  their  appeal,  and  their 
steady  progress  toward  better  things 
materially,  socially  and  spiritually,  can  in 
substantial  part  be  attributed  to  the  mis¬ 
sionary  work  of  our  great  church. 

Bishop  Robert  E.  Jones  has  summed  it 
up  in  this  wise: 

“The  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  is  in 
the  forefront  of  this  process  of  American¬ 
ization  among  ten  millions  of  native- 
born  black  Americans.  We  are  building 
churches  and  school  houses,  hospitals,  old 
folks’  homes  and  orphan  asylums.  We  are 
educating  doctors,  lawyers,  teachers  and 
preachers.  We  are  lending  our  support 
to  the  development  of  a  leadership  found 
in  commercial  life,  in  politics,  in  litera¬ 
ture,  in  art,  in  music,  in  agriculture,  in 
amusement,  in  education  and  in  religion. 


“At  the  same  time,  that  assistance  has 
been  meager  when  placed  against  the 
background  of  monumental  need.  In  whole 
districts  of  the  South  are  to  be  found 
Negro  churches  which  are  nothing  more 
than  hovels.  Here  and  there  are  being 
erected  modern  buildings,  however,  and 
equipped  with  a  trained  leadership.  The 
results  are  remarkable  and  demonstrate 
beyond  question  that  the  solution  lies  in 
the  energetic  and  intelligent  promotion  of 
such  a  program.” 

In  New  Orleans. — As  a  “city  of  the 
world,”  where  many  races  and  national¬ 
ities  meet  and  commingle,  it  is  natural 
that  the  Negro,  along  with  other  groups, 
should  have  greater  freedom  and  opportu¬ 
nity  of  self-expression  in  New  Orleans 
than  in  any  other  city  of  the  South.  Here 
there  is  less  “consciousness  of  kind”  and 
hence  less  race  prejudice  and  discrimina¬ 
tion  against  color.  A  home  mission  writer 
has  said: 

“The  Negroes  in  New  Orleans  enjoy  the 
distinction  of  working  in  practically  every 
trade;  they  are  bricklayers,  carpenters, 
painters,  mechanics,  machinists,  and  they 
control  the  stevedore  and  longshore  work. 
Industrially  and  socially,  the  Negro  is 
coming  into  his  own.  The  Negro  owns  and 
controls  three  large  insurance  companies 
in  the  city ;  the  Unity  Life  Insurance  Com¬ 
pany  (Negro)  employs  twenty-five  people, 
does  a  business  of  $500,000  annually,  and 
owns  property  valued  at  $700,000.  The 
‘Crescent  City  Park’  is  a  great  pleasure 
center  owned  and  controlled  by  Negroes; 
its  bouts  and  athletic  sports  draw  many 
thousands  to  the  city.  The  Negro  Pyth- 
ians  own  an  eight-story  building  valued 
at  $300,000,  housing  a  fine  modem  Negro 
theater.  The  Odd  Fellows,  the  Masons 
and  the  Eastern  Stars  care  for  fraternal 
activities  and  the  Wheatley  Club  is  a  pow¬ 
erful  political-social  organization. 

“There  is  a  Negro  Young  Men’s  Chris¬ 
tian  Association  with  Bishop  Robert  E. 
Jones  as  president,  two  Negro  branches 
of  the  Public  Library  and  three  public 
parks  exclusively  for  Negroes.  There  are 
nine  separate  elementary  schools  and  one 
high  school  for  Negro  young  people.  Grad- 


WEST  SOUTH  CENTRAL 


367 


One  of  the  best  equipped  institutional  churches  among  the  Negroes — 
Boynton  Community  House,  Houston,  Texas 


uates  of  the  latter  can 
teach  in  the  state  without 
further  examination. 

Negro  churches. — “The 
Negro  churches  in  New 
Orleans  have  a  total  at¬ 
tendance  of  about  35,000 
on  the  average  Sunday, 
leaving  75,000  not  attend¬ 
ing  regularly.  The  seat¬ 
ing  capacity  of  all  Negro 
churches  is  only  65,000, 
leaving  45,000  unpro¬ 
vided  for. 

“Forty  -  five  thousand 
Negroes  are  listed  as 
members  of  Negro  Catho¬ 
lic  churches  in  New  Or¬ 
leans,  due,  doubtless,  to 
the  French  and  Spanish  Catholic  influ¬ 
ences  and  traditions.  The  Roman  Catholic 
Church  has  nine  churches  for  Negroes, 
supplied  by  white  priests.  There  is  one 
Negro  nunnery  with  about  sixty  sisters, 
and  Xavier  University  with  about  600  stu¬ 
dents.  There  are  16  Methodist  Episcopal, 
5  African  Methodist,  2  Colored  Methodist, 

3  Presbyterian,  2  Episcopal,  3  Holiness, 

4  Congregational,  1  Christian  Science  and 
74  Baptist  churches.” 

First  Methodist  church,  New  Orleans, 
has  plans  under  way  for  a  new  build¬ 
ing,  five  stories  high,  partly  devoted 
to  business  offices  and  stores,  and  the  rest 
auditorium,  assembly  rooms,  kindergar¬ 
ten,  day  nursery,  rest  rooms,  club  rooms, 
gymnasium  and  other  recreational  facili¬ 
ties.  It  has  a  membership  of  900  Negroes, 


and  is  known  as  a  “man’s  church”  because 
of  the  large  number  of  men  who  worship 
in  it.  Four  hundred  of  the  900  members 
are  men,  and  two-thirds  of  the  average 
congregation  are  men. 

In  a  heavily  populated  Negro  neighbor¬ 
hood,  the  former  Franklin  Avenue  Meth¬ 
odist  Episcopal  Church  of  the  Southern 
German  conference  sold  its  church,  social 
center  building  and  parsonage  at  a  reduced 
figure  to  the  Negroes.  The  German  con¬ 
gregation  had  been  offered  $20,000  by  a 
motion  picture  concern  but  turned  it  down 
for  a  $12,000  offer  from  the  Negroes, 
underwritten  by  the  local  Negro  City  Soci¬ 
ety  and  the  Board  of  Home  Missions  and 
Church  Extension.  A  pastor  and  two  work¬ 
ers  make  ministry  of  the  church  effective 
every  day  in  the  week.  Welfare  work, 
kindergarten,  day  school, 
night  school,  employment 
bureau,  medical  clinic, 
dental  clinic,  cafeteria 
and  boys’  work  offer  the 
only  church  welfare  min¬ 
istry  for  Negroes  in  this 
parish  of  thirty-six  blocks. 

Home  mission  aid  en¬ 
abled  Grace  Church  to 
purchase  an  old  building 
of  another  denomination 
and  to  carry  on  an  un¬ 
usual  and  helpful  work 


Church  and  people,  Cleveland,  Oklahoma 


368 


WORLD  SERVICE 


among  young  Negroes  in  the  downtown 
section.  Three-fourths  of  its  average  con¬ 
gregations  are  boys  and  young  men  thir¬ 
teen  to  twTenty-four  years  of  age.  Mt.  Zion 
Church,  with  a  fine  new  building,  in  a 
thickly  populated  Negro  section,  is 
crowded  continuously  with  week-day  ac¬ 
tivities.  It  has  a  school,  kindergarten, 
playground  and  cafeteria. 

A  number  of  other  Negro  Methodist 
Episcopal  churches  in  New  Orleans  are 
gradually  adjusting  their  organization  and 
programs  to  meet  the  new  demands  made 
upon  them.  The  one-day-a-week  church 
is  becoming  the  seven-day-a-week  church 
with  its  varied  program  of  worship, 
instruction,  recreation  and  social  welfare. 
Trinity  Church,  for  example,  has  broad¬ 
ened  its  scope  to  include  kindergarten, 
classes  in  teacher  training,  classes  in 
domestic  arts  and  sciences.  Wesley 
Church,  the  oldest  Negro  church  of  the 
Methodist  denomination,  founded  in  1853, 
maintains  a  playground,  a  cafeteria,  a 
social  center,  and  Wesleyan  Hall  for  club 
meetings.  Two  thousand  persons  make 
Wesley  their  church  and  social  and  recre¬ 
ational  home. 

But  among  some  of  the  others  the  need 
is  distressing.  Haven  Chapel,  built  before 
the  Civil  War,  is  held  together  by  log 
chains,  yet  it  serves  as  the  only  church 
in  the  midst  of  5,000  Negroes,  most  of 
whom  are  employed  as  stevedores  and  in 
shipyards.  Scott  Chinn  Church,  crowded 


Oklahoma  City  College 


into  a  bad  location,  in  the  midst  of  14,000 
Negroes,  sorely  needs  a  modern  building. 

Other  Negro  churches. —  At  Lake 

Charles,  Louisiana,  in  the  center  of  a  large 
industrial  and  agricultural  section,  is  lo¬ 
cated  one  of  the  best  Negro  churches  in  the 
South.  The  town  draws  many  hundreds 
of  Negroes  from  surrounding  communities 
because  of  its  excellent  school  facilities. 
The  congregation,  determined  to  keep 
apace,  secured  help  from  the  Board  of 
Home  Missions  and  Church  Extension  and 
built  a  community  church,  equipped  with 
auditorium,  class  rooms,  gymnasium,  social 
hall  and  reading  room.  It  is  the  largest 
church  building  in  the  city  and  has  re¬ 
sulted  in  an  improvement  of  moral  condi¬ 
tions  and  a  greater  tolerance  from  the 
white  people  toward  their 
Negro  brethren. 

Perhaps  the  finest  Ne¬ 
gro  church  building,  in 
the  erection  of  which  the 
Board  of  Home  Missions 
and  Church  Extension  has 
co-operated,  is  St.  Paul’s 
Church  at  San  Antonio, 
Texas.  Fully  equipped 
for  religious,  educational 
and  community  work,  it  is 
the  Christian  center  to 
which  thousands  of  Ne¬ 
groes  come  seven  days  in 
the  week. 


This  is  the  inadequate  plant  in  which  we  are  trying  to  minister  to  the 
spiritual  needs  of  Methodists  in  Louisiana  University 
for  Negroes,  Scotland,  Louisiana 


WEST  SOUTH  CENTRAL 


St.  Paul’s  Church,  San  Antonio,  Texas 


The  Field  of  Education 

Colleges  and  student  work. — Oklahoma 
City  College  is  Methodism’s  major  educa¬ 
tional  institution  for  its  white  constitu¬ 
ency  in  the  West  South  Central  states.  A 
successful  financial  campaign  has  enabled 
it  to  erect  new  buildings  and  establish  a 
substantial  endowment  fund. 

Other  schools  are  Texas  Wesleyan  Col¬ 
lege  at  Austin,  Blinn  Memorial  College  at 
Brenham,  Texas,  and  Port  Arthur  College 
at  Port  Arthur,  Texas. 

Negro  educational  institutions. — Four 
colleges  are  the  contribution  of  the  Meth¬ 
odist  Episcopal  Church  to  the  cause  of 
Negro  education  in  the  West  South  Cen¬ 
tral  states. 

Philander  Smith.— Between  400  and  500 
students  are  enrolled  in  Philander  Smith 
College  at  Little  Rock,  Arkansas.  The 
moral  and  religious  atmosphere  of  the 
institution  is  strong. 

Gilbert  College.— At  New  Orleans,  Gil¬ 
bert  College  has  an  enrolment  of  approx- 
imately  600  and  provides  pre-medical  and 
teachers’  college  courses  as  well  as  the 
usual  academic  work. 

Samuel  Huston  College  is  located  at 
Austin,  Texas. 

Wiley. — At  Marshall,  Texas,  will  be 
found  Wiley  University,  one  of  our  most 
important  institutions  of  Negro  education. 
It  is  said  that  “the  results  of  Wiley’s  fifty 
years  as  a  lighthouse  to  a  whole  race  are 
to  be  found  in  the  professional  and  busi¬ 
ness  channels  of  every  southern  state  and 


of  nearly  every  southern  city  of  impor¬ 
tance.  Wiley’s  graduates  are  among  the 
leaders  of  their  race  not  only  in  Texas 
but  throughout  the  whole  cotton  belt. 
From  Wiley  the  Texas  Conferences  of  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church  secure  the 
majority  of  their  pastors;  from  Wiley  the 
Meharry  Medical  Colleges  get  more  of  their 
students  than  from  any  other  institution 
under  the  Board  of  Education  for  Negroes ; 
from  Wiley  there  go  out  trained  teachers 
of  Negro  youth,  licensed,  without  further 
examination,  to  instruct  in  the  schools  ot 
Texas,  Louisiana,  Arkansas,  Oklahoma, 
and  Arizona.” 

Woman’s  Home  Missions. — Where  the 
need  is  greatest  there  the  work  of  the 
Woman’s  Home  Missionary  Society  will  be 
found  in  its  greatest  abundance.  In  New 
Orleans,  the  Italian  Mission  is  supported 
by  the  Society.  A  kindergarten  and  a  vis¬ 
iting  nurse  are  maintained  on  the  staff. 

At  the  Rose  Gregory  Houchen  Settle¬ 
ment  in  El  Paso,  Texas,  located  in  the 
heart  of  a  Mexican  settlement,  a  great 
response  is  being  won  among  these  people 
from  beyond  the  southern  border  of  our 
country.  Classes  in  kindergarten,  sewing, 
cooking,  millinery,  gymnastics,  camp-fire 
work,  kitchen-garden,  basketry,  and  indus¬ 
trial  arts  are  conducted,  and  there  are 
clubs  for  mothers,  and  for  boys  and  girls. 


STUDENT  WORK  AT  NON-METHODIST 
EDUCATIONAL  INSTITUTIONS 
Oklahoma 

1  Stillwater,  Oklahoma  Agricultural  and 
Mechanical  College. 

2  Norman,  University  of  Oklahoma. 

3  Edmond,  Central  State  Normal  School. 


370 


WORLD  SERVICE 


Peck  School  of  Domestic  Science  and  Art,  con¬ 
ducted  by  the  Woman’s  Home  Mission¬ 
ary  Society,  New  Orleans  College 

Distressing  conditions  of  poverty,  disease, 
and  ignorance  are  combatted  by  the  set¬ 
tlement,  and  headway  is  being  made  for 
better  things  for  the  colony  in  which  the 
settlement  is  located. 

At  Whiteagle,  Oklahoma,  is  located  the 
Ponca  Mission,  carrying  on  a  religious  and 
educational  work  among  the  North  Amer¬ 


ican  Indians,  especially  for  the  children. 
There  are  also  numerous  Negro  schools, 
orphanages,  missions  and  industrial  homes, 
among  them  the  Sager-Brown  Orphanage 
for  Negro  Children  at  Baldwin,  Louisiana, 
with  sixty  children,  and  the  King  Indus¬ 
trial  Home  for  girls,  conducted  in  connec¬ 
tion  with  Wiley  University,  teaching  dress¬ 
making,  domestic  science  and  normal 
courses. 

Bible  distribution.  —  Scriptures  in 
twenty-eight  languages  were  distributed 
throughout  the  region  in  1922  by  the 
Southwestern  Agency  of  the  American 
Bible  Society,  located  at  Dallas,  Texas. 
Practically  100,000  Bibles  and  Bible  por¬ 
tions  are  placed  in  homes  and  in  the  hands 
of  individuals  in  this  section  yearly.  A 
noteworthy  feature  is  the  changing  atti¬ 
tude  toward  the  Bible  by  the  French  and 
Creole  population  centering  in  New' 
Orleans.  A  veteran  colporteur  there 


New  Orleans  College 


Louisiana 

2  New  Orleans, 

(Negro). 

Oklahoma 

3  Oklahoma  City,  Oklahoma  City  College. 


Secondary  Schools. 

T  exas 

6  Port  Arthur,  Port  Arthur  College. 

7  Brenham,  Blinn  Memorial  College. 

8  Austin,  Texas  Wesleyan  College. 


WEST  SOUTH  CENTRAL 


371 


come  and  never  has  found  any  city  more 
open  to  the  Scriptures. 

The  service  of  philanthropy.  —  New 
Orleans  is  the  headquarters  of  two  of  the 
four  hospitals  and  homes  of  the  Metho¬ 
dist  Episcopal  Church  in  the  West  South 
Central  states.  One  is  the  Lafon  Home 
for  the  Aged,  caring  for  fifty  Negro  men 
and  women  past  sixty  years  of  age. 

The  Flint-Goodridge  Hospital  and  Nurse 
Training  School,  also  Negro,  is  one  of  the 
best  hospitals  of  the  city.  It  has  fifty-six 
beds,  and  its  free  clinic  ministered  to  more 
than  6,000  people  last  year.  It  specializes 
in  the  training  of  young  Negro  women  for 
the  nursing  profession.  Its  aim  is  a  new 


hospital  of  375  beds  where  semi-tropical 
diseases  may  be  studied  and  treated  scien- 
tificially,  and  where  training  may  be  given 
a  hundred  nurses  at  a  time. 

The  Missionary  Needs 

There  are  areas  of  wealth  and  of  pov- 
ertv  in  the  West  South  Central  states, 
and  even  in  the  trail  of  wealth 
there  go  those  who  are  in  need  of  the 
ministry  of  the  church.  Whether  one 
thinks  in  terms  of  the  poverty-stricken 
Negroes  of  the  poorer  farming  regions,  the 
scattered  plainsmen,  the  loggers,  the  min¬ 
ers,  the  spiritually  needy  of  city  or  coun¬ 
try,  one  feels  that  the  Methodist  Episcopal 


Epworth  League  Institutes. 

Arkansas 

1  Little  Rock,  Philander  Smith  College, 
Little  Rock  Conference  (Negro). 

Louisiana 

2  Lake  Arthur,  Gulf  Conference. 

Oklahoma 

3  Guthrie,  Oklahoma  Conference. 


Summer  Schools  of  Theology. 

Oklahoma 

8  Oklahoma  City,  Oklahoma  City  College. 

T  g  xas 

9  Marshall,  Wiley  University. 

Missionary  Summer  Conferences. 

Woman's  Home  Missionary  Society 

Oklahoma 

10  Oklahoma  City  (Interdenominational). 


Texas 

4  Marshall,  Wiley  University  (Negro). 

5  La  Porte,  Houston. 

6  Brenham,  Southern  German  Conference. 

Summer  Schools  for  Town  and  Rural  Pastors. 

Texas 

7  Marshall,  Wiley  University. 


Texas 

11  Houston  (Interdenominational). 
Woman’s  Foreign  Missionary  Society 

Oklahoma 

12  Oklahoma  City  (Interdenominational) 

T  c  xas 

13  Dallas  (Interdenominational). 


372 


WORLD  SERVICE 


HOSPITALS  AND  HOMES 

Hospitals. 

Louisiana 

1  New  Orleans,  Flint-Goodridge  Hos¬ 
pital. 

Oklahoma 

2  Pawhuska,  The  Pawhuska  Metho¬ 
dist  Hospital. 

3  Guthrie,  Oklahoma  Methodist  Epis¬ 
copal  Hospital. 

Homes  for  the  Aged. 

Louisiana 

4  New  Orleans,  LaFon  Home  for 
Aged. 


Homes  for  Children. 

Louisiana 

S  Baldwin,  Sager-Brown  Orphanage. 


Church  has  just  begun  its  work.  Some  of 
the  typical  needs  are  as  follows: 

A  community  house  in  a  section  of  17,000  French 
people  without  any  vital  connection  w  th  any  church, 
and  2,000  children  out  of  school. 

A  church  building  and  community  center  in  town 
with  2,800  Negroes  and  no  church  building.  Negroes 
living  in  one  and  two-room  houses,  one-half  of  them 
illiterate,  and  450  out  of  700  children  not  in  school, 
l.arger  influx  expected  because  of  new  industries. 

Church  in  Negro  parish  of  2,000  in  city  of  38,000 
people. 

Building  to  replace  church  destroyed  by  flood, 
many  members’  homes  also  destroyed. 

Ten  churches  in  unchurched  German  communities 
in  one  Methodist  district. 

Remodel  building  into  community  center  in  Negro 
community  of  5,000  people. 

New  church  at  state  university  center,  where  there 
are  750  Methodist  students. 

Removal  of  mortgage  from  church  where  Negro 
farmers  have  put  up  their  homes  as  collateral  against 
foreclosure. 

Aid  needed  for  church  almost  bankrupt  on  account 
of  having  been  caught  in  war-time  conditions  while 
building. 

Completion  of  church  for  Negroes  now  worship¬ 
ping  in  unfinished  basement. 


New  church  to  replace  one  destroyed  by  fire. 

Supplement  salaries  in  badly  stricken  rural  terri¬ 
tory. 

Church  enclosed  but  not  completed.  Negro  con¬ 
gregation  oppressed  by  lumber  company  demanding 
eight  per  cent  interest  quarterly  on  unpaid  bill. 

Aid  to  replacing  tumbled  down  church  building 
and  one-room  shack  used  for  parsonage  after  district 
was  hit  by  flood. 

Church  adjoining  a  state  university  for  Negroes. 

Building  for  new  Methodist  Episcopal  Church 
developed  out  of  a  Union  Sunday  school. 

Rebuild  a  Negro  church  destroyed  during  race  riot. 

Opportunity  calls. — In  many  ways  the 
West  South  Central  states  form  one  of  the 
newer  communities  of  the  nation.  It  is 
true  they  have  long  been  settled  but  they 
have  remained  largely  undeveloped.  A 
new  era  has  begun,  and  scientific  agricul¬ 
ture  and  industry  are  marching  hand  in 
hand  in  the  making  of  a  new  empire. 
The  church  must  go  along  with  that  de¬ 
velopment,  if  it  would  win  the  millions  to 
Christ. 


Students  of  Wiley  College,  Marshall,  Texas 


MOUNTAIN  STATES 


iiiiiiiiimiiiiiiiimiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii 


MONTANA 
IDAHO 
WYOMING 
COLORADO 
NEW  MEXICO 
ARIZONA 
UTAH 
NEVADA 


MODERN  CIRCUIT  RIDER,  NEW  MEXICO 

If  people  only  knew  the  need  of  home  missions,  we 
would  not  have  to  see  these  churches  which  we  try  to 
put  in  the  new  centers  struggle  and  languish  as  they  do. 

“Brother  Van” 


MOUNTAIN  STATES 


The  Frontier 

Out  whe'e  the  West  begins. — In  the  land 
where  towering,  snow-capped  mountains 
stand  guard  over  rolling  prairies;  where 
fertile  valleys  nestle  among  the  hills ; 
where  dug-outs  still  are  dwelling  places, 
and  where  the  gold  prospector  occasionally 
goes  forth  with  his  pack ;  where  wild  game 
range  the  wild,  and  where  deserts  greet 
with  their  mirages;  where  gardens  and 
orchards  and  grain  fields  beckon  and  pic¬ 
turesque  cities  welcome  the  stranger; 
where  gold  mines  and  coal  camps  are  com¬ 
panions  of  refineries  and  steel  mills; 
where  dwell  the  pioneer  settler  and  the 
millionaire — that  is  the  frontier  of  today. 
The  heart  of  it  is  the  Rocky  Mountain 
region. 

Vast  stretches  of  primeval 
prairies  and  forests  greet  the 
nature  lover.  Majestic  moun¬ 
tains,  lakes  and  meadows,  the 
incomparable  Grand  Canyon 


and  Royal  Gorge,  make  the  appeal  of 
beauty.  Rich,  undeveloped  ore  regions, 
unsettled  homestead  lands,  extensive  irri¬ 
gation  projects,  and  other  endless  eco¬ 
nomic  opportunities  are  the  magnet  for 
new  dwellers,  making  it  the  fastest  grow¬ 
ing  division,  with  the  exception  of  the 
Pacific  states,  of  the  nation. 

The  land  and  the  people. — The  seeker 
after  “elbow  room”  need  feel  no  crowding 
here.  In  an  area  whose  geographical 
extent  staggers  the  imagination,  live  only 
3,336,101  people,  so  scattered  as  a  whole 
that  no  country  so  sparsely  settled  is  to 
be  found  in  either  Europe  or  South  Amer¬ 
ica,  save  Bolivia  and  the  Guianas.  The 
average  is  only  3.9  persons  per  square 
mile,  while  the  average  for  the 
nation  at  large  is  35.5  persons. 

The  Mountain  states  form 
one  of  the  major  rural  sections 
of  the  country,  the  rural  pop¬ 
ulation  totalling  2,121,121 


375 


376 


WORLD  SERVICE 


people,  or  63.6  per  cent  of  the  whole,  while 
the  urban  population  is  1,214,980,  or  36.4 
per  cent.  The  variation  in  percentages  in 
thirty  years  has  been  slight,  in  1890  the 
rural  being  70.7  and  the  urban  29.3.  The 
foreign-born  total  453,225  and  the  Negroes 
30,801.  The  Negro  increase  for  the  decade 
of  1910-20  was  43.5  per  cent.  Illiterates 
number  132,659  or  5.2  per  cent.  Colorado 
is  the  largest  in  population,  with  939,629 
inhabitants  and  Nevada  the  smallest,  with 
77,407. 

Methodism  today.-  This  mountain,  pla¬ 
teau  and  valley  land  of  enchantment  and 
potential  riches,  passed  by  in  the  rush  to 
the  Pacific  for  gold,  is  still,  in  the  main,  a 
vast  missionary  territory.  Here  are  some 
older  cities  with  great  churches,  and  some 
prosperous  towns  and  villages  and  thickly 
settled  countryside  where  there  is  a  stable 
educational,  social  and  church  life.  But  in 
the  main,  these  states  are  still  in  the  mak¬ 
ing. 

In  such  a  situation,  the  measure  of  the 
church  is  more  in  its  potentialities  than 
actualities,  more  in  the  way  it  is  headed 
and  the  progress  it  is  making  than  in  the 
exact  position  on  the  road.  In  that  light, 
the  statistics  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church  for  the  Mountain  states  assume 
importance.  The  membership  is  84,960, 
of  which  83,041  are  white  English-speak¬ 
ing;  the  Sunday-school  enrolment  is  123,- 
099,  of  which  120,502  are  white,  English- 
speaking.  There  are  12,402  Senior 
Epworth  Leaguers  and  5,792  Juniors.  The 
eighteen  Latin  churches,  mostly  Spanish¬ 
speaking,  have  enrolled  1,036  members. 


Epworth  League  cabinet  at  work, 
Lewiston,  Idaho 


The  net  value  of  all  Methodist  churches 
and  parsonages  in  the  division  is  $6,394,- 
708,  and  the  total  local  expenses  for  1922 
were  $1,762,802.  Benevolences  were  $423,- 
086,  while  the  total  paid  for  all  purposes 
was  $2,185,888,  with  a  per  capita  giving  of 
$25.73  for  the  year.  The  church  also  has 
here  five  institutions  of  higher  education, 
maintains  student  work  at  twelve  non- 
Methodist  institutions,  and  has  fourteen 
hospitals  and  homes.  Summer  schools  and 
institutes  of  various  types  are  fifteen  in 
number. 

Isolated  areas.—  In  Wyoming,  Colorado 
and  New  Mexico  will  be  found  large  cattle 
ranches  where  the  flavor  of  the  old  west 
still  lingers,  and  where  the  cowboy  is  yet 
a  living  figure.  Ranch  houses  are  planted 
in  the  shelter  of  mountains  or  in  the  val¬ 
leys  where  there  are  water  and  wood,  or 
out  on  the  vast  plateaus.  The  life  is  an 
isolated  one,  and  the  work  of  the  mission¬ 
ary  is  pioneering. 

Similarly,  isolation  is  the  primary 
problem  of  missionary  work  on  the  sheep 
and  cattle  ranches  of  Idaho  and  in  the 
arid  sections  of  Utah,  Nevada  and  Ari¬ 
zona,  and  to  a  lesser  degree  in  the  “dry 
farming”  regions  and  in  the  homestead 
areas  of  the  different  states. 

The  irrigated  regions. — Those  who  have 
not  journeyed  through  the  west  and  seen 
the  marvelous  expansion  of  irrigation 
projects  turning  deserts  and  valleys  into 
fertile  gardens  cannot  comprehend  the 
significance  of  this  movement  to  agricul¬ 
ture  and  to  the  nation  at  large.  Lands 
which  have  been  so  arid  that  only  cactus 
would  grow  have,  under  the  magic  of 
water,  turned  into  fertile  fields  of  mag¬ 
nificent  harvest.  Every  irrigation  project 
opened  up  means  the  influx  of  new  fam¬ 
ilies,  the  settling  up  of  farms  and  the 
opening  of  towns.  They  become  farming 
communities  of  more  than  ordinary  pop¬ 
ulation,  because  heavy  production  and  in¬ 
tensive  care  makes  the  small  farm  of 
ten  to  one  hundred  acres  the  average, 
rather  than  the  traditional  “quarter”  or 
“half”,  160  or  320  acres,  of  the  middle 
west. 


MOUNTAIN 


377 


Settlers’  investment  for  land  and  water 
rights  ties  them  up  for  a  number  of  years. 
It  amounts  to  a  mortgage  on  their  future. 
In  addition,  there  are  improvements  to  be 
made,  such  as  schools,  public  buildings, 
good  roads  and  the  like,  most  of  which 
come  in  terms  of  taxes  and  are  not  a  mat¬ 
ter  of  choice.  Missionary  help  is  impera¬ 
tive,  therefore,  for  the  founding  of  mis¬ 
sions  and  the  development  of  churches. 

The  mining  communities. — The  mining 
camp  has  ever  been  a  missionary  challenge 
to  the  church.  Two-thirds  of  the  indus¬ 
trial  values  of  Montana  are  produced  in 
its  mining,  copper  smelting  and  refining 
processes.  Copper  mines  in  Arizona  are 
among  the  greatest  in  the  world.  Gold, 
silver,  lead  and  zinc  are  also  produced. 
Colorado  is  second  among  the  states  in  the 
production  of  gold.  It  also  has  immense 
coal  and  silver  mines.  Oil  production  runs 
high  in  Wyoming,  its  oil  fields  producing 
missionary  problems  much  similar  to  the 
mining  camps.  It  also  has  extensive  coal 
and  copper  production.  Mineral  resources 
are  varied  in  Utah,  ranging  from  gold  to 
zinc,  likewise  in  Nevada,  third  in  rank  in 
silver  production.  Idaho  is  second  in  lead 
and  sixth  in  zinc  production.  New  Mexico 
is  a  coal  producing  center. 

The  Spanish-speaking  groups. — New 
Mexico  and  Arizona,  and  a  section  of  Colo¬ 
rado  form  the  center  of  the  territory 
which  the  1,000,000  Spanish-speaking 
people  inhabit.  Sweeping  across  from 
southern  and  western  Texas  to  southern 
California  and  the  Pacific  shores,  in  many 
sections  they  comprise  the  majority  of 
the  people,  thus  forming  one  of  the  great 
home  missionary  opportunities. 

This  vast  foreign-speaking  group  is 
divided  into  two  distinct  classes.  The  one 
is  native-born  and  the  other  is  the  Mexi¬ 
can  refugee  and  immigrant.  The  native- 
born  of  Spanish  origin  are  descendent, 
through  many  generations  back,  from  the 
Spanish  colonists  who  settled  the  land  and 
claimed  it  for  their  own.  Many  of  them, 
of  proud  Castilian  blood,  are  conscious 
of  their  lineage  and  maintain  the  tradi¬ 
tions  of  language,  custom  and  caste.  They 
2? 


look  at  the  coming  in  of  the  native  Amer¬ 
ican  as  the  invasion  of  a  foreigner.  The 
historic  towns  of  Santa  Fe  and  Tucson, 
two  of  the  oldest  in  the  western  hemi¬ 
sphere,  typify  in  their  architecture  and 
social  cleavages,  this  historic,  Spanish  ele¬ 
ment  in  American  life. 

The  other  Spanish-speaking  group  is 
composed  of  the  hordes  of  Mexicans  who 
have  migrated  to  the  United  States,  some 
as  political  refugees,  others  to  become  la¬ 
borers  in  the  mines,  on  railroad  construc¬ 
tion  jobs,  on  irrigation  projects,  in  indus¬ 
tries  and  on  the  farms.  Social  conditions 
among  them  are  miserable.  Disease,  destitu¬ 
tion  and  death  are  rampant  among  them. 

Other  nationalities. —  Large  numbers  of 
Italians,  Polish,  Czecho-Slovaks,  Lithuani¬ 
ans  and  Russians  are  to  be  found  in  the 
mining  camps,  especially  of  southern  Colo¬ 
rado,  northern  New  Mexico,  and  Montana. 
In  the  “open  camps”  especially,  miserable 
housing  conditions  are  to  be  found,  wdfile 
in  the  “closed  camps”  friction  and  labor 
unrest  are  often  the  rule.  Japanese  are  in 
Colorado,  Utah  and  Idaho,  wThile  most  of 
the  immigration  in  Utah  is  English  and 
Scandinavian,  drawn  by  Mormon  entice¬ 
ments. 

The  Mormon  problem.  —  Our  best 
authority  on  Mormonism  has  stated : 

“Mormons  compose  more  than  two- 
thirds  of  Utah’s  450,000  people.  Idaho 
is  next  with  about  100,000.  They  keep 


378 


WORLD  SERVICE 


Hospitals. 


Montana 

1  Sidney,  Sidney  Deaconess  Hospital. 

2  Glasgow,  Frances-Mahon  Deaconess  Hos- 
pital. 

3  Forsyth,  Rosebud  County  Deaconess  Hos- 

pital.  . 

4  Billings,  Billings  Deaconess  Hospital. 

5  Havre,  Kennedy  Deaconess  Hospital. 

6  Great  Falls,  Montana  Deaconess  Hospital. 

7  Bozeman,  Bozeman  Deaconess  Hospital. 

8  Butte,  Butte  Deaconess  Hospital. 


Idaho 

9  Gooding, 


Gooding  Deaconess  Hospital. 


Colorado 

10  Colorado  Springs,  Beth-El  Hospital. 


New  Mexico 

11  Albuquerque,  Methodist  Deaconess  Sani¬ 
tarium. 


Arizona 

12  Phoenix, 


Arizona  Deaconess  Hospital. 


Homes  for  Children. 

Montana 

13  Helena,  Montana  Deaconess  Children’s 
School. 


Other  Institutions. 

Utah 

14  Ogden,  Esther  Home 


for  Girls. 


about  1,800  missionaries  in  the  field,  but 
their  propaganda  cannot  be  called  suc¬ 
cessful.  The  number  of  conversions  on 
the  outside  is  about  7,000  a  year,  while 
the  net  increase  of  the  whole  church  is 
about  16,000  a  year.  The  movement,  of 
people  from  the  East  and  from  foreign 
countries  as  a  result  of  Mormon  mission¬ 
ary  effort  is  less  than  formerly  because 
there  is  no  longer  the  inducement  of  free 


land.  The  expansion  of  Mormonism  is  by 
colonization  rather  than  by  conversion. 
For  that  reason  the  church  encourages  the 
movement  of  families  to  neighboring 
states.  Their  missionary  efforts  are  really 
unsuccessful  because  their  doctrine  makes 
no  appeal  to  intelligent  religious  people. 

Summing  up.— The  Board  of  Home  Mis¬ 
sions  and  Church  Extension  gathers  up 
the  frontier  situation  in  these  words: 


MOUNTAIN 


379 


“The  Frontier  is  a  field  with  diversity 
of  conditions  and  challenging  opportuni¬ 
ties  and  needs.  The  simple  frontier  of 
the  past  is  no  more..  .The  problem  of  the 
church  is  a  much  changed  one . Pre¬ 

dominant  now  is  the  task  of  making  the 
church  function  where  it  has  been  planted 
in  the  past  and  establishing  it  effectively 
in  communities  being  born  full  grown  in 
a  day.” 

In  New  Mexico.  —  In  the  mountains 
of  northern  New  Mexico  a  missionary 
pastor  is  toiling  in  a  parish  embracing 
2,000  square  miles.  Rangers,  farmers, 
loggers  and  miners  are  among  the  little 
groups,  called  congregations,  which  gather 
in  the  bunkhouses,  the  miners’  shacks,  and 
occasionally  the  ’dobe  huts  in  which  he 
preaches  the  Gospel.  At  the  center  of  his 
parish  is  the  town  of  Cimarron,  where  a 
comfortable  parsonage  has  been  secured, 
a  new  church  building  erected  and  a  seven- 
day-a-week  program  put  on.  The  town 
ministry  might  occupy  all  his  time,  but  his 
is  the  heart  that  goes  out  into  the  hills. 

One  of  his  charges,  the  Red  River 
school  house,  is  forty-five  miles  away  and 
to  reach  it  he  must  travel  over  rough 
mountain  roads,  usually  in  the  saddle. 
Altogether  his  parish  includes  “four  agri¬ 
cultural  communities,  three  mining  camps, 
one  lumber  camp,  one  important  mixed 
community,  and  uncounted  ranchers,  set¬ 
tlers,  cowboys,  mining  prospectors  and 
others,  hidden  away  in  some  of  the  most 
beautiful  mountains,  canyons  and  fertile 
valleys  which  the  mind  can  picture.” 

A  Bishop  speaks. — Stirring  events  on 
the  frontier  are  indicated  in  the  follow¬ 
ing  words  of  Bishop  Burns: 

“The  Helena  Area,  consisting  of  North 
Dakota,  Montana,  Idaho,  and  eastern  Ore¬ 
gon,  representing  enormous  reaches  of 
territory,  equivalent  to  a  journey  from 
New  York  to  Minneapolis,  is  the  largest 
continuous  area  in  American  Methodism. 
It  consists  of  316,000  square  miles.  There 
are  1,050  preaching  places  with  404  men 
manning  these  great  circuits,  the  largest 
single  parish  in  America.  For  heroism, 
sacrifice,  and  courage,  these  college-bred 


ministers  and  their  cultured  wives  are 
unequalled.  It  is  no  wonder  that  under 
their  leadership  the  Helena  area  in  per 
capita  giving  is  near  the  lead  in  the 
church. 

“In  North  Montana  through  the  drought 
of  seven  years  no  man  has  abandoned  his 
task,  while  some  of  our  preachers  have 
lived  on  potatoes  and  stewed  hearts  of  the 
Canadian  thistle  and  have  kept  the  fidelity 
of  the  faith  in  the  missionary  gifts.  Out 
of  their  poverty  and  need,  the  Glacier 
Park  district,  covering  the  whole  of  North 
Montana,  has  presented  the  remarkable 
achievement  of  112  per  cent  in  missionary 
giving.  With  seven  to  fourteen-point  cir¬ 
cuits,  these  hardy,  heroic  men  travel  whole 
counties  in  their  unwashed  Fords,  build¬ 
ing  a  Christian  empire  in  the  Northwest.” 

In  one  district  in  northern  Montana  are 
twenty-four  preachers,  seventeen  of  them 
college  and  seminary  graduates.  But 
there  is  only  one  good  church  building  in 
the  district.  One  of  the  men  has  twelve 
preaching  places  and  nine  Sunday  schools 
on  his  charge  and  not  a  dollar’s  worth  of 
church  property.  In  another  section  there 
are  sixty-five  preaching  points  and  not  a 
church  building. 

Events  at  Roundup. — Roundup,  Mon¬ 
tana,  is  a  typical  frontier  town  of  6,000  or 
7,000  people  in  a  territory  changing  from 
sheep  and  cattle-raising  to  farming  and 
mining.  Coal  lies  nearby  and  oil  fields  are 
not  far  away.  The  population  is  polyglot. 
In  the  old  box-shaped  church  the  Meth¬ 
odist  people  worked  and  worshipped  for 


| 


Our  church  at  Clayton,  New  Mexico,  has  a 
seven-day-a-week  program 


380 


WORLD  SERVICE 


years.  Then  came  the  need  for  a  new 
building.  The  people  dug  the  basement 
and  put  the  building  materials  on  the 
ground  for  the  new  church.  In  the  old 
building,  without  a  kitchen,  the  Ladies’ 
Aid  Society  in  one  year  made  $1,200  for 
the  new  enterprise.  The  new  church, 
located  on  a  corner  which  eighty-five  per 
cent  of  the  town  people  pass  on  their  way 
to  the  business  center,  was  designed  by  the 
Bureau  of  Architecture  to  serve  the  com¬ 
munity.  It  contains  a  gymnasium,  dining 
hall,  club  rooms,  and  social  center  quarters 
and  is  open  every  day.  Helpers  in  the 
construction  were  two  councilmen,  clerks 
and  miners.  The  life  of  the  entire  com¬ 
munity  is  being  influenced  constructively 
by  this  Methodist  church,  which  the  town 
thinks  of  in  terms  of  a  part  of  itself. 

“Land  office  business.” — At  Emmett, 
Idaho,  home  mission  help  has  resulted  in 
a  thoroughly  remodelled  church  plant, 
including  the  addition  of  a  gallery,  a  gym¬ 
nasium  and  Sunday-school  and  social 
facilities.  The  Buhl,  Idaho,  congregation  is 
worshipping  in  the  basement  of  an  unfin¬ 
ished  building,  in  which  a  Sunday  school 
of  over  300  members  must  be  quartered. 
After  a  recent  revival  more  than  100 
members  were  added  to  the  church. 

Eighteen  states  and  three  foreign  coun¬ 
tries  are  represented  in  the  constituency 
of  600  people  of  the  Wheatland,  Wyoming, 
Methodist  Church.  Yet  it  stands  as  the 
commander  of  a  small  empire,  because  the 
nearest  community  of  any  considerable 
size  to  the  south  is  Cheyenne,  sixty  miles 
away.  The  nearest  church  to  the  north  is 


Douglas,  fifty-eight  miles  distant.  To  the 
east  fifty-two  miles  is  Torrington,  while  to 
the  west  the  vast  plains  stretch  eighty- 
eight  miles  to  Laramie.  The  church  has 
members  living  twenty-six  miles  away  in 
the  hills.  In  1922,  the  Wheatland  church 
had  a  property  value  of  $31,000,  a  mem¬ 
bership  of  325,  an  auditorium  seating 
750  and  a  Sunday-school  provision  for  600. 
It  is  a  good  illustration  of  the  fruits  of 
home  missions. 

In  mining  camps. —  Out  in  Utah  nature 
has  cut  a  gorge  through  the  hills  and  man 
has  planted  an  industry  in  it.  The  result 
is  Bingham  Canyon,  one  of  America’s 
most  interesting  spots.  One  street,  Main 
street,  runs  like  a  snake’s  trail  for  miles 
up  and  down  the  length  of  the  canyon, 
while  stores,  schools,  houses,  and  mine 
dumps  intermingle  up  and  down  it  and 
about  the  mountain  sides.  Rich  copper 
mines  are  the  one  industry. 

Here  on  the  one  street  live  13,000  people 
of  eighteen  different  nationalities.  There 
is  little  opportunity  for  normal  life  such  as 
is  found  in  better  developed  communities 
of  the  East.  Three  years  ago  our  Meth¬ 
odist  work  amounted  to  practically  noth¬ 
ing.  Then  the  Board  of  Home  Missions 
and  Church  Extension  built  a  new  church 
and  put  in  trained  leadership.  Our  mis¬ 
sionaries  are  now  putting  on  an  all-round 
program  under  the  auspices  of  the  church. 
They  have  a  kindergarten  with  an  enrol¬ 
ment  of  eighty-five  children  of  Mormon 
and  Catholic  families  as  well  as  Protes¬ 
tant;  clubs  for  children  in  the  primary 
department,  industrial  classes  for  boys 
and  girls,  girl  pioneers 
and  boy  and  girl  scouts. 
The  pastor  organized  a 
Father  and  Son  Club,  and 
a  prayer  band  of  twenty- 
six  boys  who  met  before 
school  every  day  for  three 
months. 

A  Wyoming  coal  town. — 
Ten  thousand  people  of 
thirty  different  nationali¬ 
ties  live  in  Rock  Springs, 
Wyoming,  one  of  the 


Main  Street,  Powell,  Wyoming 


MOUNTAIN 


381 


Blue  Bird  ceremony,  Rock  Springs,  Wyoming 


state’s  largest  coal  pro¬ 
ducing  centers.  The  Meth¬ 
odist  Episcopal  Church  is 
housed  in  a  small  build¬ 
ing  with  an  auditorium 
24x50  feet  and  a  smaller 
room  9x24  adjoining.  The 
only  other  quarters  were 
a  basement.  But  in  spite 
of  such  inadequate  equip¬ 
ment,  there  are  remarkable  results,  espe¬ 
cially  among  the  boys  of  great  coal  camp. 

Now  over  200  boys  of  twenty  diiferent 
nationalities  are  enrolled  in  the  activities 
of  the  church.  For  the  girls  there  are 
Camp  Fire  and  Blue  Bird  organizations, 
Sewing  Club,  and  Kitchen  Garden  Club. 

Achievements  in  Denver. —  In  Denver 
one  of  the  most  progressive  city  pro¬ 
grams  in  Methodism  has  been  organized 
and  is  in  successful  operation.  The 
identity  of  the  Denver  District  with  the 
city  environs  makes  possible  a  reinforced 
organization  and  greater  efficiency.  The 
program  is  one  inclusive  of  missionary 
expansion,  Christian  education  and  social 
service.  It  seeks  not  only  to  provide  more 
and  better  churches,  but  also  to  adapt 
each  church  to  the  specific  needs  of  its 
community,  to  reoccupy  abandoned  fields 
and  to  anticipate  future  growth.  It  is  a 
comprehensive  city  program,  rather  than 
stereotyped,  haphazard,  unrelated  church 
activity. 

Ten  years  ago  the  Denver  District  had 
a  total  membership  of  6,372.  The  churches 
now  report  a  total  membership  of  10,266, 
exclusive  of  probationers  or  non-resident 
members.  The  property  values  ten  years 
ago  were  $568,500.  Now  they  are  $980,- 
850.  This  increase  in  property  values  is 
represented  in  seven  new  church  build¬ 
ings,  eleven  community  houses  and  Sun¬ 
day-school  buildings,  four  new  strategic 
sites  upon  which  churches  will  be  built, 
and  eleven  new  parsonages. 

The  giving  to  disciplinary  benevolences 
has  increased  from  $21,965  to  $62,105. 
The  district  now  has  twenty-seven 
churches,  thirteen  of  which  are  conduct¬ 


ing  a  full  seven-day-a-week  program 
of  social  and  educational  activities.  More 
than  60,000  persons  pass  through  these 
churches  each  month  and  are  touched  by 
the  religious  influences  of  these  activities. 
All  of  these  thirteen  churches  have  a  paid 
staff  of  one  or  more  members  in  addition 
to  the  pastor. 

Eight  churches  are  now  provided  with 
full  gymnasium  equipment  for  their  recre¬ 
ational  program,  while  five  have  impro¬ 
vised  gymnasiums  in  remodelled  space  in 
older  church  buildings.  Fifteen  of  the 
churches  in  the  district  last  summer  con¬ 
ducted  daily  vacation  Bible  schools  from 
four  weeks  to  two  months  in  duration. 
One  church  is  conducting  a  regular  system 
of  week-day  religious  education  after 
school  hours  throughout  the  winter 
months.  Eighteen  of  the  churches  are 
conducting  some  form  of  religious  instruc¬ 
tion  and  education  by  means  of  well-organ¬ 
ized  classes  on  one  or  more  week-days. 

In  Pueblo. — In  a  city  of  great  car 
shops,  steel  mills,  smelting,  refining,  brick 
and  tile  works,  the  First  Methodist  Epis¬ 
copal  Church  has  a  parish  of  18,000  people. 
A  splendid  new  church,  where  an  adequate 
program  for  all  classes  of  people  in  the 
parish,  is  under  construction.  Excellent 
contacts  are  being  made  with  labor  and 
foreign-speaking  groups.  Northern  Ave¬ 
nue  Church,  located  also  in  an  industrial 
neighborhood,  has  wide  opportunities  for 
community  service,  but  no  equipment. 

One  of  Methodism’s  oldest  Italian  mis¬ 
sions  is  located  in  Pueblo,  in  a  parish  of 
130  city  blocks  where  dwell  many  thou¬ 
sands  of  Italians,  Mexicans,  Negroes,  and 
Slavs.  In  spite  of  miserably  inadequate 
equipment,  the  mission  is  doing  a  heroic 


382 


WORLD  SERVICE 


Here,  in  1908,  our  Italian  work  in 
Denver  began,  and - 


work  of  uplift  and  service.  During  the 
flood  a  few  years  ago,  one  of  its  buildings 
was  entirely  washed  away,  only  one  chair 
being  salvaged.  The  people  went  bravely 
ahead  in  the  remaining  building.  Now  the 
pastor  has  listed  more  than  1,000  children 
who  live  within  the  parish  and  is  reach¬ 
ing  the  community  in  a  larger  way 
through  the  ministry  to  them. 

In  Salt  Lake  City.— One  of  the  fine 
Methodist  Episcopal  achievements  in  Utah 
has  been  the  completion  of  Centenary 
Church  in  the  south  residential  section  of 
Salt  Lake  City.  This  gives  a  modern  plant 
providing  for  social,  recreational  and 
religious  educational  work.  The  new 
Grace  church  erected  last  year  on  the  west 
side  of  the  city  also  is  a  modern  plant 
with  gymnasium,  departmental  accom¬ 
modation  for  Sunday  school,  kitchen,  par¬ 
lors  and  scout  rooms.  First  Church,  start¬ 
ing  with  fifteen  boys  in  a  religious 
education  program,  now  has  more  than 
one  hundred  enlisted.  The  Epworth 
League  is  strong,  registering  a  weekly  at¬ 
tendance  of  more  than  one  hundred. 

The  miner’s  town. — In  Butte,  Meth¬ 
odism  has  six  churches,  only  one  of  which 
is  a  good  church  building.  The  others  are 
one-room  buildings  or  basements.  Butte 
has  7,000  Italians  and  2,000  Greeks,  and 
60,000  people  in  its  environs.  Most  of  our 
effort  is  among  the  English-speaking. 

In  the  Mormon  stronghold. — Methodist 
work  in  Mormon  territory,  primarily 
Utah  and  Idaho,  has  been  of  a  two-fold 


nature.  Missionary  activity  in  the  way  of 
planting  churches  here  and  there,  conduct¬ 
ing  preaching  service  and  Sunday  school, 
evangelism  by  the  personal  method  and 
educational  activity  through  schools  and 
colleges — these  form  the  first  method. 
Varying  success  has  been  registered.  Right 
leadership  and  proper  equipment  have 
made  remarkable  records  possible  in  some 
places,  notably  Salt  Lake  City,  while 
insufficiently  supported  effort  elsewhere 
has  meant  a  lack  of  results  commensurate 
with  the  opportunity. 


.our  present  Italian  work  in  Denver 


The  other  method  has  been  stated  by  an 
authority  on  Mormonism  in  this  way : 

“Our  greatest  work  has  been  in  forcing 
Mormonism  to  change  its  attitude  toward 
evangelical  truth.  Three  great  results 
have  followed  evangelical  effort  in  Utah 
and  have  more  than  justified  our  expendi¬ 
tures  there: 

1.  Evangelical  missionary  activity 
forced  the  Mormon  church  to  install  a 
first-class  public  school  system.  When  that 
system  was  installed  the  doom  of  old  Mor¬ 
monism  was  sealed.  Their  children  afford 
a  fertile  field  for  evangelical  effort. 

2.  Evangelical  effort  in  Utah  has 
forced  the  Mormon  Church  to  change  its 
attitude  toward  the  United  States  govern¬ 
ment  and  become  measurably  patriotic. 

3.  Most  important  in  recent  years  has 
been  the  gradual  shifting  of  Mormon 
emphasis  from  non-Christian  doctrines. 
The  book  of  Mormon  has  been  losing  in 
importance,  and  the  Bible  has  gained,” 


MOUNTAIN 


383 


Spanish  work.— The  eighteen  churches 
and  more  than  1,000  members  indicate 
somewhat  the  achievements  in  this  impor¬ 
tant  Spanish-speaking  work,  a  district  of 
the  New  Mexico  Conference.  The  real  prog¬ 
ress  has  been  recent,  however,  as  our 
church  has  been  doing  religious  work  for 
more  than  fifty  years  among  Spanish  peo¬ 
ple  in  New  Mexico,  Arizona  and  along  the 
border,  and  has  never  until  now  had  more 
than  a  few  adobe  huts  as  centers  of  wor¬ 
ship.  Increased  benevolent  giving  has 
helped  these  people  build  fit  places  for 
worship. 

The  chief  center  of  Methodist  work 
among  the  Spanish-speaking  people  in  the 
Mountain  states  is  in  Albuquerque,  New 
Mexico.  Here  a  substantial  congregation 
has  been  gathered  in  spite  of  the  lack  of  a 
building.  Its  services  are  held  in  the 
afternoons  in  the  American  church.  Here 
also  is  located  an  institution  for  develop¬ 
ing  a  leadership  for  the  Spanish-speaking 
work,  the  Harwood  School  for  Boys,  for¬ 
merly  known  as  Albuquerque  College. 

A  school  for  leaders. — Back  in  1892, 
Dr.  Thomas  Harwood,  early  missionary  to 
the  Spanish-speaking  people  in  the  South¬ 
west,  embarked  on  the  enterprise  of  a 
school.  He  started  the  Boys’  Biblical  and 
Industrial  School  at  Socorro  in  1892.  It 
was  later  transferred  to  Albuquerque,  a 
site  secured  and  buildings  erected.  Each 
year  witnesses  an  increased  enrolment 
and  some  years  students  are  turned  away 
for  lack  of  accommodations.  The  enrol¬ 
ment  is  in  excess  of  one  hundred.  It  has 
seventy  acres  of  land,  two  school  buildings 
and  two  residences,  but  equipment  and 
quarters  are  both  inadequate. 

Courses  are  given  in  agriculture.  There 
are  literary  societies,  and  a  John  Wesley 


The  class  of  1922,  Harwood  Industrial 
School,  (W.  H.  M.  S.)  Albuquerque, 
New  Mexico 


Club,  composed  of  a  number  of  splendid 
young  Spanish-Americans  preparing  for 
Christian  missionary  service.  No  greater 
enterprise  of  statesmanship  in  solving  the 
Latin  American  problem  is  being  fostered 
than  this  school. 

For  Spanish  girls. — Two  fine  schools 
for  Spanish-speaking  girls  are  maintained 
in  this  territory  by  the  Woman’s  Home 
Missionary  Society.  One  is  the  Mary  J. 
Platt  Industrial  School  at  Tucson,  Ari¬ 
zona,  where  domestic  science,  home  train¬ 
ing  and  care,  sewing  and  the  cultural  arts 
are  taught.  The  other  is  the  Harwood 
Industrial  School  at  Albuquerque,  New 
Mexico.  Last  year  120  were  enrolled  in 
this  school. 

Spanish  congregations.  —  The  most 
important  and  best  equipped  of  the  Span¬ 
ish-speaking  churches  are  at  Douglas  and 
Tucson.  Half  way  between  the  center  of 
Douglas  and  the  international  boundary 
line  is  located  Centenary 
Church,  largely  built 
through  Centenary  aid. 
Forty  per  cent  of  the  pop¬ 
ulation  of  Douglas  are 
Mexicans,  between  6,000 
and  7,000  of  them.  They 
make  up  ninety-five  per 
cent  of  the  membership 


384 


WORLD  SERVICE 


STUDENT  WORK  AT  NON-METHODIST 
EDUCATIONAL  INSTITUTIONS 


Montana 

1  Bozeman,  Montana  State  College  of  Agri¬ 
culture  and  Mechanic  Arts. 

2  Missoula,  Montana  State  University. 

Idaho 

3  Moscow,  University  of  Idaho. 

4  Lewiston,  State  Normal  School. 

Wyoming 

5  Laramie,  University  of  Wyoming. 

Colorado 

6  Greeley,  State  Teachers’  College  of  Colo¬ 
rado. 

of  the  church.  In  four  years  there  were 
140  conversions  among  them.  The  build¬ 
ing  is  equipped  for  community  work. 

At  Deming  another  splendid  Spanish¬ 
speaking  work  is  carried  on.  Las  Cruces, 
New  Mexico,  has  about  5,000  people,  more 
than  half  of  whom  are  Spanish-speaking. 
A  small  congregation  is  maintained  there 
by  the  heroic  efforts  of  the  pastor,  in  spite 
of  the  most  severe  opposition.  He  also 
carries  on  work  at  Dona  Ana.  Lots  are 
owned  at  Las  Cruces,  but  the  congregation 


7  Fort  Collins,  Colorado  Agricultural  Col¬ 
lege. 

8  Boulder,  University  of  Colorado. 

9  Golden,  Colorado  School  of  Mines. 

New  Mexico 

10  State  College,  New  Mexico  College  of 
Agriculture  and  Mechanic  Art. 

Arizona 

11  Tucson,  University  of  Arizona. 

Nevada 

12  Reno,  University  of  Nevada. 

has  waited  for  years  for  help  in  securing 
a  building.  At  Flagstaff,  Arizona,  is  a 
Methodist  Spanish-speaking  congregation 
which  worships  in  a  Presbyterian  build¬ 
ing.  Although  it  has  no  church  of  its  own, 
it  pays  its  benevolent  quotas  in  full. 
Another  of  the  preachers  in  the  Spanish 
District  has  six  preaching  places. 

Ministry  to  the  Indians. — Indian  Mis¬ 
sions  are  maintained  by  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church  in  New  Mexico,  Mon¬ 
tana,  Nevada,  and  Arizona,  At  Browning, 


MOUNTAIN 


385 


Montana,  we  have  a  growing  and  impor¬ 
tant  piece  of  work  among  the  3,000  Black- 
feet  Indians,  800  of  whom  are  of  school 
age.  Of  these  800,  only  350  are  in  govern¬ 
ment  schools.  Our  missionary  is  called 
upon  to  travel  a  reservation  seventy  miles 
in  length  and  thirty  miles  in  width.  The 
character  of  the  service  is  extremely 
varied,  touching  the  school  life  of  the 
children,  looking  after  the  poor,  meeting 
groups  in  camps  and  ministering  to  the 
sick.  Conditions  among  them  are  pitiful, 
as  many  are  blind  from  trachoma  and  a 
large  number  suffer  from  tuberculosis.  A 
modern  equipment  and  parsonage  are 
vitally  necessary. 

At  Farmington,  New  Mexico,  we  main¬ 
tain  a  mission  school  for  Navajo  children, 
but  there  is  need  of  two  new  buildings,  a 
dormitory  and  a  hospital,  and  the  enlarg¬ 
ing  of  our  present  school  house.  The 
present  capacity  is  forty-five  children. 
There  are  9,000  children  of  school  age  on 
this  reservation,  but  school  facilities  to 
care  for  only  2,000,  leaving  7,000  to  grow 
up  in  ignorance.  At  Schurz,  Nevada,  is 
the  Walker  River  Reservation  with  500 
Indians.  Our  church  has  the  sole  respon- 


I 

s 

(  M  o  N  T  A  N 


Iliff  School  of  Theology,  Denver 

sibility  for  their  religious  training,  but 
the  church  building  is  more  than  forty 
years  old  and  is  in  a  dangerous  condition. 

Educational  pioneering. —  No  story  of 
the  extension  of  the  Kingdom  of  Christ 
throughout  this  vast  frontier  would  be 
complete  without  a  tribute  to  those  who 
have  blazed  much  of  the  trail,  the  mis¬ 
sionaries  who  have  sought  out  the  obscure 
villages  and  scattered  settlements  and 
planted  Sunday  schools,  the  usual  forerun¬ 
ner  of  the  church.  In  mud  huts,  log  school 
houses,  settlers’  shanties,  and  sometimes 
in  barrooms,  they  have  gathered  the  little 
groups  together  and  set  them  on  their 
spiritual  journey.  Just  as  this  territory 
has  been  sanctified  by  the  footsteps  of 
brave  bearers  of  the  flaming  cross,  so 

EDUCATIONAL  INSTITUTIONS 

Colleges,  Universities  and  Professional  Schools. 

Montana 

1  Helena,  Montana  Wesleyan  College. 

Idaho 

2  Gooding,  Gooding  College. 

Colorado 

3  Denver,  University  of  Denver. 

4  Denver,  Iliff  School  of  Theology. 

Secondary  Schools. 

New  Mexico 

5  Albuquerque,  Harwood  Boys’  School 
(Albuquerque  College). 


386 


WORLD  SERVICE 


today  is  it  being  traversed  by  those  who 
are  resolutely  carrying  forward  the 
frontier  Gospel  work. 

Higher  education.— Methodism,  born  in 
a  university,  has  never  ceased  to  stress  the 
religious  value  of  education  or  the  value 
of  religious  education.  Along  with  the 


frontier  church  has  gone  the  frontier  col¬ 
lege  and  both  have  grown  into  command¬ 
ing  influence  together.  This  process  is 
under  way  in  the  Mountain  states.  Here 
our  institutions  may  not  be  as  numerous 
as  in  the  east,  but  they  are  virile,  pro¬ 
gressive  and  of  high  ideals,  and  are  alter- 


Epworth  League  Institutes. 

Montana 

1  Neihart,  Montana  State. 


Schools  for  City  Pastors. 

Conference  Institutes 

Colorado 

10  Denver. 


Idaho 

2  Wood  River,  Ketchum,  Inter  Mountain. 

3  Smiths  Ferry,  Ore-Gem  District. 

4  Coeur  d’Alene,  Spokane  District. 

5  Moscow,  Moscow  District. 

Colorado 

6  Estes  Park,  Estes  Park. 

7  Grand  Mesa,  Cedaredge,  Grand  Mesa. 

Arizona 

8  Carrs,  Arizona. 

Utah 

9  Mt.  Timpanogos,  American  Fork  Canyon, 
Utah  Institute. 


Summer  Training  Conferences 

Colorado 

11  Denver. 

Summer  Schools  for  Town  and  Rural  Pastors. 

Montana 

12  Helena,  Montana  Wesleyan. 

Idaho 

13  Gooding,  Gooding  College. 

Colorado 

14  Denver,  Iliff  School  of  Theology. 

Missionary  Summer  Conferences. 

Woman’s  Foreign  Missionary  Society 

Colorado 

15  Boulder  (Interdenominational). 


MOUNTAIN 


387 


ing  the  currents  of  the  developing  civili¬ 
zation.  At  Helena  is  Montana  Wesleyan 
College  and  at  Gooding,  Idaho,  is  Gooding 
College.  While  under  separate  manage¬ 
ment,  the  University  of  Denver  and  the 
Iliff  School  of  Theology  adjoin,  and  aca¬ 
demically  the  School  of  Theology  is 
related  to  the  University  precisely  as 
though  it  were  a  graduate  school  of  the 
University. 

Iliff  School  of  Theology. — The  School 
of  Theology  was  founded  nearly  forty 
years  ago  in  answer  to  the  need  of  a 
training  school  for  the  ministry  in  the 
great  territory  west  of  the  Mississippi. 
First  a  department  of  Denver  University, 
it  later  became  a  separate  institution,  but 
standing  in  friendly  relation  with  it. 
Privileges  of  the  school  are  extended  upon 
equal  terms  to  members  of  all  Christian 
churches.  The  school  offers  not  only  the 
standard  theological  training,  but  also 
stresses  courses  in  Rural  Church  Life, 
Religious  Education  and  Church  Methods. 
Its  Rural  Church  Extension  Department 
and  Field  Service  for  Town  and  Country 
Churches  are  of  outstanding  value  to  the 
section  in  establishing  modern  community 
church  programs. 

Denver  University. — Denver  University 
has  2,500  or  more  students.  Its  Graduate 
School,  the  College  of  Liberal  Arts  and  the 
Schools  of  Chemical  Engineering,  Elec¬ 
trical  Engineering  and  Pharmacy  are  on 
the  campus  proper.  The  Dental  College, 
School  of  Law  and  School  of  Commerce 
are  in  the  business  section  of  the  city. 

Health  opportunities. — Thousands  jour¬ 
ney  to  the  Mountain  states  yearly  for 
their  health.  The  altitude,  climatic  and 
atmospheric  conditions  make  it  a  haven 
for  those  afflicted  particularly  with  lung 
diseases.  Many  have  wealth,  but  many 
others  spend  their  last  cent  in  getting  to 
the  mountains,  often  their  last  hope  of 
earthly  life. 

A  number  of  hospitals  for  their  care  are 
maintained  by  different  organizations  of 
the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church.  One  is 
the  Methodist  Deaconess  Hospital  at  Albu¬ 
querque,  New  Mexico,  conducted  by  the 


Chapel  building,  University  of  Denver 


Woman’s  Home  Missionary  Society.  It 
was  opened  in  1912  and  has  a  capacity  of 
sixty-six  beds.  The  property  consists  of 
two  fine  buildings  and  twenty-five  cot¬ 
tages. 

The  most  ambitious  project  of  the 
church  is  the  proposed  National  Methodist 
Episcopal  Sanatorium  for  Tuberculosis 
at  Colorado  Springs,  Colorado.  Since 
1910  the  Woman’s  Home  Missionary  Soci¬ 
ety  has  maintained  Beth-El  Hospital,  with 
103  beds,  at  Colorado  Springs,  one  of  the 
best  hospital  properties  in  Methodism. 
Now  it  has  given  this  $250,000  property 
to  the  church  at  large  and  under  the 
supervision  of  the  Board  of  Hospitals  and 
Homes,  it  is  planned  to  erect  a  larger 
institution.  The  Colorado  Springs  Cham¬ 
ber  of  Commerce  has  given  a  new  site  of 
twenty-one  acres.  The  first  unit  of  the 
new  institution  will  have  250  beds.  Char¬ 
ity  work  will  play  a  large  part  in  the  new 
hospital. 

Women’s  achievements  in  Montana. — 
For  generations  to  come  the  currents  of 
Montana  life  will  feel  the  spiritual  power 
given  in  the  early  days  by  the  pioneering 
services  of  the  General  Deaconess  Board 
and  the  deaconesses  in  this  frontier  state. 
Hospitals,  schools,  missions,  Sunday 
schools  and  other  institutions  and  organi¬ 
zations  were  founded  by  them,  and  relief 
work  done. 


388 


WORLD  SERVICE 


The  task  at  hand. —  The  Mountain 
states  comprise  a  section  of  great  prom¬ 
ise.  Life  is  still  plastic.  Missionary 
work,  it  is  true,  has  been  going  on  for  half 
a  century,  but  with  an  era  of  tremendous 
expansion  beginning  and  with  fundamen¬ 
tal  social  and  economic  changes  under 
way,  the  imperative  summons  comes  to 
the  church  not  merely  to  continue  its 
labors,  but  more  emphatically  to  expand 
its  effort  and  adapt  it  to  the  needs  of  the 
new  day.  Just  as  the  downtown  city 
church  or  the  rural  church  of  the  East 
must  alter  its  program  to  its  specific 
needs,  so  must  there  be  similar  procedure 
in  missionary  work  on  the  frontier. 
Trained  leadership  is  the  key. 

Urgent  needs,  in  addition  to  those 
already  noted  in  Mormon  territory,  which 
demand  immediate  response,  are  many  and 
varied. 

Arizona  village  and  parish,  where  Methodist 
work  is  struggling  with  neither  parsonage  nor 
church  building. 

Increased  support  for  a  Montana  pastor  who 
lives  in  one-room  log  shack  and  holds  services 
in  old,  small,  cold,  uninviting  store  building,  who 
preaches  at  eight  other  points,  and  who  has  or¬ 
ganized  eleven  Sunday  schools. 

Replace  church  erected  in  early  frontier  days  in 
a  railroad  and  mining  town  of  18,000. 

Church  aid  in  a  dry  farming  region,  where 
people  worship  in  a  basement. 


Proposed  National  Methodist  Episcopal  Sana¬ 
torium  for  Tuberculosis,  Colorado 
Springs,  Colorado 


Deaconess  Nurses  in  training,  Sidney 
Hospital,  Sidney,  Montana 

Church,  threatened  with  closing  because  of 
drought,  needs  immediate  help. 

Hospital  project  threatened  on  account  of  finan¬ 
cial  depression. 

Support  of  pastors  in  isolated  mining  camps 
reopening  after  dull  season. 

Support  of  missionaries  among  Spanish-speaking 
mining  camps. 

New  church  in  frontier  town  with  600  boys  and 
girls  in  school.  Congregation  meets  in  hall  over 
restaurant. 

Complete  building  for  congregation  now  wor¬ 
shipping  in  a  basement,  in  a  town  almost  bankrupt. 

Community  church  in  industrial  neighborhood  of 
10,000  where  500  families  in  religious  census  ex¬ 
pressed  Methodist  preference. 

Provide  equipment  in  coal  camp  where  twenty- 
seven  languages  are  spoken  among  the  1,800  people. 

Aid  for  missionaries  on  western  slope  of  Col¬ 
orado  under  purely  frontier  conditions. 

Help  to  build  church  for  congregation  compelled 
to  use  hall  which  is  a  public  place  for  dances  and 
prize  fights,  totally  unfit  for  worship. 

Erect  church  in  primitive  frontier  town  where 
people  worship  in  a  pool  hall. 

New  church  needed  in  college  town  where 
Methodism  is  represented  by  an  old  one-room 
building  and  a  tar  paper  shack  for  the  Sunday 
school. 

New  church  for  Indian  Mission  where  building 
has  been  condemned. 

Support  for  missionary  pastors  in  drought-towns. 


PACIFIC  STATES 


iimmmmii'iiiimimiMiiiiiHii 


WASHINGTON 

OREGON 

CALIFORNIA 


WASH. 


Distribution  of  Methodist  Episcopal  churches  in  the  Pacific  states 


IRRIGATION  —  THE  MAGICIAN  CF  THE  WEST 


\ 


\y 


From  the  higher  plane  of  political  and  intellectual  and 
moral  interests  the  Pacific  Basin  will  be  the  one  great 
theater  of  human  events  for  all  the  centuries  to  come. 

James  W.  Bashford 


PACIFIC  STATES 


A  New  World  in  the  Making 

Looking  East  through  the  Golden  Gate. — 
The  world-seer  no  longer  stands  within  the 
portals  of  America  and  looking  toward  the 
setting  sun  thinks  of  the  Pacific  Coast  as 
the  farthest  western  portion  of  the  United 
States.  In  the  shift  and  development  of 
world  affairs,  he  has  taken  a  new  point  of 
observation.  It  is  beyond  the  ocean  shore, 
and  he  has  turned  his  face  toward  the  ris¬ 
ing  sun.  Looking  east  through  the  Golden 
Gate,  he  sees  the  eastern  boundary  of  the 
Pacific  Basin. 

As  the  eastern  rim  of  the  Pacific  Basin, 
the  Pacific  states  form  a  new  world  in  the 
making.  They  are  in  the  circle  of  the 
greatest  population  centers  of  the  earth 
and  of  the  countries  which  are 
the  markets  of  the  future. 

Around  that  rim  will  be  found 
Canada,  Alaska,  Siberia,  Man¬ 
churia,  Korea,  Japan,  China, 
the  Philippines,  Australia,  the 


islands  of  the  south  Pacific,  South  and 
Central  America — lands  that  are  awaken¬ 
ing  and  demanding  and  giving  the  fruits 
of  modern  civilization.  From  the  United 
States,  the  port  of  entry  to  it  is  the 
Pacific  Coast.  Atlantic  trade  has  been  a 
paramount  influence  in  the  expansion  of 
our  eastern  states.  What  expansion  of 
trade  with  the  Orient  and  South  America 
will  mean  to  the  Pacific  states,  no  prophet 
is  needed  to  foretell.  The  era  of  indus¬ 
trialism  and  intensified  agriculture  al¬ 
ready  has  begun.  The  possibilities  are 
endless.  A  half  century  may  easily  see 
our  western  coast  as  thickly  settled  and 
as  highly  developed  as  the  eastern. 

America’s  fastest  growing  region. — As  if 
prophetic  of  a  new  epoch,  the 
growth  of  Washington,  Oregon 
and  California  for  the  last  cen¬ 
sus  decade,  1910-20,  has  been 
the  most  rapid  of  any  geograph¬ 
ical  division  of  the  United 


391 


392 


WORLD  SERVICE 


States,  32.8  per  cent.  The  population  in 
1920  was  5,556,871,  an  increase  of  1,374,- 
564  in  ten  years.  Of  that  number, 
1,033,868  were  foreign-born  and  47,790 
were  Negroes.  The  increase  in  foreign- 
born  was  twenty  per  cent  and  of  Negroes 
63.7  per  cent.  A  strong  urbanizing  in¬ 
fluence  is  indicated  over  a  thirty-year 
period.  In  1890,  the  population  was  42.5 
per  cent  urban  and  57.5  rural,  while  in 
1920  it  had  changed  to  62.4  per  cent 
urban  and  37.6  per  cent  rural.  Illiterates 
numbered  123,435  or  2.7  per  cent. 

Pacific  Coast  cities.—  Los  Angeles,  a 
mecca  for  a  large  migration,  transient 
and  permanent,  from  the  East  and  Middle 
West,  due  to  its  climate  and  scenery,  with 
576,673  people,  is  the  metropolis  of  the 
Pacific  Coast  states.  It  gained  257,475 
people  between  1910  and  1920,  one  of  the 
three  fastest  growing  cities  of  more  than 
100,000  population  in  the  United  States. 

San  Francisco  with  506,676  people,  for 
a  generation  the  largest  city  on  the  coast, 
is  now  in  second  place.  With  Oakland’s 
216,261  people,  however,  and  other  com¬ 
munities  just  across  the  bay  from  San 
Francisco,  the  “bay  region”  forms  the 
heaviest  populated  metropolitan  area  on 
the  coast.  San  Francisco  not  only  is  the 
Golden  Gate  to  the  sea,  but  is  also  a  gate¬ 
way  to  the  great  California  Valley.  Her 
steamships  reach  out  to  Asia,  Alaska, 
Australia,  South  America,  and  through 
the  Panama  Canal  to  the  eastern  states 
and  to  Europe. 

Seattle,  on  Puget  Sound,  a  deep  and 
beautiful  body  of  water,  has  enough  har¬ 
bors  to  hold  ten  times  the  ships  of  all  the 
world.  Tacoma  near  by  with  96,965  peo¬ 
ple  has  access  to  the  same  harbor  facili¬ 
ties,  and  the  city  and  industrial  prophets 
of  the  future  predict  ultimately  a  great 
Puget  Sound  city,  one  of  the  densely  pop¬ 
ulated  centers  of  America. 

Portland,  the  “Rose  City”  with  258,288 
people,  the  fourth  coast  city  in  size,  on  the 
Willamette  River,  a  short  distance  from 
the  Columbia,  has  deepened  her  harbor  so 
that  the  largest  ships  can  enter,  greatly 
increasing  her  foreign  trade.  As  from 


San  Francisco,  the  steamship  lines  from 
Portland  and  Puget  Sound  carry  food  and 
factory  goods  to  Alaska ;  lumber,  machin¬ 
ery,  cotton  and  flour  to  the  Orient  and 
Latin  America,  and  are  building  a  heavy 
export  trade  through  the  Panama  Canal. 

These  four  metropolitan  centers  of  the 
Pacific  coast  have  been  and  are  still  rivals 
for  supremacy.  Our  interest  in  them  is 
not  which  one  will  be  first  in  industry  and 
commerce,  but  which  one  will  first  become 
a  city  of  God. 

The  Coast  spirit.-An  optimistic  spirit 
of  achievement  is  characteristic  of  the 
Pacific  states,  and  the  section  is  conscious 
of  a  future.  The  unparalleled  develop¬ 
ments  of  irrigation  projects  and  of  water 
power,  the  rapid  stride  of  the  cities  and 
the  tremendous  projects  under  way  in  in¬ 
dustry  and  the  opening  up  of  new  lands 
for  grain  and  fruit-raising,  are  indicative 
of  this  development.  Conservatism  may 
still  exist  in  some  of  the  older  sections 
which  had  their  first  development  in  the 
gold  rush  in  1849,  but  they  too  are  falling 
into  the  march  of  progress. 

Where  Methodism  Stands 

The  statistical  record.— The  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church  has  in  this  section  174,- 
501  members,  of  whom  166,170  are  white 
English-speaking,  820  are  Latin,  2,339  are 
German,  2,363  Scandinavian,  1,993  Orien¬ 
tal,  and  462  Indian.  In  the  Sunday-school 
enrolment  are  225,972  English-speaking 
white,  1,931  Latin,  2,647  German,  2,566 
Scandinavian,  871  Indian,  and  2,243 
Oriental.  There  are  1,202  churches,  of 
which  1,072  are  white,  English-speaking, 
eleven  Latin,  forty-one  German,  forty-one 
Scandinavian,  twenty-two  Oriental,  and 
ten  Indian.  The  net  value  of  churches 
and  parsonages  is  $15,645,191,  while  the 
total  local  expenses  for  1922  were  $4,480,- 
142.  Benevolences  were  $1,483,418.  The 
total  paid  for  all  purposes  was  $5,963,560 
for  the  year,  a  per  capita  giving  of  $34.17, 
the  largest  of  all  the  geographical  divi¬ 
sions. 

Bishop  Leonard  states  that  there  never 
has  been  a  time  when  the  Methodist  Epis- 


PACIFIC 


393 


copal  Church  on  the  Pacific  Coast  was  in 
as  commanding  a  position  as  it  is  today, 
and  expresses  the  conviction  that  we  are 
facing  an  utterly  unprecedented  situation, 
demanding  churches  for  new  rapidly 
growing  communities,  and  adapting  and 
re-locating  many  churches  due  to  shifting 
populations. 

In  the  great  Northwest,  Bishop  Shepard 
affirms  that  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church  today  stands  first  among  all  the 
denominations  numerically,  and  is  prob¬ 
ably  first  in  its  educational  and  philan¬ 
thropic  work.  He  and  his  co-laborers  are 
laying  strong  and  wide  foundations  for 
the  future.  His  greatest  problem  is  the 
securing  of  capable  men. 

Problems  Facing  the  Church 

In  rural  territory. — While  the  Pacific 
states  are  classified  as  frontier  territory, 
they  do  not  present  the  rural  missionary 
problem  in  terms  of  scattered  settlements 
and  isolated  families  in  the  proportion 
that  the  Mountain  states  do.  In  the 
eastern  sections  of  Washington  and  Ore¬ 
gon,  particularly,  will  be  found  the  ranch¬ 
ers  and  homesteaders,  but  the  bulk  of  the 
farm  population  is  in  the  Puget  Sound- 
Willamette  Valley  regions. 

New  irrigation  projects,  opening  up 
large  farming  territories,  are  character¬ 
istic  of  the  region.  California  leads  the 
nation  in  irrigation  development,  its  enor¬ 
mous  output  of  fruit  and  grain  being 
largely  attributed  thereto.  In  Oregon,  more 
than  1,000,000  acres  are  under  irrigation, 
and  projects  for  2,000,000  more  acres  are 
under  way.  Washington  has  large  irri¬ 
gated  districts  all  the  way 
from  its  southern  part  to 
the  Canadian  boundary. 

Between  the  old  and 
new  pioneering,  there  is  a 
vital  difference.  Opening 
up  virgin  prairies  to  set¬ 
tlement  often  meant  half 
a  century  of  missionary 
support  before  the  com¬ 
munity  became  sufficiently 
populated  or  prosperous 
to  make  a  strong,  self- 
26 


sustaining  church.  The  new  irrigation 
development  is  almost  a  mathematical 
certainty,  and  the  missionary  project 
should  become  the  missionary-giving 
church  in  one-fifth  to  one-third  the  time 
the  former  required.  Speed,  therefore, 
is  a  large  element  in  the  irrigation  project 
missionary  program.  Quick  and  liberal 
action  by  the  church  at  large  is  necessary 
if  responsible  religious  work  is  to  be 
established. 

The  logging  camps. — The  many  thou¬ 
sands  of  men  who  live  in  the  bunk  houses, 
work  in  the  timber  and  are  beset  by  vice 
and  iniquity  offer  not  only  one  of  the  most 
picturesque  but  also  one  of  the  most  im¬ 
portant  home  missionary  opportunities  be¬ 
fore  the  church.  Many  of  them  help  to 
form  that  large  army  of  migrant  workers 
with  no  vital  spiritual  life  and  sometimes 
out  of  touch  with  civilization  itself. 

“In  the  Puget  Sound  Conference”  writes 
one  of  our  sky  pilots  in  Washington, 
“there  are  962  lumber  camps,  employing 
25,690  men,  and  1,031  mills,  employing 
72,545  men.  Some  of  these  camps  are 
thirty-five  miles  or  more  from  a  settlement 
and  are  reached  only  by  the  logging  camp 
railroad.  The  territory  covered  by  one  of 
our  three  lumber  camp  evangelists  is 
thirty-six  miles  long  and  here  are  more 
than  3,000  people  of  whom  only  two  and 
one-half  per  cent  are  professing  Chris¬ 
tians.  Of  the  700  public  school  children, 
only  a  very  few  know  what  a  Sunday 
school  is  like. 

“In  these  camps  bolshevism,  I.W.W.’ism, 
and  ultra  radical  teachings  thrive.  Work 
ceases  early  in  the  day  and  during  the  long 


Community  Rally  at  Ramapo,  Washington — set  up  by  field 
representative  of  Board  of  Sunday  Schools 


394 


WORLD  SERVICE 


winter  nights  the  men  gather  in  the  bunk- 
houses,  where  many  of  them  gamble, 
argue,  and  sometimes  fight.  Hospital  vis¬ 
itation  is  an  important  part  of  the  pro¬ 
gram  of  thrift,  health,  education  and  evan¬ 
gelism  of  the  camps,  and  this  Christlike 
ministration  is  not  soon  forgotten  by  the 
men.  A  number  of  regular  pastors  assist 
in  this  camp  work.  Sunday  schools  are 
organized,  and  many  men  have  united  with 
the  churches  near  these  camps,  over  200 
taking  this  step  in  one  camp.” 

Race  groups.— Spanish-speaking,  prin¬ 
cipally  Mexicans,  are  the  predominant 
foreign-speaking  groups  faced  by  the 
church  in  the  Pacific  states.  Large  col¬ 
onies  of  southern  Europeans,  principally 
Italians,  will  be  found  in  several  cities, 
and  the  task  of  reaching  them  with  evan¬ 
gelical  Christianity  is  similar  to  the  in¬ 
dustrial  cities  of  the  East. 

Chinese  in  the  three  states  numbered 
34,265  in  1920,  distributed  as  follows: 
2,363  in  Washington,  3,090  in  Oregon,  and 
28,812  in  California.  Japanese  totalled 
93,490  in  the  Pacific  group,  California 
having  71,952,  Oregon  4,151  and  Wash¬ 
ington  17,387.  The  Chinese  population  is 
steadily  decreasing,  due  to  the  death  rate, 
and  voluntary  migration  back  to  China. 
The  Japanese  are  steadily  increasing,  due 
to  the  incoming  of  “picture  brides”  up  to  a 
recent  date,  the  establishment  of  family 
life  and  the  rearing  of  large  families  of 


children.  The  Chinese  come  for  a  sojourn, 
the  Japanese  to  colonize  and  to  build  a 
permanent  community  life. 

The  essential  problem  faced  by  the 
church  concerning  the  Orientals  is  not  the 
form  of  its  missionary  service.  The  type 
of  ministry  which  succeeds  abroad  is 
adaptable  here.  The  success  of  home  mis¬ 
sions  already  attained  among  the  Japanese 
and  Chinese  is  the  proof.  But  the  church 
must  create  a  Christian  basis  for  the  solu¬ 
tion  of  interracial  problems  between  the 
native  Americans  and  the  Orientals. 

Rapid  growth  of  the  cities. —  Rapid  in¬ 
crease  of  population  always  offers  a  chal¬ 
lenge  to  the  church.  Suburban  com¬ 
munities  spring  up  with  amazing  speed, 
and  although  they  bespeak  prosperity  in 
appearance,  yet  they  are  investment  op¬ 
portunities  which  have  always  been  recog¬ 
nized  by  the  church.  Most  of  the  new 
homes  are  sold  on  the  basis  of  a  small 
cash  payment  and  the  rest  in  instalments 
that  generally  consume  the  financial  mar¬ 
gin  of  those  struggling  to  get  established. 
Hence  the  need  for  help  in  building 
churches  and  providing  the  right  leader¬ 
ship  which  will  at  the  very  start  command 
the  respect  of  the  community. 

Methodist  Episcopal  Achievements 
Off  the  beaten  track.— Sixty  miles  from 
the  railroad  is  located  Fall  River  Mills, 
California,  a  three  circuit 
charge.  The  entire  field 
is  almost  completely  iso¬ 
lated,  yet  a  rather  exten¬ 
sive  agricultural  and  in¬ 
dustrial  development  has 
taken  place.  A  home  mis¬ 
sionary  pastor  is  minis¬ 
tering  to  the  needs  of  the 
people  in  this  remote  ter¬ 
ritory.  At  Cedarville  in 
Surprise  Valley  in  the 
northern  part  of  the  state, 
there  are  three  points 
where  preaching  is  main¬ 
tained  with  a  membership 
of  170,  This  valley  will 


PACIFIC 


395 


some  day  be  largely  developed  through 
irrigation.  In  a  remote  district  in  eastern 
Washington,  a  survey  some  time  ago 
showed  104  school  districts  with  no  reli¬ 
gious  service.  The  population  in  all  of 
them  is  4,000.  A  missionary,  supported 
by  the  Board  of  Home  Missions  and 
Church  Extension,  conducts  preaching 
service  and  Sunday  school  in  many 
of  them,  and  wins  many  to  the  Christian 
way  of  life.  These  are  typical  missionary 
enterprises  in  the  isolated  regions  of  the 
Pacific  states. 

In  the  towns. —  A  successful  community 
work  and  an  adequate  building  has  meant 
new  life  in  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church  at  Pasco,  Washington.  A  com¬ 
paratively  new  brick  block  was  bought 
and  remodelled,  providing  a  splendid  audi¬ 
torium  and  other  rooms  for  social,  recrea¬ 
tional,  welfare  and  other  activities.  It 
has  a  pastor’s  study  and  a  church  office, 
besides  housing  many  organizations.  Be¬ 
fore  the  building  was  purchased  and  the 
community  program  was  promulgated,  the 
membership  met  for  worship  in  a  small 
one-room  and  one-day-in-seven  church. 
The  membership  was  less  than  half  a 
hundred  with  a  Sunday  morning  attend¬ 
ance  of  twenty  people.  The  membership 
has  since  passed  200  and  the  average  at¬ 
tendance  exceeds  that  number.  The  Sun¬ 
day-school  enrolment  in  the  old  church 
was  eighty-six,  with  an  average  attend¬ 
ance  of  fifty.  Today  the  enrolment  is  366, 
with  an  average  attendance  of  200. 

At  Bend,  Oregon,  a  church  adequately 
equipped  is  steadily  progressing  in  relat- 


A  Centenary  project — East  Bakersfield 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church 


Bunk  house  of  a  lumber  camp 


ing  itself  to  every  constructive  phase  of 
community  life.  At  Lakeview,  Oregon,  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church  is  preparing 
for  the  growth  of  the  community  through 
enlarged  lumber  industry  and  through  ex¬ 
tensive  irrigation  projects. 

These  community  churches  and  others 
like  them  are  types  of  those  which  the 
progressive  mind  of  the  Pacific  Coast  is 
expected  to  develop  in  the  course  of  the 
coming  decade. 

Among  the  lumberjacks. — Methodism’s 
ministry  to  the  men  who  work  in  the  for¬ 
ests  is  two-fold :  that  rendered  by  the  pas¬ 
tors  of  towns  and  villages  in  the  lumber 
regions,  who  go  out  into  the  camps  and 
render  what  service  they  are  able:  the 
other  is  that  performed  by  missionaries 
commissioned  for  the  particular  task. 
Primitive  conditions  and  hardships  are 
often  their  portion,  but  nowhere  is  a  more 
thrilling  achievement  being  rendered  in 
the  name  of  the  Kingdom. 

During  one  month,  one  of  these  sky 
pilots  to  the  lumberjacks  made  thirty 
camp  calls  and  gave  twenty  camp  talks; 
collected  8,000  magazines  and  delivered 
5,000  of  them  among  these  men  who  are 
out  of  touch  with  the  world ;  made  twenty 
hospital  visits  and  100  calls  on  the  sick; 
wrote  a  letter  to  the  State  Industrial  In¬ 
surance  Department  concerning  a  logger’s 
claim ;  delivered  two  people  to  the  hospital 
and  took  one  home ;  took  twenty-five  bou¬ 
quets  to  hospital ;  installed  at  a  hospital  a 
good  standard  library  purchased  with 
gifts  from  citizens  of  the  community; 


396 


WORLD  SERVICE 


preached  eight  times ;  had  three  professed 
conversions ;  conducted  two  funerals , 
added  five  members  to  the  church;  and 
visited  three  Sunday  schools. 

Among  the  miners.— For  thirty  years 
efforts  of  Protestantism  to  maintain  a 
ministry  in  the  great  coal  fields  of  the 
state  of  Washington  have  been  notoriously 
weak.  Yet  a  remarkable  piece  of  service 
is  being  rendered  by  the  Board  of  Home 
Missions  and  Church  Extension  at  Wilke- 
son,  one  of  the  most  important  mining 
centers  of  the  state.  Here  a  Methodist 
Episcopal  pastor  is  interpreting  the  mes¬ 
sage  of  the  Kingdom  among  a  population 
of  4,000  Austrians,  Italians,  Finns,  Welsh, 
Poles,  Germans,  Slovaks,  English,  Swedes, 
Bohemians,  Hungarians,  French,  Scotch, 
Belgians,  Swiss,  Russians,  and  Canadians. 

The  only  other  churches  are  an  unused 
Greek  Catholic  and  a  small  Roman  Cath¬ 
olic  with  services  once  a  month.  Vice,  and 
gambling  have  long  run  wide  open.  When 
the  missionary  pastor  arrived  two  years 
ago,  he  found  a  small  Sunday  school  of 
three  teachers  and  twenty-five  children. 
There  are  now  nine  classes  with  an  average 
attendance  of  ninety-four,  a  boys’  club  of 
twenty,  a  girls’  club  of  sixteen,  and  a 
Junior  choir  of  sixteen.  The  attendance 
at  preaching  services  has  increased  from 
sixteen  to  140.  A  Thanksgiving  service 
had  an  attendance  of  300,  and  a  Christmas 
entertainment  of  800.  Welfare  and  so¬ 
cial  work  are  being  developed  and  the 


Our  Chinese  church  in  San  Francisco— 
W.H.M.S.  building  in  rear 


community  life  is  gradually  being  trans¬ 
formed. 

Among  the  Chinese.— The  Pacific  Chi¬ 
nese  Mission,  with  an  English-speaking 
superintendent,  has  eighteen  appoint¬ 
ments,  all  of  them  in  charge  of  Chinese 
pastors.  Only  one  of  them  is  listed  as 
“to  be  supplied,”  the  work  now  being  con¬ 
templated  among  the  500  Chinese  in  San 
Antonio,  Texas.  These  appointments  are 
all  in  California  except  the  churches  at 
Phoenix,  Arizona;  Reno,  Nevada,  and  San 
Antonio,  Texas. 

We  have  six  schools  for  the  teaching  of 
Chinese  to  children  and  young  people,  and 
nine  evening  schools  for  the  teaching  of 
English  to  young  men. 

We  have  boys  in  these  schools  who  are 
sons  of  fathers  now  in  China  who  them¬ 
selves  were  trained  in  our  schools.  Many 
men  who  are  of  great  influence  in  civic 
and  moral  life  in  China  were  thus  started 
in  their  American  training  by  us.  Our 
immediate  necessity  is  for  teachers  and 
workers  who  have  both  the  English  and 
Chinese  languages,  which  means  that  our 
leaders  must  have  specialized  training. 

The  Pacific  Japanese  Mission. — The  Pa¬ 
cific  Japanese  Mission  is  divided  into  six 
groups,  four  of  which  are  in  California. 

They  are  the  San  Francisco  Bay  region, 
with  five  centers  of  work ;  the  Sacramento 
Valley,  with  six  centers;  the  San  Joaquin 
Valley,  with  two  centers;  and  Southern 
California  with  four  centers.  In  Wash¬ 
ington  and  Oregon  there  are  several  ap¬ 
pointments. 

The  following  activities  are  listed  in 
nearly  every  church:  worship  and  evan¬ 
gelism  ;  religious  education ;  social  service ; 
recreation ;  welfare ;  and  Americanization. 

Los  Angeles  and  Los  Angeles  County 
have  the  largest  Japanese  population  of 
any  town  and  county  in  the  United  States. 
Our  substantial  and  growing  Methodist 
congregation,  now  inadequately  housed,  is 
planning  for  a  splendid  new  building.  In 
Berkeley  a  large  Japanese  student  body 
attends  the  University  of  California. 

The  Sacramento  Valley  is  a  natural  cen¬ 
ter  for  Japanese  work.  Two  missions, 


PACIFIC 


397 


at  Florin  and  Loomis  have  already  grown 
out  of  the  Sacramento  Mission.  The 
mother  church  continues  to  show  remark¬ 
able  vitality.  In  a  few  months  thirty-five 
children  and  many  adults  were  baptized. 
The  membership  and  Sunday  school  each 
exceed  one  hundred.  In  the  Oakland  Japa¬ 
nese  Church  is  strong  Americanization 
and  evangelistic  work.  Among  its  198 
members  are  business  men,  merchants, 
laborers,  and  students.  Brawley  is  our 
Japanese  center  in  the  Imperial  Valley. 
The  whole  section  has  been  allocated  to 
the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  by  the 
Oriental  Missions  Council. 

The  Anglo-Japanese  School.  —  In  San 
Francisco  is  one  of  the  oldest  features  of 
our  Pacific  Japanese  Mission.  From  the 
Anglo-Japanese  School  have  come  a  large 
number  of  the  finest  type  of  Christians, 
both  ministers  and  laymen,  including  one 
ambassador  from  Japan  to  the  United 
States.  It  is  largely  self-sustaining.  In 
1922,  282  students  were  enrolled,  of  whom 
252  were  men  and  thirty  were  women. 
Nearly  all  were  graduates  of  grammar 
schools  in  Japan,  others  of  high  schools, 
and  a  few  from  the  Imperial  University 
at  Tokyo. 

The  Latin  American  Mission. — Impor¬ 
tant  advances  in  recent  years  in  the  work 
among  Mexicans  and  other  Spanish¬ 
speaking  people,  especially  in  New  Mex¬ 
ico,  Arizona,  and  California,  indicate  pos¬ 
sibilities  of  reaching  Mexico  with  the 
message  of  Protestantism  from  this  point 
of  vantage. 

In  California,  we  have  twenty-six  cir¬ 
cuits  for  Mexicans,  covering  fifty-four 
points.  Through  schools,  social  service, 
and  a  varied  ministry,  these  Latin  Ameri¬ 
cans  are  slowly  but  surely  seeing  the 
meaning  of  the  Gospel  of  Christ.  The 
progress  which  is  possible  is  illustrated  by 
Selma,  California,  where,  after  a  mis¬ 
sionary  worker  was  put  in  the  field,  the 
local  forces  got  together  and  built  a  chapel 
for  the  Mexicans.  In  one  year  179  people 
were  added  to  the  church,  and  the  pastor 
has  reached  out  to  three  other  points 
where  he  has  organized  missions  and  se- 


The  Centenary  provided  this  new  parsonage 
for  our  Mexican  pastor  at  Calexico 


cured  volunteer  workers  converted  in  his 
own  mission  to  lead  these  new  centers. 
Employed  here  is  a  well-trained  Mexican 
deaconess,  herself  a  product  of  the  work. 
One  of  the  converts  was  a  bootlegger  who 
after  his  conversion  not  only  destroyed  his 
liquor  supply  but  sought  out  the  man  from 
whom  he  had  stolen  the  grapes  and  in¬ 
sisted  on  paying  for  them  ! 

The  Plaza  Community  Center.  —  The 
Plaza  Community  Center  of  Los  Angeles 
is  the  very  heart  of  our  Mexican  work  in 
California.  Besides  the  transient  popula¬ 
tion  there  is  a  more  or  less  permanent 
Mexican  population  of  about  15,000  in  this 
one  parish. 

For  years  Methodist  work  on  the  Plaza 
has  been  carried  on  in  two  small,  one- 
story  frame  structures,  so  cramped  that 
often  it  has  been  necessary  to  use  a  single 
room  for  six  different  purposes.  Yet,  in 
spite  of  such  handicaps,  a  program  has 
been  developed  which  includes  seven  reli¬ 
gious  services  in  Spanish  each  week;  three 
jail  services;  the  distribution  of  tracts  and 
Scriptures;  the  Plaza  Christian  Training 
School  for  Mexican  theological  students 
and  young  women  missionaries;  a  Sunday 
school  with  a  membership  of  220;  Ep- 
worth  League  with  attendance  of  ninety; 
Epworth  League  Gospel  team,  doing  un¬ 
excelled  extension  work;  classes  in  nurs¬ 
ing,  homemaking,  dietetics,  and  the  care 
of  infants;  a  day  nursery  for  children  of 
working  mothers;  young  men’s,  women’s 
and  girls’  clubs;  special  social  events,  pic¬ 
nics,  suppers,  socials  and  hikes ;  an  em¬ 
ployment  bureau;  a  medical  clinic;  relief 
work  and  a  legal  consultation  service. 


398 


WORLD  SERVICE 


Manual  training — Spanish-American  Institute,  Gardena,  California 


During  a  recent  twelve  months,  15,000 
people  came  to  the  Plaza  Community  Cen¬ 
ter  for  special  consultation,  5,400  applica¬ 
tions  for  work  were  received  and  1,500 
jobs  secured,  19,440  attended  services  at 
the  church.  Long  delayed  plans  for  a  new 
building  are  now  being  realized.  This 
one  institution  so  strategically  located  is 
rendering  an  incalculable  personal  minis¬ 
try  in  interpreting  the  spirit  of  Jesus 
Christ,  both  to  Old  Mexico  and  to  the 
multitudes  of  Mexicans  who  within  recent 
years  have  found  refuge  in  America. 

The  Gardena  school. — The  Spanish- 
American  Institute  at  Gardena,  organized 
seven  years  ago,  has  today  the  greatest 
attendance  on  record,  enrolling  100  pupils, 
and  furnishing  for  Mexican  boys  who  do 
not  know  English  an  opportunity  to  get 
an  education  in  a  fine  social  and  Chris¬ 
tian  environment.  It  offers  a  definite 
training  to  fit  them  to  meet  the  needs  of 
the  Mexican  people.  The  school  owns 
twenty  acres  of  productive  land  on  which 
have  been  erected  eight  buildings. 

The  Frances  De  Pauw  School  in  Los 
Angeles  is  a  similar  school  in  practical 
training  for  Spanish-speaking  girls  con¬ 
ducted  by  the  Woman’s  Home  Missionary 
Society. 

Other  Latin  groups.— For  several  years 
Filipinos — mostly  young  men,  alert,  loyal 
Americans,  have  been  migrating  to  Amer¬ 
ica,  many  settling  on  the  Pacific  Coast, 
especially  in  San  Francisco  and  Southern 
California.  It  has  resulted  in  the  forma¬ 
tion  of  the  Filipino  Christian  Fellowship, 
composed  of  students  and  business  and 
professional  folk.  Each  Sunday  after¬ 
noon  there  is  a  devotional  service  followed 


by  a  social  hour.  The 
membership  has  passed 
the  one  hundred  mark.  It 
has  resulted  in  the  promo¬ 
tion  of  friendship,  and 
good  will. 

Many  Portuguese  are 
in  Oakland,  Tulare,  Stock- 
ton  and  the  Santa  Clara 
Valley.  Several  circuits 
have  been  formed,  and  our 
missionary  pastors  have 
succeeded  in  establishing  centers  of  work 
and  worship  and  are  gradually  winning 
the  confidence  of  the  people. 

Summing  up. — A  nine  months’  report  of 
the  Latin  American  mission  is  illuminat¬ 
ing.  “We  have  held  or  assisted  in  7,783 
meetings  with  an  attendance  of  89,053; 
3,134  sermons  have  been  preached,  48,039 
visits  made ;  workers  have  traveled 
128,477  miles,  placed  2,514  copies  of 
God’s  Word,  given  out  38,242  tracts,  and 
distributed  food  or  clothing  in  2,279  cases 
of  need.”  During  a  year  there  were  650 
conversions,  113  baptisms,  150  received 
into  full  membership,  and  282  into  pre¬ 
paratory  membership;  1,616  additional  ad¬ 
herents  were  reported. 

Methodism  in  the  cities. — Methodism  is 
proving  in  the  Pacific  Coast  cities  that  it 
can  adapt  itself  to  metropolitan  conditions 
and  can  solve  the  city  problem. 

For  half  a  century  the  First  Church  of 
Sacramento  held  faithfully  to  its  task  of 
a  conventional  ministry.  Then  the  new 


Class  in  English  for  Mexican  women.  Plaza 
Community  Center,  Los  Angeles 


PACIFIC 


399 


Frances  De  Pauw  Spanish  School — an  institution  of  the 
Woman’s  Home  Missionary  Society 


flood  poured  in — Japa¬ 
nese,  Chinese,  Portuguese, 

Italians,  Serbs,  Poles, 

Hungarians,  Hindus, 

Greeks  and  Mexicans. 

Thirty  -  one  nationalities 
in  all  took  possession  of 
that  portion  of  the  city. 

Though  losing  in  member¬ 
ship,  the  old  church  did 
not  falter.  With  far  vision, 
it  began  adjustment  to 
meet  the  even  greater  needs  of  the  poly¬ 
glot  population.  The  new  program  in¬ 
cluded  service  to  the  needs  of  its  immedi¬ 
ate  community.  It  became  known  as 
“American  Center.”  During  a  recent 
winter  of  severe  unemployment,  20,000 
men  received  free  shelter  and  food  and 
work  was  found  for  hundreds.  During  the 
same  winter,  the  gospel  in  Spanish  and 
English  was  preached  to  20,000  men  at 
regular  Sunday  public  worship  and  at 


week-night  street  meetings.  Services  are 
conducted  in  five  languages — Japanese, 
Chinese,  Spanish,  Portuguese,  and  Eng¬ 
lish.  On  one  occasion  700  Japanese  were 
present. 

A  Church  of  All  Nations. — In  a  parish  of 
60,000  people  of  forty-two  nationalities,  is 
the  Los  Angeles  Church  of  All  Nations. 
Poverty,  congestion,  bad  housing,  vice  and 
crime  are  some  of  the  social  problems.  The 
section  produces  more  juvenile  delin¬ 
quents  than  any  other  part  of  the  city. 
Except  for  a  small  school  playground  and 
that  of  the  church,  there  is  no  play  space 
for  more  than  five  thousand  children  of 


school  age.  There  are  five  hundred  indus¬ 
trial  establishments  in  the  parish. 

A  thorough  survey  revealed  the  needs. 
The  work  was  begun,  a  staff  built  up,  and 
the  program  for  the  future  adopted.  The 
playground  and  social  rooms  became  the 
haven  for  hundreds  in  their  search  for 
recreation  and  for  friendship.  Clubs, 
classes,  and  group  organizations  were 
formed.  At  present  the  attendance  at  all 
activities  is  running  1,800  per  week,  the 
capacity  of  the  present 
quarters. 

Plans  are  under  way 
for  new  buildings  which 
will  provide  for  worship, 
religious  education,  social 
service,  and  recreation. 
The  new  location  is  on 
one  of  the  main  thorough¬ 
fares  of  the  city.  Help 
from  the  church  at  large 
is  necessary  to  make  pos¬ 
sible  this  enlarged  plan  to 
care  for  5,000  needy  people  per  week  in  a 
widely  varied  ministry. 

For  the  abundant  life. — Woodland  Park 
Church,  Seattle,  has  under  way  a  new 
community  church  plant,  the  first  unit  of 
which  provides  equipment  for  religious  ed¬ 
ucation  and  social  recreational  features. 
Its  community  church  creed  is:  “Jesus 
came  that  men  might  have  abundant  life. 
This  church  will  be  built  to  help  folks  find 
that  abundance  for  every  department  of 
life.” 

At  Portland,  the  list  of  church  projects 
inspired,  aided  and  brought  to  successful 
completion,  or  now  in  process  of  con- 


Class  in  children’s  department,  Church  of  All  Nations,  Los  Angeles 


400 


WORLD  SERVICE 


struction  as  the  result  of  Centenary  effort, 
is  the  testimony  of  the  vision  and  intelli¬ 
gent  devotion  of  our  church  leaders  to 
Portland’s  larger  needs.  The  entire  Port¬ 
land  district  has  been  lifted  in  physical 
equipment  and  morale. 

In  Tacoma,  Central  Church  was  con¬ 
demned  by  the  building  inspector.  Its 


SUMMER  SCHOOLS  AND  INSTITUTES 

Epworth  League  Institutes 

Washington 

1  First  Creek,  Lake  Chelan,  Lake  Chelan. 

2  Yakima,  Soda  Springs. 

3  Redondo  Beach,  Puget  Sound,  Epworth 
Heights. 

Oregon 

4  Joseph,  Wallowa  Lake. 

5  Ashland,  Ashland. 

6  Falls  City,  Falls  City. 


membership  represented  meager  financial 
resources,  many  of  their  bread  winners 
being  out  of  work.  So  the  Board  of  Home 
Missions  and  Church  Extension  and  the 
larger  churches  in  Tacoma  came  to  the 
rescue  by  providing  a  new  worthy  build¬ 
ing  which  houses  the  social  and  religious 
work  and  the  Goodwill  Industries  for  the 

California 

7  Huntington  Beach,  Pacific  Palisades. 

8  Sierra  Chautauqua,  High  Sierras. 

9  Yosemite  Valley,  Camp  6,  Yosemite. 

10  Camp  Belle  via  Tahoe,  Lake  Tahoe. 

11  Arroyo  Grande,  Arroyo  Grande. 

12  Castle  Crags,  Shasta. 

13  Asilomar,  Asilomar. 

14  Guernewood  Park,  Guerneville,  Russian 
River. 

Summer  Schools  of  Religious  Education. 

Washington 

15  Tacoma,  College  of  Puget  Sound. 

California 

16  Eos  Angeles,  University  of  Southern  Cali¬ 
fornia. 

Schools  for  City  Pastors. 

Conference  Institutes 

California 

17  Fresno. 

Summer  Schools  for  Town  and  Rural  Pastors. 
Washington 

18  Pullman,  Washington  State  College  (Inter¬ 
denominational). 

Oregon 

19  Salem,  Kimball  School  of  Theology. 

California 

20  San  Jose,  College  of  the  Pacific. 

Summer  Schools  of  Theology. 

California 

21  Los  Angeles,  University  of  Southern  Cali¬ 
fornia. 

Missionary  Summer  Conferences. 

Missionary  Education  Movement 

Washington 

22  Seabeck. 

California 

23  Asilomar. 

Woman’s  Home  Missionary  Society 

California 

24  Los  Angeles  (Interdenominational). 
Woman’s  Foreign  Missionary  Society 

Washington 

25  Seabeck  (Interdenominational). 

California 

26  Los  Angeles  (Interdenominational). 

27  Mount  Hermon  (Interdenominational). 

28  Asilomar  (Interdenominational). 


PACIFIC 


401 


community.  Bethany  Church  has  com¬ 
pleted  a  new  community  hall  equipped 
with  much  needed  Sunday-school  rooms, 
a  fine  gymnasium,  and  a  social  center. 

In  Spokane,  capital  of  the  Inland  Em¬ 
pire,  Centenary  Church,  with  a  parish 
population  of  40,000,  has  supplanted  its 
old  one-room  building  with  a  modern 
plant  adapted  to  community  service. 

Goodwill  Industries. — One  of  the  most 
interesting  of  the  Goodwill  Industries  is 
located  at  San  Francisco,  growing  out  of 
a  free  employment  bureau  conducted  by 
a  downtown  pastor.  He  served  two  years 
without  salary,  putting  in  $1,000  of  his 
own  money  to  get  the  enterprise  started. 
The  third  year  it  did  $80,000  worth  of 
business. 

In  Los  Angeles  the  Goodwill  Industries 
largely  serve  the  Mexican  population. 

Women’s  Home  Missions. — Schools,  kin¬ 
dergartens,  relief  work  and  religious  min¬ 
istry  comprise  the  characteristic  service 
of  the  Woman’s  Home  Missionary  Society 
throughout  the  Pacific  states.  Japanese, 
Italians,  Chinese,  Mexicans,  Koreans,  and 
other  nationalities  are  among  those 
helped. 

Indian  stations. — Methodism’s  ministry 
to  the  North  American  Indians,  in  the 
Pacific  states,  is  larger  than  in  any  other 
division  of  the  country,  except  the  East 
North  Central  states,  where  the  number 
of  missions  is  the  same,  fourteen.  At 
Nespelem,  Washington,  forty  miles  back 


It  carries  its  own  sign,  and  is  located 
in  San  Francisco 


from  the  railroad,  dozens  of  Indian  young 
men  gather  nightly  at  the  church.  The 
only  other  place  open  is  the  pool  hall.  A 
community  house  would  enable  the  church 
greatly  to  enlarge  its  work.  On  the  Siletz 
reservation  in  Oregon,  Methodism  has  the 
sole  responsibility  among  six  hundred 
Indians.  Our  church  has  a  membership 
of  more  than  one  hundred.  A  demonstra¬ 
tion  farm  is  maintained  at  the  Beatty, 


EDUCATIONAL  INSTITUTIONS 

Colleges,  Universities  and  Professional  Schools. 

Washington 

1  Tacoma,  College  of  Puget  Sound. 

Oregon 

2  Salem,  Willamette  University. 

3  Salem,  Kimball  School  of  Theology. 

California 

4  Los  Angeles,  University  of  Southern  Cal¬ 
ifornia. 

5  Los  Angeles,  McClay  School  of  Religion. 

6  San  Jose,  College  of  the  Pacific. 

Training  Schools. 

Washington 

7  Seattle  (D),  Northwest  Training  School. 

California 

8  San  Francisco  (WHMS  &  D),  San  Fran¬ 
cisco  National  Training  School. 


Seattle 

7 

ifcTacoma 
1 

WASHINGTON 


s 

V 


i 


402 


WORLD  SERVICE 


Methodist  Book  Concern  building, 
San  Francisco 


Oregon,  mission.  Round  Valley  is  one  of 
our  important  California  Indian  missions, 
allocated  to  us  by  the  Home  Missions 
Council.  White  Swan,  Washington,  is  on 
the  Yakima  reservation,  and  is  the  out¬ 
come  of  work  begun  by  Jason  Lee. 

Educationj — Among  the  colleges  and 
universities,  some  of  them  among  the  fore¬ 
most  and  progressive  in  the  world,  Meth¬ 
odism,  true  to  her  tradition,  has  a  large 
representation. 

In  Tacoma,  the  College  of  Puget  Sound 
has  just  completed  a  $1,500,000  campaign 
for  building  and  endowment.  A  magnifi¬ 
cent  campus  has  been  purchased  and  it  is 
expected  that  the  new  buildings  will  soon 
be  constructed. 

At  Salem,  Oregon,  Willamette  Univer¬ 
sity,  which  is  the  oldest  educational  insti¬ 
tution  west  of  the  Rocky  Mountains,  has 
just  increased  its  endowment  to  $2,000,- 
000,  and  has  received  new  funds  fPr  build¬ 
ing  and  equipment.  Kimball  School  of 
Theology  at  Salem  has  recently  been  re¬ 


organized  and  is  filling  a  larger  place  in 
the  thought  of  the  church. 

The  University  of  Southern  California 
in  Los  Angeles  is  now  entering  upon  a 
ten-million-dollar  campaign  for  endow¬ 
ment.  A  new  building  will  be  erected  to 
house  the  activities  of  the  McClay  School 
of  Religion.  The  university  is  not  only  an 
institution  of  strong,  Christian  influence, 
but  serves  all  the  needs  of  the  great  mu¬ 
nicipal  university. 

The  College  of  the  Pacific  at  San  Jose 
has  recently  secured  a  million  and  a  half 
dollars  in  endowment,  and  is  planning  to 
relocate  at  Stockton,  the  doorway  to  the 
great  San  Joaquin  Valley. 

The  national  training  schools  at  Seattle 
and  San  Francisco  are  Deaconess  and 


STUDENT  WORK  AT  NON-METHODIST 
EDUCATIONAL  INSTITUTIONS 

Washington 

1  Pullman,  State  College  of  Washington. 

2  Seattle,  University  of  Washington. 

Oregon 

3  Eugene,  University  of  Oregon. 

4  Corvallis,  Oregon  Agricultural  College. 

California 

5  Davis,  University  of  California,  Agricul¬ 
tural  Experiment  Station. 

6  Berkeley,  University  of  California, 


PACIFIC 


403 


HOSPITALS  AND  HOMES  OF  THE  METH¬ 
ODIST  EPISCOPAL  CHURCH 

Hospitals. 

Washington 

1  Spokane,  Maria  Beard  Deaconess  Hos¬ 
pital. 

2  Wenatchee,  Central  Washington  Dea¬ 
coness  Hospital. 

3  Seattle,  Seattle  General  Hospital. 

California 

4  Los  Angeles  Methodist  Hospital  of 
Southern  California. 


Homes  for  the  Aged. 

Oregon 

5  Salem,  Methodist  Old  People’s  Home. 

California 

6  Los  Angeles,  Pacific  Old  People’s  Home. 

7  Stockton,  Bethany  Old  People’s  Home. 

8  Oakland,  Beulah  Rest  Home, 


Homes  for  Children. 

Washington 

9  Everett,  Deaconess  Children’s  Home. 

10  Seattle,  Catherine  P.  Blaine  Home. 

11  Seattle,  Lyng  Home  for  Girls. 

California 

12  La  Verne,  David  and  Margaret  Home. 

13  Gardena,  Spanish  American  Institute. 

14  Los  Angeles,  Frances  M.  DePauw  Span¬ 
ish  School. 

15  Los  Angeles,  Norwegian-Danish  Home 
for  Girls. 

16  Oakland,  Fred  Finch  Orphanage. 

17  San  Francisco,  Ellen  Stark  Ford  Home. 

18  San  Francisco,  McKinley  Orphanage. 

19  San  Francisco  Methodist  Episcopal 
Chinese  Home. 

Woman’s  Home  Missionary  Society  enter¬ 
prises. 

Wesley  Foundation  beginnings. — The 
Pacific  states  report  at  least  5,000  Meth¬ 
odist  students  at  non-Methodist  institu¬ 
tions.  In  Oregon  the  work  done  by  our 
churches  at  the  state  college  centers, 
Eugene  and  Corvallis,  is  of  vital  impor¬ 
tance.  The  enrolment  of  Methodist  stu¬ 
dents  at  the  Oregon  Agricultural  College, 
Corvallis,  already  equals  the  membership 
of  the  church.  A  modern  church  building 
is  now  in  process  which  will  make  possible 
a  social  and  religious  ministry  for  the 
thousands  of  young  people  who  through 
the  years  will  be  entrusted  to  the  Corvallis 
Church. 

At  Seattle,  near  the  University  of 
Washington,  two  dwellings  have  been 
purchased  and  have  been  remodeled  to 
form  very  satisfactory  temporary  quar¬ 
ters  for  study  groups,  conferences  with 
students,  and  social  functions. 


The  Bible  car  at  San  Franciscg 


404 


WORLD  SERVICE 


At  Berkeley,  California,  an  unusually 
constructive  work  among  the  students  at 
the  state  university  is  being  done  by  Trin¬ 
ity  Church.  Enlargement  plans  call  for 
an  educational  building,  a  social  center, 
and  an  auditorium  to  seat  1,200  people. 

Methodist  work  is  also  being  established 
at  the  State  Agricultural  College  of  Wash¬ 
ington  at  Pullman  and  at  the  California 
Agricultural  Experiment  Station  at  Davis. 

Social  service. — The  organized  philan¬ 
thropy  of  the  church  is  represented  in 
nineteen  hospitals,  homes  and  orphanages 
scattered  through  the  three  states.  Among 
them  is  the  Deaconess  Hospital  at  Spo¬ 
kane,  with  building  and  equipment  valued 
at  $500,000,  the  Deaconess  Hospital  at 
Wenatchee,  Washington,  valued  at  $150,- 
000,  and  the  General  Hospital  at  Seattle. 

Typical  needs. — Rapid  growth  in  popu¬ 
lation  and  the  opening  up  of  new  regions 
for  settlement  constitute  the  missionary 
problem  and  opportunity.  The  opportu¬ 
nity  is  the  field,  the  problem  is  the  enlist¬ 
ment  of  leadership  and  resources  sufficient 
to  meet  the  need.  Immediate  needs,  in¬ 
volving  vital  work  already  started,  are 
pressing  in  the  Pacific  states: 

New  building  in  industrial  section  of  city  where 
people  of  little  means  now  worship  in  old,  decrepit 
structure. 

Worker  to  reach  sailors  and  civilian  mechanics 
at  large  naval  station. 

New  building  for  Mexican  congregation  now 
crowded  into  an  old,  unsuitable  building. 

Community  house  for  Italian  congregation  now 
housed  in  structure  repulsive  to  those  who  love 
the  beautiful. 

New  church  for  Indian  congregation  now  wor¬ 
shipping  in  an  old,  abandoned  government  ware¬ 
house,  which  looks  more  like  a  barn  than  a  church. 

Community  building  for  Indian  reservation 
where  only  destructive  forces  provide  any  social 
life. 

Church  to  reach  3,500  unchurched  Italians  and 
Portuguese  in  industrial  community. 

Community  church  building  for  parish  of  20,000 
near  large  shipbuilding  plants. 


Social  center  for  Norwegian-Danish  congrega¬ 
tion,  ministering  to  many  foreign-speaking  sailors. 

Support  of  worker  in  Japanese  community  where 
Buddhist  influences  are  strong. 

Expansion  of  foreign-speaking  school  work  to 
meet  the  demands  upon  it. 

Completion  of  Japanese  Mission  building  stra¬ 
tegically  located  in  large  city  and  able  to  do  influ¬ 
ential  work. 

Community  center  for  church  in  parish  of  60,000, 
mostly  Japanese  and  Jews.  Church  doing  a  large 
work  with  inadequate  equipment. 

Parsonage  in  Mexican  border  town  with  a  pop¬ 
ulation  of  about  5,000. 

New  church  to  replace  a  shack  which  is  falling 
apart,  located  in  dry  farming  region  turning  to 
irrigation.  Population  of  3,500  expected  largely 
to  increase. 

Replace  condemned  building  in  rapidly  growing 
educational  center. 

Community  church  building  in  mining  commu¬ 
nity  of  4,000  with  ten  pool  rooms  and  dance  halls. 

Church  in  center  of  irrigated  fruit  growing 
region,  a  packing  house  now  being  used  for  part 
of  growing  Methodist  work.  Our  sole  respon¬ 
sibility  in  population  of  3,600. 

Looking  forward. — “Where  there  is  no 
vision,  the  people  perish,”  may  well  be  ap¬ 
plied  to  the  church.  Methodism  has  lived 
because  it  has  seen  the  spiritual  poverty 
of  mankind  and  has  sought  to  provide  the 
unsearchable  riches  of  Christ  Jesus.  True 
to  its  commission,  it  has  moved  westward 
with  the  multitudes  who  have  gone  out  to 
build  new  empires.  It  journeys  on  with 
Anglo-Saxonism  as  it  makes  its  final  stand 
on  the  Pacific  Coast.  It  now  steps  beyond 
the  shores  and  faces  east  again,  looking 
through  the  Golden  Gate  and  viewing  the 
Pacific  Coast  as  the  eastern  rim  of  the 
Pacific  Basin.  It  sees  there  a  land  of  vast 
missionary  opportunity,  a  portion  of  the 
earth’s  territory  which  in  the  future  is 
destined  to  have  a  profound  influence  on 
all  the  rest  of  the  world.  It  has  set  its 
hand  to  the  plow  to  till  the  soil  and  sow 
the  seeds  of  the  kingdom  of  Christ  that  a 
new  world  may  come  forth.  Having  set 
its  hand  to  the  plow,  it  will  not  turn  back. 


Life  Service  Assembly  of  the  Epworth  League,  California  Conference 


THE  TERRITORIES 


imiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiimimiimimii) 


ALASKA 
HAWAII 
PORTO  RICO 


THE  NOME  LIMITED 


The  United  States  government  wiped  out  yellow  fever 
by  abolishing  unsanitary  conditions.  The  church  must 
wipe  out  immorality  and  irreligion  by  processes  of  edu¬ 
cation,  worship  and  community  service. 


THE  TERRITORIES 


ALASKA 

A  Land  of  Treasure 

Shall  we  give  as  we  get? — When  William 
H.  Seward  paid  seven  million  dollars  for 
590,900  square  miles  of  ice  and  snow,  most 
of  the  United  States  united  in  derision. 
Yet  “Seward’s  Folly”  has  turned  out  to 
contain  an  amazing  wealth  of  gold,  cop¬ 
per,  tin  and  coal,  millions  of  acres  that 
can  be  cultivated  and  waters  teeming  with 
salmon. 

But,  although  the  country  is  as  large  as 
all  the  United  States  east  of  the  Missis¬ 
sippi  with  the  exception  of  Florida,  the 
population  in  1920  was  only  55,036 — 
almost  10,000  less  than  in  1910. 

This  decrease  in  the  popula¬ 
tion  •  is,  of  course,  due  to  the 
fact  that  Alaska  yields  her 
riches  only  to  the  hardi¬ 
est  and  most  determined  of 
men.  Nor  will  spiritual  victo¬ 
ries  be  won  in  this  stern  land 
save  by  the  display  of  the  same 


sort  of  courage  that  has  marked  the 
search  for  material  wealth. 

Since  gold  was  discovered  in  the  Yukon 
men  have  gone  to  Alaska  almost  exclu¬ 
sively  to  get  something  from  her.  Today 
we  are  beginning  to  see  that  the  future 
depends  upon  our  willingness  to  give 
something  to  her.  The  spiritual  welfare 
of  her  Americans,  English,  Spanish,  and 
Norwegians,  as  well  as  the  Aleuts,  Atha- 
baskan  Indians  and  Eskimos  depends  upon 
the  service  which  the  Christian  church 
renders. 

Alaska  today. — Alaska  is  America’s  last 
frontier.  Its  inaccessibility  is 
being  somewhat  changed  by  the 
building  of  railways  but  it  is  still 
true  that,  after  one  leaves  the 
three  short  lines  so  far  developed, 
the  only  means  of  travel  is  by 
mushing  it  on  foot  or  by  dog- 
sled  over  trails  that  are  passa¬ 
ble  only  during  the  severe  winter 


407 


408 


WORLD  SERVICE 


Old  hospital,  Nome,  Alaska 


months.  Settlements  are  widely  scattered 
and  communication  difficult. 

The  white  population  is  of  an  extremely 
shifting  character.  Much  of  it  “goes 
out”  during  the  winter  to  Seattle,  San 
Francisco  or  southern  California.  While 
in  Alaska,  white  men  wander  from  one 
mining  camp  to  another,  or  from  one  fish¬ 
ery  to  the  next,  ever  on  the  search  for 
higher  wages  and  almost  never  settling. 

Besides  white  men,  the  Indians  and  Es¬ 
kimos,  present  a  missionary  problem. 
Only  a  slight  advance  has  been  made 
toward  the  evangelization  of  these. 

The  Program  of  the  Church 

A  defined  territory. — In  the  face  of  the 
problems  of  distance  and  communications, 
the  Christian  churches  in  Alaska  have 
wisely  delimited  the  territory  for  which 
each  is  responsible. 

A  glance  at  the  map  on  page  406  will 
show  that  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church 
is  at  work  at  Ketchikan,  Petersburg, 
Juneau,  Seward,  Skagway,  Nome,  Fair¬ 
banks,  and  Unalaska.  The  funds  availa¬ 
ble  have  been  too  limited  to  care  even  for 
these  restricted  responsibilities. 


Methodist  church  and  parsonage,  Alaska 


What  the  field  requires.^ — At  Ketchikan, 
a  strong  fishing  center,  there  is  a  varied 
social  type  of  evangelism  among  the 
Scandinavians  and  English-speaking  pop¬ 
ulation.  During  the  fishing  season  from 
one  to  three  hundred  of  the  1,200  fishing 
boats,  each  with  a  crew  of  four  or  five 
men  are  constantly  in  port.  With  a 
proper  chapel  and  clubroom  much  can  be 
done  to  protect  these  men  from  the  vices 
common  to  such  places.  The  same  thing 
is  true  in  Petersburg. 

Juneau  is  one  of  the  most  promising 
towns  in  Alaska.  Seward  is  the  strategic 
center  for  the  Kenai  peninsula. 

In  Nome  is  to  be  found  one  of  the  fine 
institutions  under  the  direction  of  the 


Sewing  class  in  the  Jesse  Lee  Home 


Woman’s  Home  Missionary  Society.  The 
work  originally  consisted  of  a  church,  par¬ 
sonage,  hospital  and  gymnasium.  At  the 
time  of  the  first  influenza  epidemic  all  the 
adult  Eskimos  in  the  town  died,  leaving 
over  two  hundred  children  as  orphans. 
These  have  been  gathered  in  the  gymna¬ 
sium,  where  they  are  being  cared  for  as 
well  as  the  makeshift  quarters  permit. 

Far  out  on  the  Aleutian  Islands,  point¬ 
ing  at  the  nearby  coast  of'  Asia,  is  the 
Jesse  Lee  Home  at  Unalaska,  in  which 
seventy  Aleutian  children  are  gathered  by 
the  Woman’s  Home  Missionary  Society. 
The  superintendent,  Dr.  Newhall,  is  the 
only  physician  within  600  miles. 

The  immediate  need. — It  is  the  purpose 
of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  to 
staff  adequately  all  its  centers  in  Alaska 
and  to  give  them  an  equipment  that  will 
make  it  possible  to  deal  effectively  with 
the  needs  of  this  neglected  territory. 


THE  TERRITORIES 


409 


HAWAII 


The  Crossroads  of  the  Pacific 

On  the  road  to  everywhere. — With  all 
this  talk  about  the  coming  importance  of 
the  Pacific,  it  behooves  world  citizens  to 
pay  attention  to  Hawaii.  For  it  is  im¬ 
possible  to  go  much  of  anywhere 
in  this  vital  basin  without 
touching  this  group  of 
islands.  Pass  through  the 
Panama  Canal,  Yoko¬ 
hama  bound,  and  you 
break  your  voyage  at 
Honolulu.  Leave  one 
commonwealth  of  the 
British  empire  at 
Vancouver  to  reach 
another  at  Sidney  and 
you  stop  at  Honolulu. 

Embark  from  one  great 
republic  at  San  Fran¬ 
cisco,  to  debark  at  another 
in  Shanghai,  and  you  pause 
part  way  at  Honolulu.  When 
it  comes  to  patrolling  the 
Pacific  Basin,  Hawaii  will  be 
found  on  the  road  to  everywhere. 

A  problem  in  amalgamation. — It  is  not 
hard  for  the  enraptured  climate-booster 
to  grow  lyrical  about  Hawaii.  But  to 
many  of  Hawaii’s  leaders,  however,  there 
seems  today  little  time  to  give  to  the  cli¬ 


Hawaii — Crossroads  of  the 
Pacific 


mate.  Political  and  social  problems  de¬ 
mand  instant  attention,  foremost  among 
them  that  of  racial  amalgamation. 

Talk  as  you  will  about  the  conditions  in 
American  cities,  you  will  find  that  Uncle 
Sam  has  no  more  refractory  melt¬ 
ing  pot  than  Hawaii.  Out  of 
a  population  of  25  6,000 
there  are  estimated  to  be 
110,000  Japanese,  23,000 
Chinese,  21,000  Fili¬ 
pinos,  and  5,000  Ko¬ 
reans.  In  addition, 
there  are  24,000  Ha- 
waiians  and  about 
27,000  Portuguese. 
The  remainder  are 
mainly  Americans, 
many  of  them  descend¬ 
ants  of  the  first  mission- 
•ies  to  the  islands. 

What  are  you  to  do  with  a 
group  like  that,  especially 
when  it  is  the  Orientals  who 
are  increasing  most  rapidly, 


and  when  many  of  them,  faced  by  the  dras¬ 
tic  citizenship  laws  of  the  United  States, 
show  every  disposition  to  tighten  the  ties 
that  bind  them  to  their  former  homes? 
This  intricate  but  important  problem  un¬ 
derlies  much  of  our  work  in  Hawaii. 


410 


WORLD  SERVICE 


Children  at  Susanna  Home,  Honolulu 


What  the  Church  is  Attempting 

Methodism  in  Hawaii. — The  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church  came  to  Hawaii  first  in 
the  early  ’50s,  and  then  went  away  again. 
It  found  the  missionaries  of  other  socie¬ 
ties  doing  an  adequate  work,  so,  in  ac¬ 
cordance  with  the  general  policy  of  the 
church,  it  withdrew. 

The  beginning  of  the  Oriental  influx, 
however,  completely  changed  conditions. 
The  churches  in  Hawaii  petitioned  for  the 
return  of  the  Methodists,  who  were  able 
to  send  workers  already  familiar  with  the 
language  and  custom  of  Japanese,  Ko¬ 
reans,  and  Filipinos.  Down  to  the  pres¬ 
ent,  practically  all  the  Protestant  work 
done  among  the  fast-increasing  Filipinos 
is  that  of  our  church. 

In  addition  to  the  service  among  these 
racial  groups,  there  is  also  a  strong  con¬ 
gregation  in  Honolulu  ministering  to  the 
English-speaking  community  there. 

Types  of  work. — There  are  two  Japa¬ 
nese  Methodist  churches  in  Honolulu,  one 
of  which  is  now  being  relocated  and  re¬ 
constructed.  Both  are  w?ell  staffed  and 
are  having  a  wide  influence  throughout 
the  islands.  There  are  fourteen  Japanese 
workers  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church  in  the  Hawaiian  Islands,  with  no 
church  property  except  the  two  churches 
in  Honolulu  and  the  new  property  just 
purchased  on  the  island  of  Maui. 

In  the  city  of  Honolulu  there  has  been 
for  a  number  of  years  a  Korean  Methodist 
church  and  compound.  During  the  past 


year  a  new  location  has  been  Secured  and 
church  and  compound  reconstructed. 
There  are  ten  Korean  workers  in  the 
islands,  but  no  other  property. 

The  Centenary  has  made  possible  the 
First  Filipino  Methodist  Episcopal  Church 
in  Honolulu.  Twelve  Filipino  workers 
carry  on  a  program  throughout  the  settle¬ 
ments  of  their  countrymen,  but  there  ia 
no  other  property. 

Facing  the  future.  —  The  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church  is  at  work  in  the  islands 
of  Oahu,  Kauai,  Hawaii,  and  Maui.  With 
the  exception  of  the  Japanese,  Korean, 
and  Filipino  churches  in  Honolulu  and  one 
church  in  the  island  of  Maui,  used  by 
both  Japanese  and  Filipinos,  the  church 
is  dependent  for  places  of  worship  and  for 
residences  for  its  workers  upon  property 
loaned  by  the  sugar  planters.  It  is  most 
urgent  that  steps  be  taken  to  secure  suit¬ 
able  property  in  all  of  the  centers  in  which 
work  is  being  carried  on.  The  Oriental 
has  come  to  Hawaii  to  stay.  He  must  be 
shown  that  the  church  has  come  to  stay 
with  him. 

At  the  Schofield  Barracks,  the  largest 
army  post  in  the  entire  service,  twenty- 
seven  miles  from  Honolulu,  the  church 
faces  a  peculiar  responsibility.  With  no 
house  of  worship  within  nine  miles,  the 
church  has  been  requested  to  build  a 
chapel  for  which  the  government  will  pro¬ 
vide  rock  and  most  of  the  labor.  The 
chapel,  when  built,  will  serve  9,000  men  in 
the  United  States  army. 


First  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  Honolulu 


THE  TERRITORIES 


411 


Men’s  Bible  class,  Ponce  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  Ponce,  Porto  Rico 


PORTO  RICO 

(With  a  note  on  Santo  Domingo) 


Responsibility  in  the  Antilles 

A  Spanish  legacy. — Porto  Rico,  although 
under  the  American  flag,  is  a  land  of  an 
alien  tongue.  For  more  than  four  hun¬ 
dred  years  it  was  ruled  by  Spain.  Under 
this  tutelage  little  advance  was  made  by 
the  people.  When  the  United  States  took 
over  the  island,  85  per  cent  of  the  popu¬ 
lation  was  illiterate. 

Poverty  and  plenty. — Porto  Rico  should 
be  a  land  of  plenty.  Its  soil  is  able  to  pro¬ 
duce  with  all  the  generosity  that  marks 
the  semi-tropics.  But  only  a  quarter  of 
the  land  is  under  cultivation,  and  this 
must  support  approximately  four  hundred 
people  for  every  square  mile  of  the  island ! 

The  Department  of  Agriculture  reports 
that  there  are  300,000  barefoot  people  liv¬ 
ing  in  the  poorer  sections  of  the  island 
who  have  scarcely  enough  to  satisfy  their 
absolute  needs. 

Under  American  rule,  however,  im¬ 
proved  economic  and  social  conditions  are 
coming.  Before  the  coming  of  the  United 
States,  for  example,  Porto  Rico  was  pro¬ 
ducing  68,000  tons  of  sugar  annually;  in 
1917  the  production  was  488,000  tons. 

Where  Catholicism  fell  short. — From  the 
time  of  Columbus  until  that  of  McKinley 


the  Roman  Catholic  Church  had  a  free 
field  in  Porto  Rico.  Nor  should  its  serv¬ 
ice  be  underestimated.  From  the  Catholic 
conception  of  the  church,  the  island’s  reli¬ 
gious  needs  were  fairly  well  served. 

The  most  obvious  shortcoming  of  the 
church  under  Spanish  rule  was  its  failure 
to  touch  rural  Porto  Rico.  And  only 
283,934  of  the  1,299,809  people  in  Porto 
Rico  live  in  the  cities. 

The  Roman  Catholic  Church  in  Porto 
Rico,  as  elsewhere,  failed  to  give  an  inter¬ 
pretation  of  religion  that  emphasized  its 
ethical  and  social  demands. 

The  Protestant  influence.  —  In  accord¬ 
ance  with  American  policy,  the  territorial 
government  established  public  schools  and 
began  to  work  toward  universal  popular 
education.  There  are  today  almost  175,000 
students  in  these  public  schools.  This 
emphasis  upon  education  left  the  evan¬ 
gelical  churches  free  to  devote  their  atten¬ 
tion  to  that  training  in  religion  and  morals 
that  the  island  so  sadly  needed. 

The  action  of  Porto  Rico  in  enacting 
prohibition  by  popular  suffrage  prior  to 
the  constitutional  amendment  in  the 
United  States,  is  sufficient  evidence  of  the 
influence  of  Protestant  Christianity. 


412 


WORLD  SERVICE 


Methodism  in  Porto  Rico 
An  important  field. — The  field  assigned 
to  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  com¬ 
prises  a  broad  strip  of  territory  extend¬ 
ing  across  the  island. 

In  this  Methodist  territory  live  about 
one-third  of  the  people  of  Porto  Rico. 
The  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  is  at 
work  in  130  centers,  in  not  one  of  which 
is  there  any  other  evangelical  effort. 

A  Centenary  achievement.' — Everywhere 
the  church  is  going  forward.  This  has 
been  graphically  demonstrated  during  the 
Centenary  period  in  the  capital  city  of 
San  Juan,  where  for  years  there  has  been 
need  for  a  church  building  that  would  fitly 
house  what  has  been  conceded  to  be  the 
best  piece  of  church  work  that  is  being 
carried  on  by  any  Protestant  body  in  that 
city.  Church  extension  funds  have  made 
possible  the  erection  of  an  edifice  that  is 
commanding  attention  and  leading  to  an 
increased  ministry  on  the  part  of  this  im¬ 
portant  society. 


Trinity  Church,  San  Juan,  Porto  Rico 


Typical  needs. — But  with  all  that  has 
been  accomplished  the  work  in  Porto  Rico 
must  still  be  considered  in  terms  of  need 
rather  than  of  accomplishment. 

Arecibo,  a  city  of  12,000  people  on  the 
north  side  of  the  island,  has  a  church 
manned  by  the  superintendent  of  the  dis¬ 
trict  and  three  helpers.  The  work  has 
outgrown  its  quarters.  The  present  par¬ 
sonage  is  needed  for  religious  education 
and  social  work.  Then  there  must  be  a 
new  parsonage.  Then  the  church  must  be 
enlarged. 

At  Hatillo,  a  community  of  1,500  people 
a  little  further  west,  is  located  the  George 
O.  Robinson  Institute  for  boys.  A  little 
one-room,  frame  building  of  the  cheapest 
sort  of  construction  serves  as  a  place  of 
worship.  The  municipality  has  given  gen¬ 
erously  to  the  support  of  the  work.  This 
fine  school  is  in  dire  need  of  an  adequate 
church  building. 

The  Advance  on  Santo  Domingo 

A  Centenary  advance. — It  may  sound 
strange  to  say  that  the  Methodist  Epis¬ 
copal  Church,  during  the  Centenary,  un¬ 
dertook  a  new  home  missionary  enter¬ 
prise  in  a  foreign  country.  Yet  that  is 
just  what  happened  when,  in  1920,  work 
was  opened  in  the  city  of  Santo  Domingo 
in  the  Dominican  Republic.  For  this  work 
is  an  offshoot  of  the  Porto  Rico  work,  and 
thus  has  naturally  been  directed  as  a  home 
missionary  enterprise.  So  do  the  distinc¬ 
tions  between  “home”  and  “foreign” 
blend  into  one  another  in  these  world¬ 
transforming  days! 

The  board  for  Christian  work. — One  of 
the  most  significant  experiments  in  mod¬ 
ern  missionary  history  underlies  the  ad¬ 
vance  of  Protestantism  into  Santo  Do¬ 
mingo.  Four  evangelical  churches,  with 
six  societies,  decided  upon  a  united  effort 
in  the  island.  Then,  instead  of  merely 
providing  for  a  delimitation  of  territory, 
these  societies  organized  and  chartered 
the  Board  for  Christian  Work  in  Santo 
Domingo,  and  so,  as  one  organic  body, 
they  are  actually  at  work! 


Number  of  full  members  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  to  each  thousand  cf  population — by  states 


1  '•>*  &A  j  r  as 
;JV  fc  .v,  4.x  V  V 


:vv--4 ' 


1  •••  * 

::vVv’-  *i  ' 

*  •  .  .  -  •  v‘ 

';T;. 

?  K  •• 

H'  :-L 

::.  -  | 

. 

1 

— i 

-•  V- | 

r~—. — -x 

j  ■' 

— — — J 

'  •  1  •’■;:.*■  ■■.•'. 

/,'•■  .  • 
I 

-  /•  - 
-  i  ■  ' 

Distribution  of  Negro  Methodist  Episcopal  churches  in  the  United  States 


Distribution  of  Methodist  Episcopal  Churches  in  foreign-language  conferences  in  the  United  States 


Part  Two— THE  AGENCIES 


iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiimiimiimiiiiii 


Board  of  Foreign  Missions 

Board  of  Home  Missions  and 
Church  Extension 

Board  of  Education  for  Negroes 

Board  of  Education 

Board  of  Sunday  Schools 

Board  of  Conference  Claimants 

Board  of  the  Epworth  League 


American  Bible  Society 

Board  of  Temperance,  Prohibition, 
and  Public  Morals 

General  Deaconess  Board 

Board  of  Hospitals  and  Homes 

Commission  on  Courses  of  Study 

Commission  on  Life  Service 

Committee  on  Conservation  and 
Advance 


miiiiiiiimmiiiimiimimimmi 


Woman’s  Foreign  Missionary  Society 
Woman’s  Home  Missionary  Society 


THE  FIELD  IS  THE  WORLD.  Countries  where  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  is  at  work  indicated  by  black 


BATHING  IN  THE  GANGES 

How  then  shall  they  call  on  him  in  whom  they  have  not 

believed ? 

H  I 

And  how  shall  they  believe  in  him  of  whom  they  have 

not  heard ? 

/  And  how  shall  they  hear  without  a  preacher?  vlj 

) 

'  And  how  shall  they  preach,  except  they  be  sent?  \ 

J 

V 

Romans  10:14-15 


THE  BOARD  OF  FOREIGN  MISSIONS 

ANALYSIS  OF  STATEMENT 


I.  What  is  Our  Board  of  Foreign 
Missions? 

1.  Name  and  object 

2.  The  field 

3.  Present  world  occupation 

4.  Duties 

5.  Organization 

II.  Kinds  of  Work 

1.  At  headquarters 

2.  On  the  firing  line 

III.  Whereunto  We  Have  Arrived 

IV.  The  Task  We  Face  Today  on  the 
Foreign  Field 

V.  The  World  Service  Survey 


VI.  What  Our  Church  Should  do  in 
Foreign  Missions  in  the  Next 
Ten  Years 

1.  Relief  and  Pensions 

2.  Reserves 

3.  China 

4.  Japan 

5.  Korea 

6.  Philippine  Islands 

7.  Netherlands  Indies 

8.  Malaysia 

9.  India 

10.  Africa 

11.  South  America 

12.  Mexico 

13.  Costa  Rica 

14.  Panama 

15.  Europe 

VII.  Conclusions 


419 


420 


WORLD  SERVICE 


I.  WHAT  IS  OUR  BOARD  OF  FOR¬ 
EIGN  MISSIONS? 

1.  Name  and  Object 

The  name  and  object  of  the  board  are 
fixed  by  the  General  Conference.  In  the 
Discipline  of  1920,  paragraph  412,  we 
find:  “The  name  of  this  organization 
shall  be  the  Board  of  Foreign  Missions  of 
the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church.  Its  ob¬ 
jects  are  religious,  philanthropic,  and 
educational,  designed  to  diffuse  more 
generally  the  blessings  of  Christianity,  by 
the  promotion  and  support  of  all  phases 
of  church  work  and  missionary  activity 
in  foreign  countries ;  and  also  in  such 
other  places  subject  to  the  sovereignty  of 
the  United  States,  but  not  on  the  conti¬ 
nent  of  North  America  or  the  islands  ad¬ 
jacent  thereto,  as  may  be  committed  to 
the  care  of  such  organization  by  the  Gen¬ 
eral  Conference  of  the  Methodist  Epis¬ 
copal  Church,  under  such  rules  and 
regulations  as  said  General  Conference 
may  from  time  to  time  prescribe.” 

2.  The  Field 

The  field  is  the  world  and  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church  is  not  merely  an  Ameri¬ 
can  church,  but  is  in  the  uttermost 
parts  of  the  earth.  Nevertheless,  our 
church  is  not  found  in  all  countries.  In 
some  regions  Methodism  is  at  work  undei 
other  names,  as  the  Wesleyan  Church  in 
England,  and  the  Methodist  Church  of 
Canada.  On  what  is  generally  recognized 
as  the  foreign  mission  field  many  comity 
agreements  have  been  entered  into,  for 
there  would  be  chances  for  conflict  and 
misunderstanding  if  every  Protestant 
church  should  undertake  to  carry  the 
gospel  into  every  land.  It  has  seemed  the 
part  of  brotherliness  and  of  efficiency  in 
the  great  common  task  to  recognize  a  dis¬ 
tribution  of  forces  in  the  foreign  field  by 
general  agreements,  and  there  are  some 
countries,  as,  for  example,  Brazil  and 
Egypt,  where  our  church  is  not  estab¬ 
lished  and  where  the  responsibility  for 
evangelization  is  left  with  other  Prot¬ 
estant  denominations.  Likewise  within 
the  different  countries  there  are  states 


or  provinces  where  the  Methodist  Epis¬ 
copal  Church  has  clearly  defined  responsi¬ 
bilities,  while  other  denominations  take 
the  responsibility  in  other  areas. 

Nevertheless,  looking  at  a  map  of  the 
world,  one  finds  Methodism  as  represented 
by  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church 
widely  spread. 


3.  The  Present  World  Occupation  of 
Our  Church 


(See  map  on  page  418) 


Asia 

China 

Korea 

Japan 


Malaysia  . . . 

Netherlands  Indies 
Philippine  Islands 

India  . 


(  7  annual  conferences 
I  1  mission  conference 
...  1  annual  conference 
...1  mission  council  (in  co-op¬ 
eration  with  Japan  Meth¬ 
odist  Church) 

...  1  annual  conference 
...2  mission  conferences 
...1  annual  conference 
(  8  annual  conferences 
<  2  mission  conferences 
(1  English  speaking  mission 


Africa 

Liberia  . 1  annual  conference 

Angola  . 1  mission  conference 

Congo . 1  mission  conference 

Rhodesia  . 1  mission  conference 

Mozambique  and  Transvaal..  1  mission  conference 

Morocco  . ) 

Algeria  .  y  j  mission  conference 

Tunisia  .  t 

Tripoli  . ' 


North  America 

Mexico  .  1  annual  conference 

Panama. .  1  Central  I  j  mission  conference 

Costa  Rica  )  America  1 

South  America 

Argentina .  I  1  anmial  conference 

Uruguay . . .  ) 

Chile  . 1  annual  conference 

Bolivia  .  1  mission  conference 

Peru  and  Ecuador . 1  mission  conference 


Europe 

Denmark  ... 

Finland  . 

Norway  . 

Sweden  . 

France  . 

Italy  . 

Bulgaria  ... .. 
Yugo-Slavia 

Spain  . 

Austria  ... 

Latvia . 

Esthonia. 
Lithuania 
Germany 
Hungary 
Russia  ... 
Switzerland 


. 1  annual  conference 

. 1  annual  conference 

. 1  annual  conference 

. 1  annual  conference 

. 1  mission  conference 

. 1  annual  conference 

. 1  mission  conference 

. 1  mission  conference 

. 1  mission 

. 1  mission  conference 

Baltic  Provinces  ...  1  mission 

. 2  annual  conferences 

. 1  mission 

. . 1  mission  conference 

. 1  annual  conference 


FOREIGN  MISSIONS 


421 


In  all,  our  foreign  mission  work  lies  in 
fifty-three  missions  or  conferences,  and 
in  forty  countries.  There  are  Methodists 
of  every  race  and  color,  bound  together 
by  an  effective  organization  as  well  as  by 
the  ties  of  a  common  faith. 

4.  Duties 

The  board  is  instructed  by  our  church, 
through  the  General  Conference,  to  take 
the  responsibility  of  supervising  the 
work  of  our  missionaries  and  in  general 
promoting  the  interests  of  the  church  on 
the  foreign  field.  The  Discipline  of 
1920,  paragraph  411,  reads: 

“1.  There  shall  be  a  Board  of  Foreign  Mis¬ 
sions,  duly  incorporated  according  to  law,  and 
having  its  office  in  New  York  City ;  said  Board  of 
Foreign  Missions  shall  have  committed  to  it  the 
general  supervision  of  all  work  in  the  foreign 
fields,  and  shall  be  subject  to  such  rules  and  regu¬ 
lations  as  the  General  Conference  from  time  to 
time  may  prescribe. 

“2.  Other  denominational  agencies  shall  un¬ 
dertake  work  in  foreign  lands  only  in  co-opera¬ 
tion  with  this  board.” 

5.  Organization 

a.  The  board  is  a  corporation  under  the 
laws  of  the  State  of  New  York.  In  order 
to  transact  business,  to  hold  property  and 
execute  deeds  of  trust,  it  is  necessary  that 
the  board  should  be  legally  incorporated. 
A  few  of  our  universities  and  other  union 
institutions  in  foreign  lands  have  been 
separately  incorporated,  but  in  general 
all  business  on  the  foreign  fields  is  done 
and  all  property  held  in  the  name  of  the 
Board  of  Foreign  Missions  of  the  Metho¬ 
dist  Episcopal  Church.  As  the  indigenous 
church  becomes  stronger  and  more  self- 
reliant,  the  title  of  property  used  for 
church  purposes  can  be  turned  over  to  it, 
but  in  most  instances  it  is  still  necessary 
for  the  Board  of  Foreign  Missions  to 
serve  as  the  legal  principal  in  business 
transactions. 

b.  The  members  of  the  board  are  elected 
by  the  General  Conference  every  four 
years  from  ministers  and  laymen  of  the 
church  representing  the  different  sec¬ 
tions  of  the  country.  Of  the  present 
board,  twenty-three  are  pastors,  two  are 


district  superintendents,  seven  are  or¬ 
dained  ministers  in  general  service,  and 
thirty-two  are  lay  members  of  the  church. 
The  bishops  are  ex-officio  members,  and 
Bishop  Luther  B.  Wilson  is  president  of 
the  board. 

c.  The  officers  responsible  for  the  ad¬ 
ministration  of  the  board’s  affairs  are  the 
two  corresponding  secretaries,  who  select 
the  staff  and  direct  the  business  of  the 
board,  subject  to  the  board  and  in  har¬ 
mony  with  the  advice  of  its  authorized 
committees. 

d.  Standing  committees  meet  through¬ 
out  the  year  to  transact  the  details  of 
business  that  cannot  receive  the  atten¬ 
tion  of  the  board  at  its  annual  meeting. 
The  board  fixes  the  annual  appropriations 
to  the  various  missions,  but  there  are 
emergency  appropriations  and  special 
funds  and  interpretations  of  all  kinds  re¬ 
quiring  attention  throughout  the  year. 
The  Executive,  the  Candidate,  the  Fi¬ 
nance  and  the  Administrative  Commit¬ 
tees  meet  monthly  to  attend  to  such  mat¬ 
ters  and  authorize  necessary  actions  by 
the  secretaries  and  the  staff. 

e.  The  organization  of  the  church  on 
the  foreign  fields  is  much  as  it  is  at  home. 
There  are  annual  conferences  and  mission 
conferences  grouped  now  into  areas  for 
Episcopal  supervision.  The  bishop  or 
general  superintendent  exercises  the 
same  duties  there  as  here  in  the  matters 
of  holding  conference,  making  appoint¬ 
ments,  and  otherwise  adjusting  the  per¬ 
sonnel  of  the  field.  The  missionaries  as 
well  as  the  native  workers  receive  their 
annual  appointments  from  the  presiding 
bishop.  Missionaries  who  have  been  or¬ 
dained  to  preach  are  usually  members  of 
the  annual  conference  of  their  field.  Be¬ 
fore  the  conferences  were  organized,  the 
missionaries  in  a  given  field  constituted 
a  “Mission.”  In  the  development  of  the 
national  organization,  mission  confer¬ 
ences  and  annual  conferences  have  been 
set  up,  sometimes  including  mission¬ 
aries  as  well  as  the  nationals.  The 
mission,  however,  composed  of  the 
missionaries  sent  out  by  the  board 


422 


WORLD  SERVICE 


Native  preachers  of  Muttra,  India 


continues  and  works  alongside  of  and 
with  the  conferences,  retaining  its  organ¬ 
ized  relationship  to  the  board  in  the 
missionary  group  units.  When  the  time 
comes  for  a  more  complete  organization 
of  the  workers  in  any  field  in  matters  of 
self-support  and  in  normal  conference  and 
church  organization,  a  changed  relation¬ 
ship  between  the  board  and  the  represen¬ 
tative  unit  on  the  field  may  well  be 
effected. 

In  all  fields  where  it  is  at  work,  the 
Woman’s  Foreign  Missionary  Society 
maintains  an  organization  as  a  part  of 
the  general  missionary  program. 

We  have  therefore  in  each  field— the 
counterpart  of  what  we  have  in  Korea: 
the  Korea  Annual  Conference,  and  the 
Korea  Mission;  the  former  representing 
the  local  indigenous  church,  and  the 
latter,  a  group  of  missionaries,  represent¬ 
ing  the  brotherly  help  of  the  church  in 
America  through  the  Board  of  Foreign 
Missions. 

f.  The  missions  on  the  field,  and  there 
are  more  than  forty  of  them,  must  be  or¬ 
ganized  to  transact  business.  The  Mis¬ 
sion  Treasurer  is  usually  the  board’s  offi¬ 
cial  financial  representative  on  the  field. 
Annual  or  semi-annual  meetings  of  the 
mission  determine  the  general  policies  of 
the  work  within  its  field. 

A  finance  committee  of  the  mission  nom¬ 
inated  on  the  field  and  appointed  by  the 


board  is  responsible  for  all  ad  interim 
business  and  for  all  matters  pertaining  to 
money  or  property.  Every  survey  esti¬ 
mate,  every  request  for  property  or 
other  special  grant  must  be  approved  by 
the  field  Finance  Committee.  This  rule 
is  designed  to  insure  an  element  of  bal¬ 
ance  and  continuity  to  the  work  on  the 
field.  If  a  missionary  carrying  an  im¬ 
portant  bit  of  work  is  suddenly  called 
from  it  by  sickness  or  other  cause,  the 
Finance  Committee  will  provide  for  the 
continuation  of  the  work.  The  board 
looks  to  the  Finance  Committee  to  ap¬ 
prove  all  proposals  made  from  the  field, 
and  to  carry  out  all  proposals  made  from 
the  homeland. 

g.  The  foreign  missionary  is  thrown 
largely  on  his  own  resources.  His  work 
is  usually  individualistic.  Often  he  is  a 
lone  messenger ;  often  he  must  be  the  mes¬ 
sage  itself.  The  mind  of  the  heathen 
world  cannot  comprehend  Christ.  The 
mere  translation  of  words  cannot  always 
carry  the  gospel  message.  The  mission¬ 
ary  must  live  that  message  and  his  work 
is  often  based  on  his  own  personality. 

Nevertheless,  the  affairs  of  the  king¬ 
dom  may  not  be  risked  by  the  uncer¬ 
tainties  of  the  life  of  any  one  man.  Re¬ 
inforcements  must  be  at  hand.  Those 
lone  workers  in  foreign  lands  must  be  in 
some  way  knit  together ;  they  must  see  the 
common  task  and  must  work  toward  the 
common  goal.  They  must  have  that  con¬ 
nection  with  the  church  at  home  that 
enables  them  really  to  represent  it  out 
there,  and  that  enables  us  to  share  with 
them  the  view  of  the  task  and  the  call 
for  intercession. 

The  care  for  these  matters  of  both 
spirit  and  method  is  the  task  which  the 
church  has  assigned  to  the  Board  of  For¬ 
eign  Missions. 

II.  KINDS  OF  WORK 
1.  At  Headquarters 

The  accountants  who  make  a  business 
of  auditing  books  for  New  York  concerns 
say,  that  there  are  few  commercial  en¬ 
terprises  that  have  a  business  so  complex 


FOREIGN  MISSIONS 


423 


as  that  of  the  Board  of  Foreign  Missions. 
Income  is  varied  and  expenditure  more 
so.  A  considerable  part  of  the  annual  re¬ 
ceipts  is  designated  for  special  objects. 
The  Division  of  Designated  Income  takes 
care  annually  of  30,000  gifts  designated 
for  particular  fields  and  work.  Not  only 
must  these  30,000  gifts  be  properly  booked 
and  forwarded,  but  the  givers  must  be  in¬ 
formed  as  to  the  use  of  their  gifts,  and 
the  missionaries  in  charge  abroad  of  the 
givers’  wishes.  In  some  instances,  half 
a  dozen  letters  will  pass  before  the  des¬ 
ignation  is  arranged.  The  Department 
of  Annuities  and  Bequests  conducts  a 
business  as  wide  in  its  range  as  that  of 
certain  commercial  concerns.  Self-insur¬ 
ance  against  fire  has  been  found  profitable 
and  a  complete  system  of  insurance  ac¬ 
counts  is  in  force.  Special  funds,  such 
as  China  Famine  Funds,  India  Mass 
Movement  Funds,  and  European  Relief 
Funds  must  be  kept  apart  and  carefully 
accounted,  each  almost  as  a  separate  busi¬ 
ness  enterprise. 

In  the  matters  of  expenditure  there  are 
over  forty  different  missions  to  deal  with 
in  dozens  of  nations,  each  with  its  special 
money  medium  and  financial  system. 
Twelve  hundred  missionaries  and  20,000 
native  workers  are  supported  in  full  or 
in  part  together  with  their  work.  It  is 
not  a  light  task  to  direct  and  safeguard 
these  expenditures. 


These  Costa  Rican  children  wait  to  hear  of 
*the  abundant  life 


The  missionary  is  everybody’s  friend 


2.  On  the  Firing  Line 

On  the  field  types  of  work  are  even 
more  varied.  Four  major  groups  of  work 
are  generally  recognized  and  the  proposed 
budget  which  is  published  elsewhere  in 
this  volume,  will  be  found  to  be  divided 
along  these  lines  evangelistic,  educational, 
medical,  and  “other”  work. 

a.  The  evangelistic  work  is  the  funda¬ 
mental  aim  of  all  our  missionary  effort. 
For  the  pioneer  missionary  it  is  almost 
his  only  work,  with  perhaps  some  excep¬ 
tions  in  favor  of  the  medical  work.  Liv¬ 
ingstone  crossed  and  recrossed  Africa, 
made  friends  with  the  tribesmen,  learned 
their  tongues,  and  lived  in  their  villages 
that  he  might  tell  the  gospel  story,  and 
many  another  noble  soul  has  gone  out  on 
the  Lord’s  business  that  he  might  spread 
by  direct  contact  with  the  un-Christian- 
ized  races  the  story  of  love  and  hope. 

Mackay,  in  his  work  in  Formosa,  began 
in  the  same  way.  After  a  number  of 
years,  he  slackened  these  efforts  to  reach 
the  masses  of  the  people  and  adopted  a 
policy  of  traveling  about  from  place  to 
place  with  a  small  group  of  converts.  On 
them  he  concentrated  his  efforts,  teaching 
them  to  present  the  story,  aiming  by  this 
means  to  reach  a  much  larger  circle  than 
he  alone  could  ever  touch.  This  is  the 
second  phase  of  the  evangelistic  work 
wherein  the  foreign  missionary  follows 
the  example  of  Jesus  in  withdrawing 


424 


WORLD  SERVICE 


Pastor  Sang  does  effective  street 
preaching  in  China 


from  the  crowd  and  committing  the  mes¬ 
sage  to  those  whose  hearts  the  Lord  has 
moved. 

The  early  disciples  found  it  necessary 
to  set  apart  certain  deacons  to  look  after 
the  business  of  the  church.  So  the  mis¬ 
sionaries  on  the  field  find  that  the  whole 
task  is  not  in  calling  the  sheep  into  the 
fold,  but  that  the  flock,  once  gathered, 
must  be  shepherded  and  nurtured.  As 
the  membership  grows,  especially  in  such 
cases  of  rapid  accessions  as  have  occurred 
in  the  Mass  Movement  areas  of  India,  the 
guiding  of  the  native  congregation  in  their 
problems  has  consumed  much  of  the  time 
of  the  foreign  missionary.  As  more 
strong  leaders  are  developed  within  the 
native  church,  it  will  be  able  to  take  care 
of  itself,  and  more  than  this,  we  can  con¬ 
fidently  expect  that  it  will  contribute  to 
the  vitality  of  the  Christian  church 
throughout  the  whole  world.  The  bread 
of  life  which  we  “cast  upon  the  waters” 
will  be  returned  to  us  many  fold. 

For  the  present,  how¬ 
ever,  the  burden  of  shep¬ 
herding  rests  heavily  upon 
the  foreign  workers  and 
reinforcements  are  needed 
that  there  may  be  no  fail¬ 
ure  in  this  respect,  and 
that  at  the  same  time  the 
work  of  direct  evangeliza¬ 
tion  and  preacher  train¬ 
ing  may  go  on.  For  this 
we  cannot  now  depend  on 
indigenous  leadership. 


b.  The  educational  work  of  the  church 
on  the  foreign  field  is  quite  different  from 
that  in  the  homeland.  In  America,  it  is 
largely  confined  to  preparatory  schools, 
colleges,  and  institutions  of  higher  learn¬ 
ing.  The  state  and  local  governments  pro¬ 
vide  popular  education  which  fills  the 
needs  from  the  primary  through  high 
school  grades.  The  church,  with  its  insti¬ 
tutions,  supplements  the  public  and  pri¬ 
vate  colleges  and  universities.  The 
purpose  is  to  provide  proper  environment 
for  its  young  people  when  removed  from 
their  home  influences,  and  to  offer  special 
lines  of  study,  rather  than  to  provide  a 
better  grade  of  instruction.  On  the  mis¬ 
sion  field,  the  first  task  of  the  church  is 
to  provide  a  better  grade  of  instruction. 
The  church  may  be,  in  fact,  the  only  insti¬ 
tution  giving  any  chance  for  education 
to  the  masses  which  it  comes  to  serve,  and 
schools  of  all  grades,  from  kindergarten 
to  university  are  administered  under  the 
Board  of  Foreign  Missions. 

“Education  is  power,”  and  if  we  wish 
our  newly-made  converts  in  these  un¬ 
civilized  lands  to  become  powerful  advo¬ 
cates  of  the  gospel,  it  is  evident  that  we 
must  pause  in  our  evangelistic  work  long 
enough  to  plan  for  the  education  of  the 
next  generation  in  these  Christian  fam¬ 
ilies. 

In  India,  hundreds  of  village  schools 
are  today  in  session  with  no  more  shelter 
than  that  of  the  trees.  In  Africa,  where 
the  native  clan  life  is  often  unfavorable 
to  such  work,  the  converts  are  gathered 
together  in  Christian  communities  and 


FOREIGN  MISSIONS 


425 


training  centers  where  the  boys  and  girls 
can  be  taught  to  think  of  life  as  something 
more  than  a  wild  tribal  existence.  In 
other  places  where  the  African  youth  are 
called  together  by  the  lure  of  wages  at  the 
mines,  the  missionaries  come  with  night 
schools  or  special  studies,  endeavoring  to 
throw  around  them  an  influence  that  they 
will  counteract  the  awful  effects  of  a  civi¬ 
lization  devoid  of  Christianity.  In  South 
America,  the  missionary  is  not  greatly 
concerned  with  providing  primary  educa¬ 
tion,  for  extensive  school  systems  are 
maintained  by  the  governments;  but  he 
has  found  that  the  youth  of  these  lands 
will  come  gladly  and  in  great  numbers  to 
our  high  schools  and  boarding  schools. 
These  are  in  great  favor,  and  are  the  most 
ready  means  of  approach  to  the  people  of 
these  nominally  Catholic  countries.  In 
China,  education  has  always  been  highly 
valued,  but  the  type  of  education  has  been 
entirely  insufficient  for  their  modern 
needs.  It  is  impossible  for  a  nation  to 
build  up  in  one  year  an  education 
of  an  entirely  new  type  from  that  of  the 
thousands  of  years  that  have  preceded  it. 
The  change  must  be  begun  with  the 
youngest  child  and  grow  along  through  a 
generation,  and  China  is  having  inestima¬ 
ble  help  in  this  task  from  the  Christian 
forces  within  that  country. 

Throughout  the  world  there  is  scarcely 
a  field  in  which  our  church  is  established 
where  educational  work  does  not  occupy 
a  large  place  in  its  plans  and  on  its 
budgets. 

c.  The  medical  work  includes  hospitals, 
dispensaries  and  the  itinerating  services 
of  the  medical  missionary.  Up  in  the 
mountains  of  China,  a  prominent  villager 
was  being  slowly  choked  to  death  by  a 
tumor.  Tiger  bones  and  snake-skin  con¬ 
coctions  were  unavailing  but  it  was  a 
very  simple  matter  for  the  foreign  doctor 
to  cut  out  the  tumor  and  relieve  the  ap¬ 
parently  doomed  man.  Is  it  any  wonder 
that  the  missionaries  were  soon  invited 
to  open  a  church  in  that  man’s  village, 
and  that  we  now  have  a  thriving  congre¬ 
gation  there? 

28 


Missionary  physician  at  work  in  Africa 


The  most  difficult  tribe  to  reach  in 
Africa  finally  gave  way  to  the  needs  of 
medical  aid.  Wherever  the  church  has 
gone  it  has  carried  the  gospel  of  healing 
and  of  prevention.  Medical  work  includes 
not  only  support  of  hospital  and  dispensa¬ 
ries,  but  also  campaigning  among  the 
people  for  better  habits  and  healthier 
ways  of  living. 

d.  The  “other”  work  as  represented  on 
the  foreign  field  is  of  many  types.  There 
are  institutional  and  social  centers  in 
places  of  large  population ;  orphanages, 
homes  for  lepers,  and  homes  for  the  aged 
and  other  dependents.  There  are  many 
items  of  general  and  miscellaneous  work 
such  as  are  found  necessary  in  any 
project.  Even  here  in  the  homeland 
where  conditions  are  more  stable  and  pro¬ 
cedure  more  standardized,  these  items  are 
essential  to  proper  and  efficient  work.  On 
the  foreign  field  they  are  all  the  more  so. 
Inland  stations  must  be  served  by  messen¬ 
gers  ;  missionaries  must  be  called  together 
for  regular  conference  and  often  for 
emergencies;  new  building  work  must  be 
administered,  and  a  hundred  other  items 
of  a  general  nature  that  cannot  be  classed 
as  evangelistic,  educational,  or  medical, 
are  grouped  under  this  head  of  “other 
work.”  This  section  also  includes  the 
preparation  and  publishing  of  literature 
in  dozens  of  languages  and  dialects  and 
its  distribution  and  sale  over  widespread 
areas,  often  difficult  and  even  dangerous 
of  access. 


426 


WORLD  SERVICE 


In  all  this  variety  of  work,  however, 
there  is  fundamentally  the  one  purpose, 
and  that  is  evangelism.  The  great  motive 
of  the  workers  on  the  field  is  a  desire  to 
bring  men  to  a  knowledge  of  the  Christ, 
and  the  policy  of  the  work  is  determined 
primarily  by  this  desire. 

III.  WHEREUNTO  WE  HAVE 
ARRIVED 

1.  Growth  in  Membership 
The  progress  of  the  work  of  the  Meth¬ 
odist  Episcopal  Church  on  the  foreign 
field  is  encouraging,  as  this  curve  of  mem¬ 
bership  during  the  past  sixty  years  will 
show : 


When  we  note  the  “few  that  be  saved” 
and  the  countless  peoples  yet  untouched 
by  the  gospel  message,  we  may  lose  heart. 
But  faith  comes  in  and  we  see  Jesus,  with 
a  mere  handful  of  followers,  proposing  to 
draw  all  men  unto  Himself.  Faith,  how¬ 
ever,  is  sometimes  hindered  and  some¬ 
times  helped  by  a  study  of  the  cold,  hard 
facts.  Surely,  in  this  case  the  sharp 
upgrade  of  the  membership  curve  should 
stimulate  us  and  we  can  thank  God  and 
take  courage,  because  of  this  evidence  of 
healthy  vigor. 


MILLIONS 

25 


20 


THE  TASK 

The  Methodist  Episcopal  Church 
has  in  a  direct  sense  the  responsi¬ 
bility  and  certainly  the  opportuni¬ 
ty  to  evangelize  100,000,000  in. 
non-Christian  lands.  Assuming 
our  task  to  be  merely  bringing 
this  population  to  the  degree  of 
evangelism  found  in  America  — 
say  one  in  four  to  be  church 
members  —  we  have  the  task 
shown  by  the  height  of  this  block 

25,000,000 


OUR  ACCOMPLISHMENT 
TO  Q^TE 

600,000  Cfwch  Members 
in^O  Years 


< - - - 

60  YEARS 

When  will  the  little  line  at  the  lower 
left  reach  the  top? 


FOREIGN  MISSIONS 


427 


2.  Comparative  Statistics 
Study  the  comparative  statistics  as  to 
the  status  of  the  work  now  and  as  it  was 
when  we  first  faced  the  Centenary  task. 
It  is  impossible  to  show  the  full  measure 
of  increase  in  responsibility  that  has  come 
to  the  Board  of  Foreign  Missions  since  in 
September,  1917,  it  received  approval  for 
its  Centenary  program  from  the  historic 
conference  at  Niagara  Falls. 

In  Table  A  (below),  there  is  con¬ 
trasted  the  present  condition  of  the  life  of 
the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  outside 
the  United  States  with  the  condition  as 
reported  by  the  Board  of  Foreign  Mis¬ 


sions  in  1917,  in  so  far  as  statistics  can 
give  it.  No  tables  of  figures  can  give  a 
picture  of  the  transformations  of  human 
life,  nor  can  the  contribution  of  the  spirit 
of  Jesus  Christ  to  the  social,  economic, 
religious,  and  political  developments  of  the 
peoples  of  the  world  be  measured  by 
mathematics. 

3.  Self-Support 

Table  B  shows  the  rate  of  increase  in 
self-support  by  different  parts  of  the 
church. 

Added  point  is  given  the  call  for  a  new 
world  program  by  the  realization  that  our 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church  is  now  at 


Table  A — Comparative  Statistics 


Flags  under  which  work  is  conducted . _ . 

Missionaries  . 

Native  preachers  (ordained)  . 

Native  preachers  (unordained) . 

Other  Native  workers  (male) . . 

Other  Native  workers  (female) . 

Church  members  . 

Preparatory  members  . 

Baptized  children  under  instruction . 

Sunday-schools  . . . . . . . . 

Sunday-school  pupils  . . . . 

Churches  and  chapels  . 

Parsonages  and  homes  . 

Value  of  property  on  foreign  field... . . 

Contributions  of  the  Church  on  the  foreign  field. 
Disbursements  of  the  Board  of  Foreign  Missions. 

fUniversities  or  colleges  . 

University  or  college  students . 

Theological  or  Bible  Training  Schools . 

Theological  or  Bible  Training  Students . 

Secondary  schools  . 

Secondary  school  students  . 

Elementary  schools  . 

Elementary  school  students  . 

Medical  schools  . 

Medical  school  students . 

Kindergartens  . . 

Kindergarten  students  . 

Unclassified  schools  . 

Unclassified  school  students  . 

Students  in  all  schools . 


1916 

1921 

Increase 

26 

33 

7 

929 

1,190 

261 

1,283 

2,944 

1,661 

5,138 

7763 

2,125 

2,686 

4,501 

1,815 

4,003 

5,339 

1,336 

207,494 

272,937 

65,443 

235.371 

305,867 

70,496 

52,855 

170,724 

117,869 

7,440 

10,374 

2,934 

346,793 

491,233 

144,440 

2,516 

2,874 

358 

1,424 

1,853 

429 

$13,787,579 

$24,840,073 

$11,052,494 

$  783,851 

$  2,919,609 

$  2,135.858 

$  1,887,042 

$  5.426,129 

$  3,539,087 

12 

15 

3 

* 

1,972 

36 

67 

31 

* 

1,873 

94 

47 

* 

6,402 

2,853 

2,921 

68 

* 

109,299 

31,180 

* 

4 

94 

* 

26 

1,929 

* 

40 

3,525 

96.021 

125,094 

29,073 

Table  B — Growth  in  Self-support 


1916  1921  Increase  % 

Eastern  Asia  . $  73,934  $  216,534  $  142,600  19’ 

Southeastern  Asia  .  21,870  92,476  70  606  323 

Southern  Asia  .  129,378  257,679  128301  99 

Africa  . . .  18,582  22,228  3,646  19 

South  America  .  70,130  128,809  58,679  83 

Mexico  and  Central  America .  14,598  79  799  65  ’01  446 

Eur°Pe  .  455,359  2,122784  1, 666725  366 


*  The  classifications  in  1916  did  not  differentiate  these  types  of  schools. 

fThe  educational  statistics  of  the  Woman’s  Foreign  Missionary  Society  are  included  in  these  and  the 
following  figures. 


428 


WORLD  SERVICE 


work  in  seven  nations  that  did  not  exist 
as  nations  when  the  Centenary  was 
launched. 

4.  Other  Increases  in  Summary 
The  following  further  increases  since 
the  Niagara  Falls  meeting  are  significant: 


In  annual  disbursements  by  the  Board  of 

Foreign  Missions,  an  increase  of . 187% 

In  property  valuations  on  the  foreign  field,  an 

increase  of  . - . 80% 

In  number  of  missionaries,  an  increase  of . 28% 

In  number  of  native  workers,  an  increase  of-. .52% 
In  number  of  Christian  community,  an  increase 

of  . 51% 

In  number  of  schools,  an  increase  of .  5% 

In  number  of  students,  an  increase  of . 34% 


Some  of  these  increases  are  cause  for 
unalloyed  rejoicing.  Others,  such  as  the 
disparity  between  the  increase  in  educa¬ 
tional  facilities  and  in  the  Christian  com¬ 
munity  for  which  we  are  responsible, 
point  with  stern  clearness  to  certain  fea¬ 
tures  of  our  future  program  that  must 
receive  primary  attention. 

IV.  THE  TASK  WE  FACE  TODAY 
ON  THE  FOREIGN  FIELD 

1.  In  General 

a.  The  task  is  ours. — A  hundred  years 
ago,  there  were  saintly  men  who  seriously 
combatted  the  idea  that  we  should  “inter¬ 
fere  in  God’s  plan  for  the  heathen.”  Hon¬ 
est  souls  felt  that  we  must  first  do  more 
“in  Jerusalem.”  Doubtful  ones  said  that 
the  heathen  would  never  listen  to  the 
gospel  and  that  God  never  intended  that 
we  should  send  men  out  to  be  killed  and 
eaten.  But  men  went,  and  men  came  back, 
and  the  reports  which  they  brought  were 
full  of  promise.  Since  that  time,  the  for¬ 
eign  mission  enterprise  has  taken  a  large 
place  in  the  thought  of  the  church. 

We  must  continue  and  enlarge  our 
efforts  for  the  non-Christian  world.  The 
dismal  prophecies  of  a  century  ago  found 
fulfilment  in  a  few  instances,  but  are  un¬ 
supported  by  the  general  history  of  mis¬ 
sions.  The  later  promises  of  wholesale 
ingatherings  into  the  kingdom  came  true 
in  certain  districts,  a  village  and  a  clan 
here  and  there,  but  we  have  discovered 
that  on  the  foreign  field,  as  elsewhere,  the 
kingdom  must  grow  gradually,  like  the 


mustard  seed  of  the  parable.  We,  today, 
can  look  forward  with  more  assurance 
than  our  predecessors.  We  have  not  only 
the  same  Bible  that  they  had,  the  same 
Word  of  Promise  from  the  same  God  of 
Power,  but  we  have  the  benefits  of  their 
experience  to  build  upon,  and  we  have  the 
encouragement  that  is  found  in  the  rec¬ 
ords  of  their  work. 

The  membership  chart  which  we  have 
already  studied  has  for  us  other  lessons 
than  the  mere  encouragement  of  its  up¬ 
ward  trend.  There  are  two  things  that 
are  worthy  of  note. 

The  church  on  the  foreign  field,  these 
statistics  tell  us,  has  doubled  its  member¬ 
ship  in  ten  years.  The  church  in  the  home¬ 
land  has  doubled  its  membership  in  thirty- 
four  years.  We  dare  not,  in  the  face  of 
these  figures,  halt  our  work  of  planting 
the  gospel  in  these  lands  where  it  has 
flourished  so  notably.  The  foreign  mis¬ 
sionary  work  has  proven  a  most  profitable 
use  of  our  church’s  resources. 

The  second  fact  brought  out  by  these 
figures  is  that  the  rate  of  increase  on  the 
foreign  field,  while  still  much  greater  than 
we  have  attained  at  home,  has  been  de¬ 
creasing  during  the  last  few  decades.  It 
is  to  be  expected  that  the  river  will  not 
flow  as  swiftly  as  the  mountain  torrent; 
that  it  will  take  longer  to  grow  from 
2,000,000  to  4,000,000  members  than  it 
did  to  grow  from  200  to  400.  At  the  same 
time,  we  must  recognize  other  possible 
reasons  for  the  falling  off  in  the  rate  of 
increase. 

The  anti-Christian  forces  are  aroused 
as  never  before.  The  non-Christian  reli¬ 
gions  are  showing  new  vigor  and  in¬ 
creased  opposition.  Mohammedanism  is 
sweeping  across  Africa.  Buddhism  and 
Shintoism  are  taking  on  the  cloak  of 
philanthropy  and  striving  to  revive  the 
ancient  reverence  for  their  gods.  In¬ 
tense  nationalism  is  arrayed  against  the 
progress  of  “the  foreign  religion.”  World¬ 
wide  atheism  flaunts  the  failure  of 
Christendom  in  its  political  dealings  as  the 
failure  of  Christianity.  These  conditions 
if  rightly  met  need  not  affect  our  rate  of 


FOREIGN  MISSIONS 


429 


THE  CROSS  AT  ITS 
BEST  IN  MISSION 
LANDS 


This  chart  shows  the 
situation  in  Moradabad 
District  which  is  one  of 
our  best  districts  in 
India,  the  land  of  our 
greatest  successes  in 
winning  men  to  Christ. 


Each  white  square  represents  1000  who  have  so  far  been  won  to  our  Christian  community 
Each  black  square  represents  1000  not  yet  reached 


increase,  but  the  fact  remains  that  the 
Church  of  Christ  is  facing  in  most  Chris¬ 
tian  lands  such  opposition  as  it  has  never 
before  known,  and  the  foreign  enterprises 
on  which  the  church  has  embarked  may 
not  be  lightly  forsaken  in  these  days  of 
onslaught. 

b.  Future  promise. — The  great  reach  of 
the  task  is  before  and  not  behind  us.  The 
native  church,  full  of  promise  as  it  is,  is 
nevertheless  an  infant.  We  find  much  to 
encourage  us  in  the  upward  trend  of 
membership  totals.  At  the  same  time,  if 
we  are  wise,  we  shall  take  the  member¬ 
ship  curve  on  page  426,  as  the  measure 
of  our  accomplishment,  and  shall  set  it 
up  against  the  picture  of  the  task  yet  un¬ 
done,  as  shown  in  the  chart  on  this  page. 
We  must  not  deceive  ourselves;  the  great 
task  lies  still  ahead.  Since  God  has  made 
of  us  a  people  great  and  powerful  and 
well  equipped  with  worldly  means,  we 
must  face  the  question  as  to  what  He 
expects  us  to  do. 

2.  The  Many  Ministries 

a.  “Preach  the  gospel.” — Many  have 
never  heard  it.  Many  never  will  hear  it 
except  as  we  preach  it.  Look  for  ex¬ 
ample  at  the  Moradabad  District  in  the 
North  India  Conference,  as  indicated  by 
the  chart  at  the  top  of  this  page. 


Considerably  more  than  half  our 
600,000  converts  are  found  in  India  alone. 
India  is  one  of  our  best  fields,  and  Morada¬ 
bad  District  is  among  the  best  half  dozen 
of  the  sixty-three  districts  in  India.  Here 
we  have  14,000  church  members,  but 
there  are  1,500,000  people  yet  unreached 
by  the  gospel  message.  This  district  is 
one  of  those  from  which  other  denomina¬ 
tions  have  withdrawn.  No  other  Prot¬ 
estant  church  will  enter.  Here  we  alone 
are  responsible,  and  this  situation  is  du¬ 
plicated  many  times  in  India  and  in  other 
lands.  For  fully  50,000,000  people  in 
foreign  lands  throughout  the  world  we 
bear  this  peculiar  responsibility.  Except 
as  we  preach  it,  they  never  will  hear  the 
gospel.  “And  how  shall  they  preach, 
except  they  be  sent?” 

b.  “Teach  all  nations.” — In  every  nation 
it  seems  there  are  occasional  men,  who, 
like  Cornelius  the  centurion,  have  held 
communion  with  God  without  having 
heard  or  understood  the  plan  of  salvation. 
They  with  eagerness  accept  the  gospel 
story.  With  others,  the  vision  comes  only 
through  long  contact  with  the  ideas  of 
Christianity  and  for  these  the  schools  are 
the  ideal  medium  for  planting  in  their 
minds  the  idea  of  a  God  of  love.  Educa¬ 
tion  is  the  handmaiden  of  evangelism  and 
one  of  the  first  aims  in  educational  work 


430 


WORLD  SERVICE 


on  the  mission  field  was  the  great  oppor¬ 
tunity  it  presented  to  supplement  the 
preaching  of  the  Word. 

Usually  when  a  convert  from  the  for¬ 
eign  field  tells  his  experience,  it  is  a  story 
of  one  who  first  came  from  curiosity,  was 
puzzled  and  distrustful,  returned  again 
and  again,  inquired  more  and  more  dili¬ 
gently,  and  finally  found  his  Lord.  A  defi¬ 
nite  period  of  cultivation  seems  necessary 
in  most  cases  and  here  is  where  the  schools 
come  in  to  help  the  evangelist. 

Not  only  do  they  supplement  evangel¬ 
ism,  but  often  make  way  for  it.  The 
Anglo-Chinese  College  at  Foochow  re¬ 
ceives  200  students  each  year.  More  than 
half  of  them  come  from  non-Christian 
homes  and  many  of  the  boys  come  with 
stern  warnings  to  beware  of  listening  to 
any  of  the  foreign  doctrines.  It  is  a  re¬ 
markable  thing  that  nearly  all  of  these 
boys  become  Christians  before  they  gradu¬ 
ate  and  the  acquaintance  made  in  the 
school  with  missionaries  and  native  Chris¬ 
tians  opens  the  way  for  visits  to  their 
homes,  often  ending  in  the  conversion  of 
parents  and  friends. 

The  educational  task  is  really  a  privi¬ 
lege.  Can  you  look  at  this  little  Korean 
lad  without  feeling  kindly  toward  him, 
and  wishing  him  the  best  things  that  life 
may  have  in  store  for  him?  To  be  allowed 
to  help  the  bright-faced  boys  and  girls, 
through  education,  into  a  world  of  wider 
usefulness  and  into  a  greater  enjoyment 
of  life,  is  our  privilege. 

Then  there  rests  on  us  the  obligation 
to  give  to  our  new-found  brethren  in  India 
and  Africa  and  China  those  opportunities 
for  their  children  which  we  enjoy  for 
ours.  The  heathen  world  is  ignorant  and 
depressed.  Education  is  the  ladder  out 
of  the  pit  for  them.  An  Indian  beggar, 
one  of  the  outcastes,  living  near  the  sum¬ 
mer  camp  of  the  missionaries,  was  won  by 
the  gospel  story.  His  only  request,  and 
one  made  with  such  persistence  that  it 
could  not  be  denied,  was  that  his  four 
boys  might  be  taken  into  the  mission 
school.  Only  two  could  be  taken  then. 
Later  the  other  two  were  received.  Today 


they  are  all  men  of  prominence  and 
esteem,  instead  of  outcastes  in  their  com¬ 
munities.  Two  of  them  are  in  positions 
of  great  responsibility  in  the  government 
service.  Without  the  church  and  its 
schools  they  would  today  be  mere  scaven¬ 
gers  back  in  the  foothills  of  India.  The 
sad  thing  is  that  the  church,  with  the 
meagre  funds  given  for  this  work,  has 
been  unable  to  provide  this  opportunity 
for  more  than  a  fraction  of  its  children. 
In  foreign  lands  there  are  to  be  educated 
fully  800,000  children  of  our  church  fam¬ 
ilies.  More  than  half  of  these  are  en¬ 
tirely  dependent  on  the  church  for  their 
education.  Our  facilities  are  inadequate 
to  receive  them.  We  would  have  to  triple 
our  number  of  schools  and  teachers,  and 
then  crowd  out  all  of  that  educational 
work  for  non-Christians,  which  has 


FOREIGN  MISSIONS 


431 


already  been  described  as  so  rich  in  prom¬ 
ise  of  reward. 

Take  an  average  district  in  China  as 
here  shown  and  consider  where  we  stand. 
Look  at  this  great  circle  of  opportunity. 
Extend  it  as  much  as  you  please  to  cover 
the  great  privilege  of  helping  little  tads 
by  education  into  a  wider  world  and  a 
fuller  life;  and  then  compare  the  narrow 
strip  of  what  we  have  actually  done,  and 
be  convinced  that  this  generation  has  not 
yet  done  its  duty  by  the  children  beyond 
the  seas. 

c.  “Heal  the  sick.” — The  three  aspects  of 
the  educational  work — opportunity ,  privi¬ 
lege,  and  obligation,  are  just  as  much 
present,  and  more  distinctly  emphasized 
in  the  medical  work.  What  Christian  can 
view  human  suffering  without  feeling  a 
desire  to  help?  Even  non-Christians  in 
America  have  been  moved  to  contribute 
for  the  relief  of  physical  suffering  of  the 
great  masses  of  the  uncivilized  world. 
Were  there  in  our  hearts  no  other  motive 
than  a  mere  humanitarian  one,  we  would 
have  to  provide  medical  missions,  and  we 
must  as  a  people  do  far  better  or  be  con¬ 
demned  as  a  selfish  and  heartless  genera¬ 
tion.  So  much  for  the  privilege. 

The  opportunity  is  self-evident.  Jesus 
found  the  blind  man  not  a  subject  for 
discussion  and  theorizing.  The  man  was 
blind.  He  said,  “that  the  word  of  God 
might  be  glorified.”  The  man  was  before 
them  as  an  opportunity,  and  all  other  con¬ 
siderations  were  beside  the  case.  So  the 
millions  of  sufferers  in  Asia  and  Africa 
stand  before  us  as  an  opportunity  and  a 
challenge  “that  the  word  of  God  may  be 
glorified.”  Talk  as  we  may  of  pauperiz¬ 
ing  folks  by  giving  to  them  too  freely,  we 
ourselves  never  feel  pauperized  because 
our  hospitals  in  America  are  with  few 
exceptions  heavily  subsidized.  Our  medi¬ 
cal  work  in  foreign  la»ds,  striking  as  it  is 
in  contrast  with  the  blackness  of  its  sur¬ 
roundings,  is  but  a  beginning. 

Then  there  rests  upon  us  the  obligation 
as  a  church  to  give  to  our  own  in  foreign 
lands  the  same  chance  to  live  and  enjoy 
existence  that  has  been  vouchsafed  to  us 


by  our  Christian  civilization.  A  church 
member’s  wife  in  India  has  a  sick  child. 
We  tell  her  and  her  husband  that  their 


The  opportunity  to 
evangelize  through  our 
primary  schools 


An  average  district  in  China 


native  doctors  mislead  them  with  super¬ 
stition  and  with  disgusting  and  dangerous 
practices.  We  destroy  their  faith  in  the 
native  doctors,  and  all  too  often  we  do  no 
more.  We  would  cry  out  in  protest  and 
anguish  of  heart  if  we  had  not  more  out¬ 
look  for  our  sick  children  than  we  are 
granting  to  that  church  member’s  wife  in 
India  this  year.  From  Africa  and  China 
the  same  cry  is  heard  from  Christian 
homes — “May  we  not  share  in  your  bless¬ 
ings?” 

For  every  Christian  home  in  these 
lands  there  are  a  hundred  or  more  homes 
where  neither  the  gospel  of  love  nor  of 
healing  has  entered.  Jesus  said,  “Preach 
the  gospel,  heal  the  sick,”  and  “Inasmuch 
as  ye  have  done  it  unto  the  least  of  these, 
ye  have  done  it  unto  Me.” 

The  world  awaits  our  response. — A  sur¬ 
vey  of  the  opportunities  is  staggering.  Let 
none  say  that  the  task  is  well  along,  or 
that  we  have  done  all  that  could  be  ex¬ 
pected  of  us.  What  do  these  figures  of 
the  extent  of  our  enterprise  mean  when 
cast  up  against  our  measurable  resources? 
Four  millions  of  us  are  sending  out  1.200 


432 


WORLD  SERVICE 


missionaries;  that  is  to  say,  3,300  Chris¬ 
tians  are  busy  keeping  one  representative 
on  the  foreign  field,  and  is  that,  in  the 
face  of  these  great  needs,  the  best  we 
can  do? 

V.  THE  WORLD  SERVICE  SURVEY 

The  great  task  is  still  before  us.  A  gen¬ 
eral  outlook  of  the  world  field  and  a  re¬ 
view  of  the  record  of  “whereunto  we  have 
attained”  convinces  us  of  that  fact.  The 
Centenary  surveys  which,  at  the  time  they 
were  made,  were  a  remarkable  summing 
up  of  the  church’s  task,  are  now  at  least 
seven  years  old.  Many  of  them  were 
made  before  our  entry  into  the  World 
War,  and  are  rendered  obsolete  by  new 
conditions,  as  well  as  by  the  lapse  of  time. 
The  question  arises  as  to  what  we  shall 
do  at  the  close  of  the  Centenary  period. 

When  the  call  was  made  upon  the 
Council  of  Boards  for  a  resurvey  of  each 
department  of  the  church’s  task,  the 
Board  of  Foreign  Missions  passed  on  the 
call  to  each  of  the  missions  and  confer¬ 
ences  on  the  foreign  field,  supplying  them 
with  such  instructions  and  helps  as  were 
considered  necessary  to  procure  a  unified 
form  of  statement.  The  church  should  be 
grateful  to  its  over-burdened  workers  for 
the  many  days  and  nights  of  thoughtful 
discussion  and  compilation  necessary  to 
produce  a  statement  of  this  character.  We 
have,  as  the  result,  the  most  complete  and 
extensive  statement  ever  produced  of  our 
work  and  a  wealth  of  information  that 
will  not  only  be  of  interest  to  the  church, 
but  will  also  greatly  assist  in  the  adminis¬ 
tration  of  the  fields. 

In  general,  the  surveys  were  prepared 
by  the  missionaries  in  charge  of  the  work. 
In  every  case,  however,  the  final  responsi¬ 
bility  has  rested  with  the  Finance  Com¬ 
mittee  of  the  mission,  and  the  approval 
of  its  secretary  was  required  on  each  sur¬ 
vey  return,  as  was  also  the  approval  of 
the  bishop  in  charge. 

These  returns  represent  largely  the  con¬ 
certed  and  balanced  judgment  of  nearly 
1,200  workers,  our  representatives  on  the 
outposts  of  the  kingdom.  The  officers  of 


the  Board  of  Foreign  Missions  have  given 
them  intensive  study  and  attempted  to  ad¬ 
just  the  differences  and  to  provide  for 
evident  irregularities.  Thus  the  result 
combines  the  message  of  our  ambassadors 
abroad  and  the  convictions  of  our  admin¬ 
istrators  at  home. 

All  correspondence  with  the  field,  and 
all  instructions  concerning  survey  mat¬ 
ters  emphasized  the  necessity  of  keeping 
to  a  moderate  and  rational  program  grow¬ 
ing  out  of  our  current  work.  The  esti¬ 
mates  of  needs,  presented  elsewhere  in 
this  volume,  as  modified  and  accepted  by 
the  Council  of  Boards  as  the  “Approved 
Needs”  of  the  Board  of  Foreign  Missions 
totals  $12,015,000.  It  does  not  represent 
a  program  of  what  we  could  be  doing,  or 
what  we  should  be  doing  on  the  foreign 
field.  It  is  not  a  program  of  the  church’s 
full  responsibility  in  the  lands  overseas, 
but  a  statement  of  what  is  the  next  step 
from  our  present  level  on  the  way  to  better 
things. 

VI.  WHAT  OUR  CHURCH  SHOULD 
DO  IN  FOREIGN  MISSIONS  IN 
THE  NEXT  TEN  YEARS 

With  such  a  varied  field  the  only  way 
we  can  study  a  ten-year  program  to  ad¬ 
vantage  is  to  cover  the  ground  country 
by  country.  Nevertheless  there  are  sev¬ 
eral  general  matters  for  which  a  definite 
policy  must  be  set  up. 

1.  Relief  and  Pensions 

Relief  and  pensions. — For  retired  mis¬ 
sionaries  or  dependents  a  sum  of  $60,000 
is  required  out  of  each  year’s  income.  We 
have  1,200  adult  missionaries  and  the 
physical  strain  is  severe.  Over  140  are 
now  receiving  pensions  or  grants  for  re¬ 
lief.  Many  of  our  missionaries  are  lay¬ 
men.  Most  of  the  missionary  preachers 
have  their  conference  relationship  abroad. 
These  Conferences  are  financially  weak 
and  there  is  no  adequate  Conference 
Claimants’  Fund  to  care  for  the  retired 
ministers  and  none  for  the  many  laymen 
who  are  missionaries.  The  Board  of  For¬ 
eign  Missions  has  had  to  meet  the  obli- 


FOREIGN  MISSIONS 


433 


gations  out  of  the  annual  missionary  col¬ 
lections.  It  would  be  more  fitting  to  have 
this  charge  met  from  a  special  fund  and  it 
is  desired  within  the  next  ten  years  to 
create  an  endowment  of  $2,000,000  pro¬ 
ducing  an  annual  revenue  of  $100,000, 
which  is  about  what  the  pensions  and  re¬ 
lief  costs  will  amount  to  at  the  end  of  the 
ten-year  period. 

2.  Reserve  Fund 

An  operating  reserve  fund. — The  other 
outstanding  need  for  “General  Opera¬ 
tions.”  From  such  a  reserve,  funds  can 
be  drawn  to  carry  the  year’s  work  while 
the  treasury  waits  for  the  collections  to 
come  in  from  the  churches.  Also  it  is 
needed  to  steady  up  our  fluctuation  in  re¬ 
ceipts  so  that  a  falling  off  in  expected 
income  during  any  year  need  not  mean 
plunging  the  board  into  debt,  nor  drastic 
re-adjustments  that  hurt  the  work.  The 
reserves  should  be  maintained  at  about 
twenty-five  per  cent  of  the  yearly  budget 
and  it  is  proposed  to  apply  two  per  cent 
of  the  budget  each  year  for  these  purposes. 

3.  China 

Education  in  favor. — When  we  under¬ 
take  work  in  China  we  find  that  the  old 
injunction  to  “be  all  things  to  all  men” 
means  that  we  will  emphasize  education. 
Though  comparatively  rare  it  is  highly 
revered  among  the  Chinese.  Christianity 
comes  with  the  message  that  education  is 
for  all  and  not  alone  for  a  few. 

Primary  education. — -Our  program  for 
the  next  ten  years  contemplates  tripling 
our  facilities  for  primary  education,  partly 
as  a  means  of  reaching  non-Christian 
homes,  but  more  especially  to  provide  a 
primary  education  for  at  least  one  out  of 
three  of  the  children  of  our  Christian 
families. 

Universities  and  theological  schools. — 
The  four  great  Union  Universities  in 
China  in  which  Methodism  has  a  share 
should  be  provided  with  sufficient  build¬ 
ings  to  keep  pace  with  their  increasing 
enrolment.  Likewise  we  must  insure  ade¬ 
quate  provision  for  the  operating  expenses 
of  each  of  these  Universities.  The  high- 


grade  theological  schools  which  now  have 
their  beginning  in  each  of  the  four  major 
areas  of  our  work  in  China  should  be 
strengthened  and  brought  to  a  point  where 
they  will  fulfill  their  avowed  purpose  in  the 
training  of  the  highest  type  of  prophetic 
and  spiritual  leadership.  Ten  or  twelve 
Biblical  Training  Schools  of  lower  grade 
will  also  be  maintained.  The  educational 
program  is  not  only  an  opportunity  to 
meet  the  Chinese  temperament  but  is  also 
essential  in  this  training  of  leadership  for 
the  future  conduct  of  our  Christian  enter¬ 
prises. 

Hospitals. —  Our  ten  hospitals  should  be 
strengthened  both  by  additional  staff  and 
equipment,  and  an  equal  number  of  new 
minor  medical  centers  opened. 

Evangelism. — Direct  evangelism  will  not 
be  neglected  but  the  great  Jubilee  Move¬ 
ment  largely  under  native  leadership  is 
expected  to  stimulate  the  whole  life  of  the 
Chinese  Church  and  we  shall  make  notable 
advances  in  the  hitherto  untouched  com¬ 
munities. 

New  territory. — Distinct  areas  of  new 
territory  are  proposed  to  be  opened  in 
Central  China,  areas  where  for  some  time 
our  responsibility  has  been  recognized  but 
for  which  it  has  been  impossible  to  make 
any  financial  provision  for  adequate  entry. 
These  areas,  however,  are  comparatively 
small  and  the  great  task  will  be  the  inten¬ 
sive  cultivation  of  those  areas  wherein 
we  have  already  entered. 

4.  Japan 

Evangelism  and  the  social  gospel. — 
Buddhism  and  Shintoism  in  Japan  are  fast 
taking  over  the  Christian  ideas  and  ideals 
of  service  and  making  these  things  a  part 
of  their  campaign  to  recover  their 
threatened  prestige.  Big  sums  of  money 
are  made  available  by  their  devotees  for 
such  campaigns.  The  Japan  Methodist 
Church  is  a  comparative  infant  among 
these  long  established  religious  organiza¬ 
tions  and  can  not  be  left  to  cope  alone  with 
this  situation.  There  is  great  opportunity 
for  us  to  work  through  the  Japan  Metho¬ 
dist  Church  in  putting  on  a  program  of 


434 


WORLD  SERVICE 


direct  evangelism  and  the  spreading  of 
the  social  gospel.  This  situation  should 
be  met  in  a  much  more  commanding  way 
during  the  next  ten  years  than  has  so  far 
been  found  possible. 

A  trained  Christian  leadership. — The 
Japanese  Government  has  learned  well 
the  value  of  primary  education  and  made 
it  compulsory  for  all  children.  We  can 
not,  however,  expect  to  train  Christian 
leadership  through  the  medium  of  Japa¬ 
nese  Government  schools  and  the  three  or 
four  higher  schools  that  we  maintain  must 
be  kept  at  a  high  state  of  efficiency  to  meet 
the  competition  of  Government  schools  and 
also  to  provide  the  material  essential  to 
our  leadership. 

5.  Korea 

Strengthen  our  centers. — Korea  has  had 
somewhat  the  same  problems  as  Japan. 
The  Korean  Church  is  very  active  and 
aggressive  in  evangelistic  matters  and 
should  be  strongly  supported  in  its  activi¬ 
ties.  Our  program  contemplates  the 
maintenance  of  interest  in  the  Chosen 
Christian  College  as  a  strong  center  for 
higher  Christian  education,  and  in  the 
Union  Theological  Seminary  for  the  direct 
training  of  Christian  workers.  The  work 
of  Severance  Union  Medical  College  should 
also  be  strengthened  as  a  means  of  train¬ 
ing  those  who  must  serve  our  ever  growing 
Christian  constituency  with  medical  skill. 

Extension  work.— The  extension  of  the 
Korean  and  Chinese  work  in  Manchurian 
fields  is  also  proposed  as  a  definite  part  of 
the  program  of  these  ten  years  and  the 
significant  thing  is  that  this  program  will 
be  largely  supported  and  carried  on  by  the 
Chinese  and  Korean  Christians  with  oc¬ 
casional  help  from  the  church  in  America. 

6.  Philippine  Islands 

Expanding  the  rim  of  church  work. — 
Our  churches  now  organized  in  the 
Philippine  Islands  are  fast  becoming  self- 
supporting.  Nevertheless  there  is  always 
a  rim  of  new  churches  as  we  advance  into 
new  fields  that  must  be  supported,  and 
although  our  church  in  the  Philippine 
Islands  has  attained  self-support  proba¬ 


bly  more  rapidly  than  in  any  other  field 
we  occupy  we  do  not  forget  that  there  is 
still  much  ground  to  be  covered.  During 
the  next  ten  years  we  should  triple  our 
contributions  toward  the  furtherance  of 
gospel  work,  although  practically  every 
church  that  is  today  receiving  support  will 
then  be  carrying  its  own  budget. 

The  Filipino  Methodists  have  as  a  rule 
built  their  own  churches  but  they  have 
been  necessarily  flimsy  and  inadequate 
structures,  in  keeping  with  the  small  fi¬ 
nancial  ability  of  the  members.  Govern¬ 
ment  and  commercial  interests  are  rapidly 
introducing  improved  types  of  buildings 
throughout  the  islands  and  our  type  of 
church  building  must  also  be  improved. 
Some  aid  will  be  necessary  to  local  con¬ 
gregations  and  we  should  invest  $25,000 
each  year  (a  small  figure  indeed)  for  the 
next  ten  years  in  aiding  the  dozens  of 
small  congregations,  and  occasionally  large 
and  important  city  groups,  to  secure 
these  better  buildings  for  their  work. 

Dormitories.. — In  general,  good  educa¬ 
tional  facilities  are  provided  by  the  Amer¬ 
ican  Government,  and  our  mission  does 
not  compete  with  the  government  in  edu¬ 
cation.  Hundreds  of  thousands  of  students, 
however,  leave  home  to  attend  high 
schools,  technical  schools,  normal  schools 
and  universities.  One  missionary  writes : 
“There  are  at  present  over  2,000  students 
in  the  high  school  at  Lingayen  with  no 
regular  dormitory  facilities.  They  are 
crowded  in  private  homes  and  subject  to 
uncomfortable  and  unsanitary  conditions. 
The  same  condition  prevails  in  Bayom- 
bong.  The  school  there  is  not  so  large,  yet 
is  growing  rapidly,  and  it  would  be  well  if 
we  could  get  our  dormitory  established 
early.” 

We  have  three  or  four  such  dormito¬ 
ries  now  and  we  should  put  up  a  new  one 
each  year  for  the  next  ten  years  just  to 
meet  the  urgent  situations.  Another 
missionary  writes  of  the  Manila  dormi¬ 
tory:  “At  6:30  every  morning  all  the 
students  are  required  to  attend  chapel  at 
which  a  passage  of  Scripture  is  read  with 
comments  setting  forth  some  truth  for 


FOREIGN  MISSIONS 


435 


the  day.  Then  comes  a  song  in  which 
they  all  join  most  heartily,  as  they  do  at 
the  close  of  the  morning’s  prayer  in  the 
Lord’s  Prayer.  We  follow  up  this  work 
with  personal  interviews.  Many  come  de¬ 
siring  only  a  good  place  in  which  to  live 
and  many  are  prejudiced  against  Prot¬ 
estantism,  but  the  moral  atmosphere  of 
the  institution  is  fine  and  most  of  the  stu¬ 
dents,  in  the  end,  become  converted  and 
unite  with  our  church.” 

In  the  matter  of  expense,  these  dormi¬ 
tories  pay  their  own  way.  We  should  not 
delay  to  build  them  at  all  important  pro¬ 
vincial  centers  and  provide  the  mission¬ 
aries  to  carry  on  this  promising  work. 

7.  Malaysia 

Immigrant  opportunities.  —  Thousands 
upon  thousands  of  immigrants  from  China 
and  from  southern  India  stream  through 
the  ports  of  Malaysia  every  year.  Our 
evangelistic  work  lies  almost  wholly 
among  these  people,  and  also  with  certain 
Malay  Mohammedan  groups  at  points 
along  the  coast.  The  fact  that  we  have 
work  in  China  and  India  forms  a  point  of 
contact  with  the  immigrant  populations; 
for,  some  bring  their  church  connections 
with  them,  and  many  have  known  of  our 
work  in  their  homelands.  Our  policy  dur¬ 
ing  the  next  ten  years  will  be  steadily  to 
develop  this  highly  important  work. 

Many  of  these  churches  will  become 
self-supporting  during  these  ten  years. 
One  whole  district,  in  fact,  is  proposing  to 
ask  the  mission  for  only  one-third  of  the 
aid  it  now  receives.  In  other  sections, 
there  are  many  new  churches  to  be  opened 
requiring  outside  support  because  of  the 
unsettled  life  of  the  immigrants.  On  the 
whole  we  should  largely  increase  our 
activities  in  planting  the  church  in  these 
new  born  communities,  and  to  this  end 
the  ten-year  program  calls  for  a  tripling 
of  the  present  missionary  staff. 

Contacts  in  education. — Our  educational 
work  in  Malaysia  is  carried  on  in  close  co¬ 
operation  with  the  British  Colonial  Gov¬ 
ernment,  which  makes  liberal  grants  for 
the  building  and  maintenance  of  our 
schools.  By  this  arrangement  we  are  en¬ 


abled  to  influence  for  Christ  thousands  of 
youth  who  would  not  otherwise  come 
within  the  sound  of  the  Christian  message. 

The  schools  we  have  already  estab¬ 
lished  have  been  very  successful.  The  one 
at  Penang  has  over  1,500  students.  The 
tuition  fees  and  government  aid  pay  prac¬ 
tically  all  the  expenses  of  the  school  and 
in  many  cases  pay  also  the  salaries  of  the 
missionary  teachers.  These  schools  have 
far  outgrown  their  facilities,  however, 
and  we  must  provide  them  with  more  ad¬ 
equate  quarters  in  which  to  carry  on  their 
work.  Not  only  this,  but  for  every  one 
school  we  have  opened  there  are  four  or 
five  others  that  we  should  open  within  the 
next  ten  years.  These  will  require  aid 
from  the  home  church  in  providing  the 
plant  and  in  carrying  the  operating  ex¬ 
penses  for  the  first  few  years.  There¬ 
after  they  will  become  permanent  centers 
for  the  propagation  of  gospel  truths. 

8.  Netherlands  Indies 

A  medical  opportunity. — Perhaps  the 
greatest  opportunity  in  the  Netherlands 
Indies  is  medical  work  carried  on  in  co¬ 
operation  with  the  government.  By  an 
arrangement  the  government  makes  large 
grants  to  the  building  and  maintenance  of 
these  plants  and  allows  them  to  be  run 
entirely  as  mission  institutions.  They 
therefore  form  bases  for  all  lines  of 
Christian  activity  as  well  as  provide  a 
much  needed  ministry  of  healing  to  those 
vast  populations  in  the  East  Indies 
Islands.  Two  or  three  first-class  schools 
should  be  maintained  for  the  training  of 
Christian  boys,  and  one  good  Normal  and 
Preachers’  Training  school  established. 
Direct  evangelistic  advances  should  be 
made  towards  the  almost  untouched  na¬ 
tive  populations  in  the  interior  of  the 
Islands  of  Sumatra  and  Dutch  Borneo. 
This  involves  the  gradual  enlargement  of 
the  staff  and  the  securing  of  property  and 
erection  of  proper  buildings  for  the  varied 
types  of  work. 

9.  India 

An  intensive  task. — Although  the  waves 
of  the  Mass  Movement  break  upon  us  with 
their  constant  intensity,  and  although  the 


436 


WORLD  SERVICE 


urge  for  an  expanding  work  is  still  laid 
heavily  upon  us,  the  program  for  the  next 
ten  years  will  lay  the  supreme  emphasis 
upon  the  intensive  development  of  areas 
already  occupied,  rather  than  upon  further 
wide  extension  of  our  borders.  It  is  rec¬ 
ognized  that  no  truly  successful  advance 
work  can  be  carried  on  until  we  have 
wisely  consolidated  the  great  gains  from 
the  Mass  Movement  of  recent  years.  In¬ 
tensive  instruction  and  training  for  these 
new  converts  is  necessary  and  will  re¬ 
quire  a  doubling  of  our  efforts  and  activi¬ 
ties.  Training  schools  and  training  con¬ 
ferences  will  be  emphasized.  A  staff  of 
several  educational  specialists  is  planned 
to  correlate  our  various  educational  enter¬ 
prises  and  to  relate  them  more  definitely 
to  this  great  task  of  the  education  of  a 
church. 

Because  our  work  lies  mostly  among  the 
lower  castes,  the  average  church  member 
in  India  is  very  poor.  Self-support  grows 
steadily  though  slowly,  and  as  soon  as  one 
place  becomes  self-supporting,  two  or 
three  new  places  will  be  opened.  If  we 
rely  solely  on  what  financial  support  these 
native  Christians  can  give  to  the  work, 
progress  will  be  slow  indeed.  It  seems 
reasonable  to  plan  that  the  church  in 
America  should,  for  the  next  ten  years, 
double  its  gifts  towards  gospel  preaching 
in  India.  During  this  period  we  should 
provide  600  or  700  small  preaching  places 
or  circuit  centers  for  this  work,  costing 
anywhere  from  $500  to  $5,000  each,  and 
we  should  plan  each  year  to  provide  one 
or  more  city  plants  in  the  twelve  large 
cities  within  the  area  of  our  occupation. 

Primary  schools. — Nothing  will  do  more 
to  preserve  the  Mass  Movement  gains  than 
the  extension  of  our  primary  educational 
system  to  include  the  children  of  these 
homes.  The  whole  problem  of  finding 
better  teachers,  better  equipment,  and 
better  supervision  for  this  work  requires 
double  the  attention  we  have  given  to  it 
in  the  past. 

We  now  have  about  400  village  schools 
and  propose  to  add  600  more  during  these 
ten  years.  Practically  all  of  these  are  now 
out-of-door  schools,  and  many  of  them  are 


so  poorly  equipped  that  the  government 
will  not  recognize  them.  We  hope  to  erect 
each  year  thirty-five  day  school  buildings 
at  a  cost  of  about  $1,000  each.  This  is  a 
modest  program  for  our  great  need  but  if 
we  can  carry  it  through  successfully  it 
will  be  a  wonderful  encouragement  to  our 
native  Christians,  as  well  as  a  great  bless¬ 
ing  to  the  children. 

The  English  Theological  College. — 
Within  the  past  year  has  been  launched 
a  new  All-India  English  Theological  Col¬ 
lege  of  the  higher  grade  for  candidates  for 
our  ministry,  who  are  able  to  receive 
their  advanced  training  in  English.  We 
have  all  these  years  had  no  provision  for 
helping  these  men  of  higher  educational 
qualifications  for  participation  in  our  task 
of  evangelism  and  the  next  ten  years  must 
see  this  school  equipped  and  staffed  on  an 
adequate  scale. 

Hospital  extension. — We  have  too  long 
relied  on  the  government  hospitals  for  the 
medical  work  in  these  fields.  Our  church 
is  spread  largely  among  the  village  folk 
whom  the  city  hospitals  cannot  adequately 
serve.  We  now  have  three  hospitals  in  oper¬ 
ation,  and  plan  to  have  in  each  of  our  con¬ 
ference  areas  by  1934  one  central  hospital 
with  several  outlying  dispensaries  for 
each,  and  provision  for  an  itinerant  dis¬ 
pensary  service  to  cover  these  heavily 
populated  districts  in  order  to  relieve  suf¬ 
fering  and  make  an  entry  for  the  gospel 
of  love.  In  addition,  we  are  establishing 
and  must  adequately  develop  the  All- 
India  Tuberculosis  Sanitarium  at  Madar, 
near  Ajmere,  in  the  Rajputana  desert. 

10.  Africa 

Training  centers.— Our  chief  endeavor 
in  Africa  will  be  in  the  building  up  of  five 
or  six  strong  training  centers.  The  expe¬ 
rience  of  the  past  fifty  years  has  taught 
us  that  scattered  small  scale  operations 
in  Africa  will  not  make  headway  against 
the  great  mountain  of  native  ignorance 
and  superstition  and  against  the  advance 
of  Mohammedanism.  A  handy  man  or  two 
for  these  institutions  will  not  suffice.  We 
must  in  the  next  ten  years  put  half  a  dozen 
specialists  in  these  centers.  Farming  and 


FOREIGN  MISSIONS 


437 


industrial  methods  must  be  studied  as  well 
as  taught.  A  new  economic  and  social 
order  must  be  found  for  these  peoples  who 
come  to  us  and  our  training  work  in  Africa 
must  be  taken  up  vigorously  and  promptly. 

In  mining  regions. —  In  the  mining  re¬ 
gions  there  is  a  peculiar  opportunity  to 
reach  the  floating  population  of  mine 
workers  through  education  and  social 
features.  Our  program  at  Elisabethville 
and  Johannesburg  contemplates  extensive 
operations  along  these  lines  under  the 
direct  supervision  of  specialists  in  re¬ 
ligious  education  and  work  with  men  and 
boys. 

More  adequate  medical  work. — In  medi¬ 
cal  work  we  have  scarcely  begun  to  occupy 
our  African  fields.  The  three  existing 
hospitals  have  a  most  meager  equipment. 
In  ten  years  they  should  be  modestly  but 
adequately  housed  and  staffed  and  five  new 
medical  centers  opened,  for  the  need  of 
Christlike  ministration  is  great  beyond 
words. 

New  mission  stations. — Several  areas  in 
Africa  with  large  populations  have  been 
hitherto  practically  untouched  by  Chris¬ 
tian  missions.  They  live  in  the  path  of 
the  Mohammedan  advance  and  we  should 
bear  a  share  of  the  responsibility  of  out- 
posting  these  lands  with  Christianity.  Our 
ten  year  estimate  contains  provision  for 
the  establishing  of  these  mission  stations 
within  such  new  areas  if  the  conferences 
on  Africa  proposed  for  the  coming  year 
indicate  that  such  is  a  wise  course  to 
pursue. 

11.  South  America 

School  expansion. —  Our  Methodist 
schools  for  the  Latin  youth  of  South 
America  are  much  in  favor  and  the  ex¬ 
pense  of  this  operation  is  largely  met  from 
the  student  income,  in  some  cases  an  an¬ 
nual  profit  being  regularly  shown.  These 
schools  do  much  to  break  down  the  preju¬ 
dice  against  Protestantism  on  the  one 
hand  and  against  all  religious  institu¬ 
tions  on  the  other.  They  offer  large  and 
important  contacts  where  the  leaven  of 
the  gospel  word  should  be  performing  its 
office.  We  will  in  the  ten  years  expand 


these  operations  by  eighty  or  ninety  per 
cent. 

The  Indian  appeal.— Our  work  among 
the  vast  Indian  population  has  just  begun. 
It  is  an  adventure  of  strong  missionary 
appeal  and  worthy  of  the  church’s  thought 
and  support.  These  Indians  are  lightly 
touched  by  the  Latin  civilizations  of  the 
land,  and  need  our  help  through  medical 
missions  and  fundamental  educational 
facilities,  as  well  as  in  the  preaching  of  the 
gospel  message.  These  people  of  myste¬ 
rious  history  and  wonderful  capacity  for 
development  have  through  years  of  repres¬ 
sion  lost  heart  in  the  task  of  self-improve¬ 
ment  and  it  may  be  our  privilege  in  these 
ten  years  in  some  measure  to  carry  to 
them  the  gospel  of  hope  and  uplift. 

Better  church  and  school  plants. — 411  of 
our  properties  in  South  America  are 
insufficient  to  our  task  and  mean  in  com¬ 
parison  with  secular  buildings  and  the 
church  properties  of  other  fields.  Some 
of  our  important  schools  and  many  church 
services  are  conducted  in  unsuitable  rented 
quarters.  A  large  percentage  of  the  better 
class  of  Latin  Americans  despise  religion 
and  churches  as  they  have  known  them, 
and  where  religions  are  counted  scarcely 
respectable  we  need  something  better  than 
our  makeshift  plants  to  do  an  effective 
work.  It  is  proposed  in  the  next  ten  years 
to  make  possible  better  plants  for  our  more 
important  centers  of  work  both  in 
churches  and  in  schools. 

12.  Mexico 

Our  responsibility. — We  have  been 
working  in  Mexico  for  50  years,  and  be¬ 
cause  of  the  large  Indian  population  will 
probably  have  to  continue  for  50  years 
more.  There  are  four  million  people  in  the 
territory  assigned  to  the  Methodist  Epis¬ 
copal  Church. 

The  theological  school  and  a  hospital 
must  be  developed  and  have  their  own 
properties.  A  considerable  investment 
will  still  be  necessary  in  the  Aztecas  social 
center  in  Mexico  City,  and  similar  institu¬ 
tions  must  be  started  in  at  least  four  other 
cities.  Assistance  will  have  to  be  given 
either  in  the  erection  of  new  buildings,  or 


438 


WORLD  SERVICE 


reconstruction  of  older  churches  in  a  hun¬ 
dred  smaller  centers.  For  at  least  twenty- 
five  years  a  great  deal  of  attention  and 
some  considerable  investment  will  have  to 
be  made  in  primary  schools  until  the  state 
can  furnish  free  public  schools  throughout 
the  Republic. 

A  literature  program  with  its  printing 
plant,  book  store,  and  weekly  paper  must 
be  subsidized  and  the  program  enlarged 
for  meeting  with  good  literature  the  de¬ 
mand  now  being  made  by  this  rapidly 
developing  people  for  reading  material. 
Increased  investments  must  be  made  in 
our  plants  in  the  four  large  educational 
institutions.  Considerable  help  must  be 
given  to  congregations  in  cities  ranging 
from  50,000  to  200,000  where  fine  churches 
must  be  erected.  The  hospital  at  Guana¬ 
juato  must  be  further  developed  and  a 
larger  investment  made  in  the  union  hos¬ 
pital  in  Puebla.  Medical  work  should  also 
be  opened  in  Queretaro  and  Pachuca  to 
take  care  of  large  centers  of  population. 

13.  Costa  Rica 

New  missionaries. — In  addition  to  the 
district  superintendent,  two  evangelistic 
missionaries  are  to  be  established  in  lead¬ 
ing  centers  in  Costa  Rica  for  constant 
itinerating  work  throughout  the  country, 
with  an  additional  missionary  family  to 
work  among  the  Indians  on  the  border 
between  Costa  Rica  and  Panama. 

Educational  needs.—  The  small  Bible 
Training  School  now  under  the  district 
superintendent,  will  be  developed  into  a 
theological  seminary,  and  must  train  both 
men  and  women  workers.  The  primary 
school  in  the  capital  of  San  Jose  must  have 
its  own  building  and  should  develop  into 
a  fine  secondary  institution  with  a  junior 
college  as  the  ultimate  goal.  The  fine  nor¬ 
mal  school  at  Heredia  should  have  both  a 
boys’  and  girls’  dormitory  with  American 
missionaries  in  charge. 

Developing  the  church.— Special  atten¬ 
tion  must  be  given  to  the  West  Indian 
negroes  and  other  workers  on  the  large 
banana  plantations.  Large  churches  must 
be  built  and  conducted  in  the  four  leading 
cities,  and  smaller  churches  in  at  least  25 


Costa  Rican  children 


other  towns.  While  the  people  are  much 
farther  along  than  in  Panama,  we  cannot 
expect  complete  evangelization  of  the  Re¬ 
public  and  the  establishment  of  a  self- 
supporting  church  in  less  than  twenty-five 
years,  and  possibly  not  for  fifty  years. 

14.  Panama 

Our  peculiar  responsibility. — Our  work 
in  Panama  for  the  past  three  years  has 
been  conducted  principally  in  Panama 
City,  with  one  provincial  station  at  David. 
Work  has  been  opened  in  Chitre,  and  other 
parts  of  the  Republic  have  been  visited. 
As  our  Board  is  solely  responsible  for  the 
evangelization  of  Panama,  we  propose  to 
establish  preaching  places  and  churches  in 
every  province,  and  also  among  the  San 
Bias  Indians.  Work  among  the  West  In¬ 
dians  is  left  largely  to  the  Wesleyans  and 
Baptists. 

An  educational  program. — Our  Panama 
College,  now  a  primary  school,  must  be 
extended  to  cover  secondary  work  and 


FOREIGN  MISSIONS 


439 


eventually  a  junior  college.  The  Training 
School  in  connection  with  the  Sea  Wall 
Church  must  become  a  theological  school. 
A  large  institutional  church  is  planned  for 
the  principal  plaza  in  Panama  City. 
Nurses  will  be  added  to  the  mission  sta¬ 
tions  throughout  the  Republic  and  a  medi¬ 
cal  missionary  will  be  employed  for 
itinerating  work.  The  interior  portion 
of  the  Republic  is  so  backward  that  mis¬ 
sion  work  will  have  to  continue  for  many 
years  to  come. 

15.  Europe 

Influence  of  war. —  The  policy  of  the 
Board  of  Foreign  Missions  in  promoting 
the  interests  of  the  Church  and  the  King¬ 
dom  in  Europe  has  been  profoundly  influ¬ 
enced  by  the  war. 

An  emergency.^ — The  definite  consider¬ 
ation  of  the  principles  and  practice  of 
self-support  as  affecting  both  missionary 
funds  and  the  permanent  relation  of  the 
Methodism  of  continental  Europe  to  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  was  halted; 
consultations  were  left  incomplete,  and  con¬ 
clusions  were  not  formulated.  For  the  time 
the  European  problem  became  one  of 
emergency  in  which  the  Board  reckoned 
with  new  factors  which  suddenly  ap¬ 
peared.  Both  the  physical  and  mental  map 
of  Europe  were  changed.  Gradually,  how¬ 
ever,  there  is  emerging  a  certain  order  of 
events  and  of  thinking  which  should  put 
us  again  upon  the  track  of  a  program 
thoroughly  thought  through  and  accepta¬ 
ble  to  Methodism  on  both  sides  of  the  sea. 

Prompt  relief. — The  demand  for  prompt 
physical  relief  both  for  our  own  mem¬ 
bers  in  Europe  and  for  other  sufferers 
from  the  war  required  prompt  and  gen¬ 
erous  action  in  the  period,  1918-1920. 
This  demand  came  as  definitely  from  the 
church  at  home  as  from  the  sufferers  in 
the  lands  directly  affected  by  the  war. 
Provision  had  been  made  in  the  program 
of  the  Centenary  for  an  addition  of 
$2,500,000  annually  to  the  original  askings 
for  the  Board  of  Foreign  Missions  in  order 
that  these  requirements  for  immediate 
relief  and  for  reconstruction  might  be  met. 
This  made  it  possible  for  the  Methodist 


Episcopal  Church  to  be  the  first  Christian 
organization  of  America  to  reach  with 
resources  in  money  and  supplies  the 
hungry  and  destitute  in  Europe.  Over 
$1,200,000  was  used  in  this  immediate 
relief.  The  money  was  not  in  hand  but 
the  church  had  pledged  it  and  pledged  it 
for  this  purpose.  Had  the  board  received 
even  seventy  per  cent  of  its  expected  in¬ 
come,  this  amount  would  not  now  be  car¬ 
ried  as  a  debt. 

National  changes. — The  changes  caused 
by  the  war  have  adjusted  the  former 
boundaries  and  have  brought  new  states 
into  being.  The  Baltic  Mission  is  es¬ 
tablished,  covering  the  three  new  repub¬ 
lics,  Latvia,  Esthonia,  Lithuania.  Austria- 
Hungary  is  no  longer  a  dual  field,  it  has 
become  two  units.  Yugo-Slavia  embraces 
a  part  of  Hungary  and  takes  in  a  part  of 
Macedonia  for  which  our  Mission  has  an 
important  responsibility.  Russia,  always 
a  problem,  is  now  a  problem  raised  to  the 
nth  power.  Albania  still  awaits  our  help. 
The  war  has  thrown  up  into  relief  the  re¬ 
ligious  groupings.  There  is  a  new  Prot¬ 
estant  situation,  where  the  state  church 
has  been  disestablished.  As  never  before 
our  church  confronts  with  sharp  distinc¬ 
tion,  the  Roman  Catholic  Church,  the 
Orthodox  Creek  Church,  Mohammedanism 
and  sheer  materialistic  atheism.  In  outline 
and  content  the  problems  of  continental 
Europe,  as  seen  from  the  Methodist  view¬ 
point,  with  all  that  is  old  in  them,  are  new 
and  compelling. 

Comity. — By  agreement,  accepted  by 
our  own  Board  and  by  our  General 
Conference,  acted  upon  but  not  officially 
adopted  by  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church,  South,  the  countries  of  Europe, 
so  far  as  work  in  them  by  our  two  churches 
is  concerned,  are  distributed  as  follows: 

Methodist  Episcopal  Church:  Scandi¬ 
navia,  North  and  North  Central  Russia, 
Baltic  Republics,  Germany,  Switzerland, 
France,  Spain,  Italy,  Austria,  Hungary, 
the  Balkans. 

Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South: 
Belgium,  Poland,  Czecho-Slovakia,  South 
and  South  Central  Russia. 


440 


WORLD  SERVICE 


This  division  adds  to  territory  occupied 
by  our  Church  in  1914,  Spain,  Yugo-Slavia, 
and  parts  of  the  Baltic  Provinces,  and 
takes  from  it  our  very  limited  work  in 
Poland.  The  fact  of  this  understanding 
between  these  two  great  branches  of 
American  Methodism  adds  to  the  respon¬ 
sibility  of  each. 

In  the  proposal  for  an  appropriation 
basis  for  1924-1925  these  general  facts  are 
held  in  mind.  They  become  also  influen¬ 
tial  factors  in  outlining  the  policy  of 
Methodism  in  Europe  in  the  coming  years. 
The  Board  has  instructed  its  Committee  on 
policy  and  work  in  Europe  to  prepare  and 
present  at  its  meeting  in  November,  1923, 
a  report  on  our  European  work  with  a 
view  to  recommendations  to  the  General 
Conference  of  1924. 

General  policy. — With  no  attempt  at 
close  financial  estimates  beyond  1924-25, 
the  general  policy  would  include: 

1.  For  Protestant  Europe,  continued 
aid  in  securing  suitable  property  and 
equipment,  maintenance  subsidies  while 
work  is  being  stabilized,  promotion  of  self- 
support,  and  cessation  of  financial  support, 
except  in  the  case  of  central  educational  or 
philanthropic  units,  well  within  the  ten 
year  period. 

2.  Clearer  definition  of  our  responsi¬ 
bility  in  Latin  countries,  co-operating  with 
existing  churches,  establishing  our  own 
units  of  work  at  important  centers,  hold¬ 
ing  American  representatives  to  a  mini¬ 
mum,  and  developing  and  training  the 
nationals  themselves  for  the  leadership 
and  support  of  a  Methodism  for  each  land 
with  international  relations  and  obliga¬ 
tions.  For  some  countries  the  contribu¬ 
tions  should  be  increased  and  then  for  a 
time  maintained;  in  others,  within  a  rea¬ 
sonable  time,  there  should  be  gradual  re¬ 
duction,  the  institutional  work  receiving 
consideration  upon  its  merit  as  it  de¬ 
velops. 

3.  Increased  responsibility  must  be 
assumed  in  the  Balkans,  in  Austria,  and 
in  Hungary,  in  the  Baltic  republics,  and 
especially  in  Russia,  where  the  financial 


provision  should  be  enlarged  fivefold  in 
the  near  future.  A  strong  program  should 
be  maintained  in  North  Africa,  which  for 
purposes  of  administration,  is  classified 
with  Europe,  since  there  our  church  alone 
occupies  the  field,  and  the  contacts  with 
Mohammedanism  offer  opportunities  no¬ 
where  else  afforded. 

In  most  of  these  fields  a  large  property 
program  is  inevitable.  Until  a  resource- 
constituency  is  secured,  the  cost  of  ade¬ 
quate  property  for  theological  training 
schools,  orphanages  and  churches,  espe¬ 
cially  in  important  centers,  cannot  be 
borne  by  the  nationals  themselves.  Ur¬ 
gency  to  secure  the  self-supporting  basis 
for  the  going  work  must  in  Europe  as 
elsewhere  be  accompanied  by  a  generous 
consideration  of  the  need  of  co-operation 
for  housing  and  equipping  the  work. 

VII.  CONCLUSION 

If  in  this  statement  we  have  marred 
the  Master’s  program,  we  are  confident 
that  the  flaw  will  be  revealed,  the  error 
corrected.  The  currents  of  missionary 
sympathy  belt  the  globe.  We  find  ourselves 
thinking  in  terms  of  other  lands,  of  work¬ 
ers  in  far  away  fields.  Let  them  speak  to 
the  church  at  home.  They  are  shepherding 
the  little  flock  scattered  among  all  the 
great  alien  peoples  of  the  world.  The  grow¬ 
ing  churches  are  gathered  into  fifty  con¬ 
ferences.  They  look  out  upon  populations 
where  99^2  per  cent  are  still  unevangel¬ 
ised.  They  are  set  to  the  task  of  teach¬ 
ing  and  of  healing  them.  It  is  theirs  to 
conquer  error  with  truth,  superstition 
with  faith,  sin  with  holiness.  In  Jesus 
Christ  are  their  power  and  their  recom¬ 
pense.  As  someone  has  said  they  promote 
a  Kingdom  which  is  without  frontiers. 
Where  hindrances  are  greatest,  confidence 
is  most  firm.  They  follow  the  world’s 
Master,  they  have  faith  in  God,  they  trust 
the  Church.  They  and  we  know  that  it 
is  morning  and  not  eventide. 

In  this  statement  we  and  they  are 
drawing  a  new  line  not  as  a  line  at  which 
to  end  but  as  one  from  which  afresh  to 
start. 


What  the  world  has  been  waiting  for  through  the  cen¬ 
turies  is  a  sample  Christian  nation.  America  has  the 
best  chance  of  being  that  sample. 

Edward  Laird  Mills 


THE  BOARD  OF  HOME  MISSIONS  AND 
CHURCH  EXTENSION 

ANALYSIS  OF  STATEMENT 


I.  Historical  Statement 

1.  Missionary  society 

2.  Origin  and  development  of  church 
extension  work 

3.  Division  of  the  missionary  society 

II.  Functions  of  the  Board 

1.  The  form  of  organization 

2.  The  task  in  concrete  terms 

III.  A  New  Study  of  the  Home  Field 

IV.  Home  Missions  and  Church 
Extension  Needs 

1.  The  territories 

2.  The  North  American  Indian 


3.  Mormon  territory 

4.  The  Negro 

5.  Industrial  workers 

6.  The  cities 

7.  Foreign-language  groups 

8.  Rural  problems 

9.  Summer  and  winter  resorts 

10.  Educational  and  military  respon 
sibilities 

11.  Home  mission  leadership 

12.  Evangelism 

13.  Foreign  language  literature 

14.  The  Goodwill  Industries 

15.  Emergency  needs. 


20 


441 


442 


WORLD  SERVICE 


I.  HISTORICAL  STATEMENT 
1.  Missionary  Society 

The  first  society. — Organized  missions  in 
the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  began 
with  the  adoption  of  the  following  at  a 
public  meeting  held  in  the  Bowery  Church, 
New  York  City,  April  5,  1819; 

“Resolved :  That  it  is  expedient  for  this 
meeting  to  form  a  Missionary  and  Bible 
society  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church.” 

In  the  first  constitution  the  society  was 
called  “The  Missionary  Society  of  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church  in  America.” 
“In  America”  was  eliminated  in  1828  to 
permit  a  future  work  overseas,  although 
at  that  time  the  revised  charter  declared 
that  the  society  was  “for  the  express  pur¬ 
pose  of  enabling  several  Annual  Confer¬ 
ences  more  effectually  to  extend  their 
missionary  labors  throughout  the  United 
States  and  elsewhere,  and  also  to  assist 
in  the  support  and  promotion  of  mis¬ 
sionary  schools.”  The  General  Confer¬ 
ence  of  1840  added  “in  our  own  and  in 
foreign  countries.” 

“Domestic  operations.”  —  The  present 
Board  of  Home  Missions  and  Church  Ex¬ 
tension  did  not  come  into  existence  until 
1907.  Previous  to  that  time  the  Mis¬ 
sionary  Society  of  the  Methodist  Episco¬ 
pal  Church  had  jurisdiction  over  all 
missionary  work,  both  at  home  and 
abroad.  In  early  days  missionary  out¬ 
posts  on  the  American  frontier  were  re¬ 
ferred  to  and  managed  as  “foreign”  mis¬ 
sions,  but  for  purposes  of  clearness  and 
study  we  should  adopt  the  quaint  term 
which  gradually  crept  into  the  general 
usage  of  the  church,  “Domestic  operations 
of  our  Missionary  Society.” 

By  1881,  domestic  missions  were  of  two 
kinds:  those  administered  by  a  board  of 
managers  included  Arizona,  Black  Hills, 
Dakota,  Indian  Territory,  Montana,  New 
Mexico,  Utah,  and  Nebraska,  and  those  ad¬ 
ministered  by  the  conference  were  mis¬ 
sions  to  the  Aborigines,  Welsh,  Germans, 
Scandinavians,  French,  and  Chinese;  also 
needy  points  of  forty-six  Annual  Confer¬ 


ences,  most  of  which  were  on  the  frontiers 
or  in  the  South. 

The  first  missionary. — It  is  surprising 
what  changes  came  during  the  life-time 
of  the  first  missionary,  Rev.  Ebenezer 
Brown,  who  was  appointed  in  1819  by 
Bishop  George  to  labor  among  the  French 
in  New  Orleans.  Fourteen  years  changed 
an  Indian’s  happy  hunting  ground  to  a 
well-established  community.  Mr.  Brown 
went  to  work  in  the  year  when  the  mis¬ 
sionary  society  was  organized.  When  he 
died  in  1889,  the  receipts  of  this  society 
had  grown  to  a  million  dollars  a  year. 

A  justified  endeavor.-— With  true  insight 
the  early  missionary  society  established 
outposts  of  evangelism  in  sparsely  settled 
regions  and  waited  for  the  population  to 
fill  in  the  intervening  places.  During 
these  years  the  field  was  entered,  a  sys¬ 
tem  of  management  developed,  policies 
decided  upon,  tested  and  readjusted  until 
finally  the  missionary  society,  which  had 
been  opposed  on  the  floor  of  the  General 
Conference  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church  in  1820  and  denounced  as  a  radical 
and  dangerous  movement,  has  justified 
itself  beyond  the  wildest  dreams  of  its 
supporters. 

But  during  all  the  years  in  which  the 
Missionary  Society  of  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church  existed,  “Home  Mis¬ 
sions”  consisted  for  the  most  part  in  what 
is  now  called  “maintenance,”  that  is,  the 
full  or  partial  support  of  missionaries  or 
ministers  in  what  is  technically  known  as 
missionary  territory. 

2.  Origin  and  Development  of  Church 
Extension  Work 

The  heart  of  home  missions. — Techni¬ 
cally,  the  planting  of  churches  in  com¬ 
munity  after  community  is  called  “church 
extension.”  It  is  at  the  heart  of  all  home 
mission  endeavor.  In  the  Methodist  Epis¬ 
copal  Church,  it  started  in  a  small  way  In 
Iowa.  The  expansion  of  the  West  and  the 
inability  of  the  settlers  to  provide  at  once 
homes  and  churches  without  assistance 
came  as  a  challenge  to  Iowa  Methodists. 
Dr.  Alpha  Jefferson  Kynett  organized  a 
local  Church  Extension  Society  at  Du- 


HOME  MISSIONS 


443 


buque,  Iowa,  in  1856.  With  his  fellow 
ministers  he  was  instrumental  in  collect¬ 
ing  money  and  helping  many  a  frontier 
preacher  to  erect  a  house  of  God.  After 
travelling  2,000  miles  to  pitch  a  gospel 
tent,  it  meant  something  to  have  aid  in 
building  a  church. 

The  society  organized. — It  was  not  until 
the  General  Conference  of  1864  in  Phila¬ 
delphia  that  a  church-wide  organization 
was  adopted.  It  was  called  The  Church 
Extension  Society  of  the  Methodist  Epis¬ 
copal  Church  and  was  organized  to  help 
in  the  building  of  churches  and  parson¬ 
ages.  This  was  a  great  boon  to  struggling 
Methodist  societies. 

The  loan  fund.— When  the  Church  Ex¬ 
tension  Society  was  organized,  Methodism 
had  6,800  traveling  preachers,  928,000 
members,  with  10,000  churches  worth 
$24,000,000  and  2,900  parsonages  worth 
$3,000,000.  Within  ten  years,  the  Church 
Extension  Society  collected  $3,000,000,  of 
which  $555,000  became  a  permanent  fund 
to  aid  churches  by  loans.  Of  this  sum 
$425,000  had  been  returned  and  reloaned 
to  other  churches.  During  this  time 
5,805  churches  had  been  helped,  the  num¬ 
ber  of  preachers  had  increased  to  12,000 
and  the  membership  to  2,000,000. 

The  first  loan  fund  was  created  by  the 
Upper  Iowa  Conference  in  1856.  In  1870 
this  fund  was  transferred  to  the  parent 
Society,  to  be  used  within  the  Confer¬ 
ence  that  created  it. 

The  General  Conference  of  1864  ap¬ 
proved  a  constitution  for  the  Church  Ex¬ 
tension  Society  which  contained  a  provi¬ 
sion  authorizing  the  making  of  loans,  but 
not  until  action  had  been  taken  by  the 
General  Conference  of  1872  was  the  pres¬ 
ent  Loan  Fund  with  the  annuity  feature  a 
part  of  the  authorized  machinery  of  the 
church.  From  1864  until  1907  the  Church 
Extension  Society,  which  became  the 
Board  of  Church  Extension  in  1873,  con¬ 
ducted  its  great  work  as  one  of  the 
general  Boards  of  the  Church. 

3.  Division  of  the  Missionary  Society 

The  General  Conference  of  1900  raised 
a  commission  on  the  subject  of  the  con¬ 


solidation  of  the  benevolent  societies  of 
the  church  and  instructed  the  commission 
as  follows: 

“Which  commission  should  consider  the 
question  of  the  benevolent  societies  of  the 
church,  and  should  make  a  plan  for  con¬ 
solidation,  if  it  be  found  practicable,  and 
publish  such  plan  in  the  church  papers 
at  least  one  year  before  the  meeting  of 
the  next  General  Conference,  and  report 
to  the  next  General  Conference.”  1 

The  report  of  this  commission  was 
made  the  basis  of  a  plan  for  consolidation, 
which  action  created  the  present  Board 
of  Home  Missions  and  Church  Extension 
of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church. 

The  directions  given  for  the  consolida¬ 
tion  are  as  follows: 

“To  the  Board  of  Home  Missions  and 
Church  Extension  shall  be  committed  all 
the  mission  work  of  the  church  in  the 
United  States  and  such  other  mission 
work,  in  countries  under  the  jurisdiction 
of  the  United  States,  as  may  be  assigned 
to  it  by  the  General  Conference,  and  all 
the  work  of  the  present  Board  of  Church 
Extension.” 

“The  Board  of  Church  Extension  of  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church  is  hereby 
directed  to  secure  an  amended  act  of  in¬ 
corporation  from  the  State  of  Pennsylva¬ 
nia  under  the  corporate  name  of  ‘The 
Board  of  Home  Missions  and  Church  Ex¬ 
tension  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church,’  but  preserving  the  identity  of 
the  existing  corporation ;  and  the  said 
Board  of  Home  Missions  and  Church  Ex¬ 
tension  shall  discharge  all  obligations 
connected  with  the  annuities,  bequests 
and  other  property  which  it  now  holds  or 
which  it  may  hereafter  receive  from  the 
Missionary  Society  of  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church,  or  from  other  sources, 
so  that  the  purpose  of  every  donor  shall 
be  sacredly  regarded  and  every  trust 
faithfully  performed.  The  office  of  the 
Board  of  Home  Missions  and  Church  Ex¬ 
tension  shall  be  in  the  city  of  Philadel¬ 
phia.” 

General  Conference  Journal,  p.  531. 


444 


WORLD  SERVICE 


II.  FUNCTIONS  OF  THE  BOARD  OF 

HOME  MISSIONS  AND  CHURCH 
EXTENSION 

1.  The  Form  of  Organization 

The  technical  commission. — The  task  of 
the  new  Board  of  Home  Missions  and 
Church  Extension  was  set  for  it  by  the 
form  of  organization  adopted  by  the  Gen¬ 
eral  Conference  of  the  Methodist  Episco¬ 
pal  Church,  1916. 1 

“Its  purpose  shall  be  to  prosecute  mis¬ 
sionary  work  in  accordance  with  the 
terms  of  its  charter,  in  the  United  States, 
and  its  possessions,  not  including  the  Phil¬ 
ippine  Islands.” 

The  five  departments. — “The  more  ef¬ 
fectually  to  accomplish  the  purposes  of 
the  Board  there  shall  be  organized  five  de¬ 
partments  of  work,  viz. :  the  Department 
of  Church  Extension,  the  Department  of 
City  Work,  the  Department  of  Rural 
Work,  the  Department  of  Frontier  Work, 
and  the  Department  of  Evangelism.” 

Detailed  information.  —  The  detailed 
plans  of  the  several  departments ;  the  rela¬ 
tion  of  the  board  to  episcopal  supervision 
on  the  field ;  the  co-operative  relationships 
of  the  board  with  other  agencies ;  the  reg¬ 
ulations  governing  appropriations  and  ob¬ 
jects  and  projects  toward  which  home 
mission  and  church  extension  aid  may  be 
given — these  are  clearly  stated  in  the  Dis¬ 
cipline  of  1916,  paragraphs  431  to  446. 
These  paragraphs  should  be  reread  and 
studied  by  everyone  who  would  under¬ 
stand  the  policies  and  programs  of  this 
board. 

2.  The  Task  in  Concrete  Terms 

A  larger  program. — The  re-organization 
of  the  Board  of  Home  Missions  and 
Church  Extension  in  1916  enlarged  very 
much  its  powers  and  responsibilities.  Up 
to  that  time  the  board  had  been  largely 
a  collecting  and  disbursing  agency.  Now 
it  is  charged  with  the  responsibility  not 
only  of  surveying  city  and  country  com¬ 
munities,  but  also  of  developing  programs 
suited  to  such  fields,  discovering  and 
helping  to  give  specialized  training  to  a 

1  Discipline,  1916,  1J431-446. 


leadership  for  city  centers,  foreign- 
language  groups  and  rural  communities. 

Major  results. — The  better  income  of  the 
Centenary  has  made  it  possible  for  the  re¬ 
organized  board  to  discharge  its  new  re¬ 
sponsibilities  in  a  more  adequate  fashion. 

It  is  interesting  to  note  some  of  the 
results  growing  out  of  our  larger  mainte¬ 
nance  program,  making  it  possible  to 
improve  greatly  our  leadership  situation 
in  a  variety  of  ways. 

Full  time  workers. — The  number  of  ab¬ 
sentee  ministers  has  been  materially  re¬ 
duced,  noticeably  in  Negro  Conferences. 
In  such  fields  as  Porto  Rico,  the  Mexican 
border,  industrial,  immigrant  and  Indian 
communities,  we  have  through  the  years 
depended  upon  part  time  workers.  Since 
we  have  been  in  position  to  pay  better 
salaries,  the  church  has  been  able  to  com¬ 
mand  the  services  of  more  competent  men 
for  full  time  service. 

Up  to  Centenary  days  so  meager  was 
the  amount  of  money  available  for  use 
here  that  our  pastors  in  our  Spanish- 
American  work  in  the  southwest  had  to 
spend  most  of  their  week  working  as  sec¬ 
tion  hands  on  the  railroad,  laboring  in  the 
beet  fields,  clerking  in  stores,  or  selling 
real  estate  and  life  insurar  e.  Those  days 
are  gone,  let  us  hope,  forever. 

The  Centenary  has  made  it  possible  for 
the  first  time  to  secure  for  our  faithful 
ministers  and  missionaries  in  Porto  Rico 
a  living  support.  These  men  with  new 
courage  are  now  giving  full  time  service 
in  that  field  which  so  greatly  needs  the 
continuous  ministrations  of  the  pastor  in 
the  extending  of  the  kingdom  of  God. 

Increased  self-support. — It  is  the  policy 
of  the  board  so  to  administer  maintenance 
funds  as  to  bring  charges  now  on  the  mis¬ 
sionary  list  to  self-support  at  the  earliest 
possible  date.  A  policy  followed  in  former 
years  in  very  many  cases  was  to  make 
small  supplementary  maintenance  appro¬ 
priations.  These  in  most  cases  had  little 
influence  in  the  development  of  charges 
to  which  such  appropriations  were  made. 
We  have  had  many  cases  to  which  appro¬ 
priations  were  made  amounting  to  from 


HOME  MISSIONS 


445 


fifty  to  one  hundred  and  fifty  dollars  over 
a  period  of  thirty  to  forty  years  and  which 
were  then  no  stronger  than  at  the  be¬ 
ginning  of  the  period.  It  is  the  conviction 
of  the  board  that  slightly  increased  ap¬ 
propriations  make  it  possible  to  secure 
stronger  leadership  and  bring  charges  to 
self-support  in  from  three  to  five  years. 
As  the  result  of  our  emphasis  on  such 
a  policy,  in  much  of  the  regular  work  of 
the  church  an  improvement  is  seen  in  the 
large  number  of  charges  hitherto  on  the 
missionary  list  now  coming  to  self-sup¬ 
port.  For  example,  a  district  superin¬ 
tendent  in  one  of  the  newer  sections  of 
the  country  has  been  able  to  bring  two- 
thirds  of  his  missionary  charges  to  self- 
support. 

Comity  and  co-operation. — There  is  a 
growing  appreciation  of  the  importance 
of  closer  co-operation  with  Protestant 
bodies  working  in  American  fields.  This 
spirit  of  co-operation  is  having  its  effect 
in  the  administration  of  our  work  in  many 
communities.  In  Porto  Rico,  the  various 
Protestant  bodies  have  reached  an  agree¬ 
ment  which  has  resulted  in  a  division  of 
that  field  so  that  we  are  working  in  130 
centers  in  Porto  Rico  and  have  no  com¬ 
petitors  in  any  of  them.  In  Santo 
Domingo,  a  number  of  Protestant  denomi¬ 
nations  are  co-operating  in  the  new  de¬ 
velopment  and  promotion  of  a  unified 
program.  In  the  North  Montana  Confer¬ 
ence  with  only  one  or  two  exceptions,  our 
maintenance  appropriations  are  made  to 
communities  in  which  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church  has  the  sole  responsi¬ 
bility. 

Better  buildings. — The  Centenary  in¬ 
come  has  made  it  possible  for  the  board  to 
respond  more  generously  to  the  appalling 
needs  confronting  it  in  the  matter  of 
better  buildings  and  equipment. 

The  work  of  the  board  is  quite  often  re¬ 
ferred  to  on  the  platform  and  in  the 
public  press  as  a  new  program.  The 
truth  of  the  matter  is,  that  it  is  not  so 
much  a  new  program,  as  it  is  an  enlarge¬ 
ment  of  the  Old.  This  is  especially  true 
of  church  extension.  In  former  years  the 


board  made  small  appropriations  to  ini¬ 
tial  enterprises  which  were  usually  in¬ 
expensive  and  temporary.  At  the  present 
time  the  need  has  been  to  encourage  the 
construction  of  buildings  better  suited  to 
meet  the  larger  needs  of  neighborhoods 
and  at  the  same  time  secure  equipment 
somewhat  permanent  in  character. 

More  extensive  home  missions. — In  the 
period  prior  to  the  Centenary,  the  board 
has  had  a  very  limited  program  of  mis¬ 
sionary  work  due  to  the  fact  that  its  in¬ 
come  was  limited.  To  maintain  work  in 
purely  missionary  fields  such  as  mining 
camps,  foreign-language  groups,  decadent 
downtown  city  sections,  and  similar  types, 
the  support  must  be  provided  by  the  gen¬ 
eral  church.  With  the  better  income  of 
the  Centenary,  the  board  has  been  able  to 
begin  the  development  of  such  fields  in 
rather  an  extensive  way. 

The  opportunity  fund. — The  work  of  the 
board  in  all  of  its  history  has  been  very 
largely  “opportunity”  in  character.  From 
the  very  beginning  it  has  been  our  major 
policy  to  make  appropriations  not  to 
cover  the  entire  support  of  missionaries 
and  the  development  of  property,  but 
simply  to  stimulate  and  supplement  them. 
All  of  our  work,  for  example,  on  the 
frontier  and  in  our  Negro  Conferences, 
was  developed  on  such  a  basis. 

It  was  never  possible,  prior  to  the  Cen¬ 
tenary  period,  due  to  our  limited  income, 
for  the  board  to  make  sufficiently  large 
gifts  to  cities  to  encourage  the  develop¬ 
ment  of  necessary  property  in  such 
centers. 

At  the  last  general  committee  meeting 
of  the  Board  of  Home  Missions  and 
Church  Extension,  in  1915,  the  com¬ 
mittee  realizing  the  seriousness  of  our 
situation  in  the  cities  of  America  due  to 
our  inability  as  a  board  to  make  adequate 
gifts,  created  what  is  known  as  the  Spe¬ 
cial  Opportunity  Fund.  It  was  hoped 
that  from  time  to  time  some  significant 
gifts  might  be  made  out  of  such  a  fund  to 
encourage  the  development  of  at  least  a 
few  adequate  plants  in  our  cities.  It  is  a 
lamentable  fact  that  prior  to  the  making 


446 


WORLD  SERVICE 


of  those  few  gifts,  which  were  made  out 
of  the  Special  Opportunity  Fund,  no  sig¬ 
nificant  gift  had  been  made  by  the  board 
in  its  history  to  any  of  our  institutions  in 
the  cities  of  America. 

III.  A  NEW  STUDY  OF  THE  HOME 
FIELD 

Method  of  the  study. — The  Board  of 
Home  Missions  and  Church  Extension 
has  acted  as  the  central  co-ordinating 
agency  in  making  this  study. 

A  set  of  principles  and  questionnaires 
were  formulated  as  a  basis  for  standard¬ 
izing  the  study.  These  principles  and 
questionnaires,  together  with  a  statement 
of  method  for  making  this  study,  w7ere 
presented  for  review  and  adoption  to  the 
sub-committee  on  survey  of  the  Commit¬ 
tee  of  Twenty-five  and  to  the  Committee 
of  the  Board  of  Bishops  designated  for 
that  purpose. 

These  principles  together  with  uniform 
questionnaires  were  sent  to  each  resi¬ 
dent  bishop  for  distribution,  through  his 
district  superintendents,  to  be  used  as  a 
basis  for  making  a  study  of  the  needs  of 
the  districts  on  his  area. 

A  preliminary  study  thoroughly  demo¬ 
cratic  in  form  was  then  made  for  each 
district  by  local  leadership. 

On  districts,  where  both  rural  and  city 
communities  are  represented,  separate 
studies  were  made  under  the  auspices  of 
the  organized  city  and  rural  societies. 
Where  a  city  society  or  a  rural  society 
was  not  already  organized,  the  district 
superintendent  was  asked  to  appoint  a 
committee  representative  of  the  various 
interests  of  the  respective  rural  or  city 
sections  to  co-operate  with  him  in  making 
the  district  study. 

An  intensive  study  blank  was  then  fur¬ 
nished  for  every  project  whose  mission¬ 
ary  needs  were  under  consideration  by 
the  local  survey  committee.  This  blank 
properly  filled  out  by  the  pastor  formed 
the  basis  of  recommendation  for  inclusion 
in  the  preview. 

When  this  local  preliminary  study  was 
completed  and  the  societies  or  committees 


were  ready  to  make  their  report,  a  group 
was  called  together  made  up  of  the  pastor 
and  one  representative  from  each  charge 
or  church.  A  representative  of  the  Board 
of  Home  Missions  and  Church  Extension 
was  present  at  this  meeting. 

This  group  reviewed  the  recommenda¬ 
tion  of  needs  presented  by  the  survey 
committee  and  approved  the  preview  of 
the  district. 

These  needs  were  then  submitted  to  the 
various  annual  conference  Boards  of 
Home  Missions  and  Church  Extension  for 
discussion  and  adoption. 

The  previews  were  finally  submitted, 
in  every  case  to  the  conference  cabinets 
for  their  approval,  and  in  the  case  of  the 
fall  conferences  of  1922  where  the  cabinet 
so  recommended,  they  were  presented  to 
the  session  of  the  annual  conference. 

What  is  home  missions? — For  the  pur¬ 
pose  of  standardizing  the  program  of  the 
church,  a  home  field  study  was  so  made 
as  to  define  clearly  the  various  types  of 
home  missionary  endeavor.  The  two  gen¬ 
eral  principles  were  used  as  a  basis  for 
this  study: 

1.  Purely  missionary  projects  where 
permanent  aid  may  be  necessary  because 
local  support  for  leadership  and  equip¬ 
ment  is  either  undeveloped  or  uncertain 
and  cannot  be  counted  on  to  guarantee  an 
adequate  program  for  an  indefinite  period 
of  years. 

2.  Opportunity  missionary  projects 
where  aid  in  securing  property  and  lead¬ 
ership  is  needed  as  a  stimulus  to  self- 
support. 

IV.  HOME  MISSIONS  AND  CHURCH 
EXTENSION  NEEDS 

1.  The  Territories 

The  peculiar  needs  of  Porto  Rico,  Santo 
Domingo,  Hawaii,  and  Alaska  are  related 
in  Part  One,  where  the  various  fields  are 
described,  because  each  is  a  distinct  geo¬ 
graphical  unit.  These  territories  are  all 
home  mission  fields  and  the  work  in  them 
is  under  the  Board  of  Home  Missions  and 
Church  Extension, 


HOME  MISSIONS 


447 


2.  The  North  American  Indian 

Fifty  centers  of  work.  —  John  Wesley 
began  work  among  the  North  American 
Indians  on  the  Atlantic  coast  in  1736.  In 
1834,  Jason  Lee  established  his  missions 
for  Indians  in  the  Oregon  country  on  the 
Pacific  coast.  Today  the  missionary  ac¬ 
tivities  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church 
among  American  Indians  extend  from 
coast  to  coast.  They  include  nearly  fifty 
centers  of  work  and  involve  a  ministry  to 
thirty-two  different  tribes,  including  Mo¬ 
hawks,  Onondagas  and  Senecas  in  New 
York;  the  Chippewas  of  Michigan,  Wis¬ 
consin  and  Minnesota;  the  Blackfeet  of 
Montana ;  the  Yakimas,  Klamaths,  Pai- 
utes  and  Modocs  in  the  far  northwest;  the 
Yumas  and  Cocopahs  in  the  southwest; 
the  Navajos  in  New  Mexico;  and  the 
Cherokees  of  North  Carolina. 

We  are  maintaining  two  schools  and 
forty-one  missions  and  help  to  support 
seventy  workers,  fifteen  of  whom  are  In¬ 
dians. 

The  present  program  of  work  involves 
the  support  of  preachers,  teachers,  reli¬ 
gious  work  directors,  field  missionaries 
and  nurses,  and  the  provision  of  scholar¬ 
ships  for  young  Indian  men  and  women 
to  pursue  advanced  courses  of  study  in 
preparation  for  missionary  labors  among 
their  own  people.  The  need  for  more  and 
better  trained  preachers  among  American 
Indians  is  urgent. 

The  need  for  schools. — Less  than  one- 
third  of  the  Indians  read  and  write  the 
English  language.  In  spite  of  all  that  the 
churches  and  the  government  have  done, 
there  are  still  27,025  Indian  children  for 
whom  no  schools  are  provided.1  The  op¬ 
portunity  of  the  mission  school  is  to  pro¬ 
vide  the  usual  school  courses  in  addition 
to  training  the  young  men  in  farming, 
dairying,  and  building;  the  young  women 
in  cooking,  sewing,  laundrying,  general 
housekeeping,  and  home  making;  and  to 
do  this  all  in  an  environment  which  is 
thoroughly  Christian,  in  which  definite 
instruction  and  training  in  the  religious 

1  Report  of  the  Commissioner  of  Indian  Affairs, 
19 22,  p.  37. 


life  are  prominent  and  important  factors. 

Work  at  government  schools. — We  are 
sharing  with  other  denominations  in  the 
support  of  religious  work  directors  at  five 
government  boarding  schools  and  are 
solely  responsible  for  this  work  among 
Protestant  students  in  three  other  cen¬ 
ters.  There  is  need  for  the  extension  of 
this  service.  It  is  of  very  great  impor¬ 
tance  that  the  Indian  shall  not  become  a 
mere  educated  pagan.  The  church,  there¬ 
fore,  must  bring  to  the  government  schools 
the  religious  training  which  the  govern¬ 
ment  itself,  under  our  Constitution,  is  not 
permitted  to  provide. 

Health  needs. — Fifteen  per  cent  of  the 
Indians  suffer  from  tuberculosis  and 
twenty  per  cent  from  trachoma.  In  most 
American  Indian  homes  there  is  little 
knowledge  of  needful  measures  to  avoid 
the  spread  of  infectious  and  contagious 
diseases.  Three  out  of  five  of  North  Ameri¬ 
can  Indian  babies  die  before  they  are  five 
years  of  age.  Many  of  them  might  be 
saved  by  a  little  intelligent  care.  The 
value  of  field  missionaries  and  nurses  in 
carrying  the  gospel  of  good  health  and 
better  home  conditions  is  beyond  meas¬ 
ure.  From  many  reservations  come 
urgent  appeals  for  such  workers,  and  these 
appeals  can  not  longer  be  denied. 

The  field  matron. — Our  field  matron  on 
the  Navajo  reservation  visited  an  Indian 
home  where  she  found  a  sick  baby  suffer¬ 
ing  from  intestinal  trouble.  “What  have 
you  been  feeding  this  baby?”  asked  the 
matron.  The  mother  replied,  “Water¬ 
melon  and  corn.”  It  is  because  of  such 
ignorance  in  the  care  of  sick  children  that 
many  of  them  are  sacrificed.  Instruc¬ 
tion  is  needed  to  provide  proper  sanitation 
and  ventilation  and  to  guard  against  the 
spread  of  infectious  and  contagious  dis¬ 
eases.  The  field  missionary  is  able  to  get 
into  the  Indian  home  and  to  the  mother 
who  has  charge  of  the  training  of  the  chil¬ 
dren.  We  have  been  largely  confining  our 
missionary  work  to  adult  Indians  after 
their  habits  of  life  have  been  formed.  The 
work  of  the  field  matron  makes  possible 
an  approach  to  the  children. 


448 


WORLD  SERVICE 


own  people  in  order  to 
give  them  the  new  out¬ 
look.  Some  are  asking  for 
training  in  our  theological 
schools.  Scholarships 
should  be  provided  that 
these  ambitious  boys  may 
realize  their  desires. 
Young  women  are  also 
making  requests  for  help. 
The  appeals  during  the 
past  year  have  been  five 
times  the  number  of  schol¬ 
arships  now  available. 


The  appeal  of  10,000. — 
There  are  50,000  Indians 
in  the  United  States 
among  whom  no  mission¬ 
ary  work  whatever  has 
been  done,  either  by  the  Roman  Catholic 
or  Protestant  church.  If  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church  assumes  responsibility 
for  those  allocated  to  us  by  the  Home  Mis¬ 
sion  Council,  we  should  begin  new  work 
that  would  provide  for  10,000  of  this  num¬ 
ber.  Not  only  has  our  church  been  re¬ 
quested  by  the  Home  Mission  Council  to 
assume  this  responsibility,  but  the  Indi¬ 
ans  themselves  are  asking  that  we  come. 
As  one  pagan  Chippewa  chief  said,  “The 


program. 

On  the  world  trail. — Ten 
thousand  American  In¬ 
dian  lads  served  in  the  re¬ 
cent  war  in  one  branch  or 
another  of  Uncle  Sam’s 
army  and  navy.  These 
boys  have  returned  with 
minds  that  are  no  longer 
tribal.  They  have  come  to 
think  in  terms  of  the 
whole  world.  Many  of 
them  are  asking  opportu¬ 
nities  for  training  that 
they  may  become  leaders 
and  teachers  among  their 


An  Indian  church  that  has  been  allowed  to  fall  into  disrepair 


Indian  babies  just  baptized 


Training  Indian  leaders-  —  A  common 
fault  of  American  Indian  education  is  that 
it  does  not  go  far  enough.  Race  leaders 
can  rarely  be  developed  from  individuals 
who  have  covered  only  the  elementary 
school  grades.  Our  program  proposes  to 
offer  aid  to  ambitious,  but  needy  young 
people,  as  an  incentive  to  higher  courses 
of  training.  This  is  essential,  if  we  are 
to  develop  the  leaders  needed. 

There  is  woeful  lack  of  adequate  equip¬ 
ment  and  funds  sufficient 
to  support  needed  types  of 
leadership.  Not  one  of 
our  missions  has  facilities 
for  a  social  or  recreational 


Points  where  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  is  at  work  among  North  American  Indians 


450 


WORLD  SERVICE 


Methodists  have  what  we  want;  send  the 
Methodists.” 

3.  Mormon  Territory 

Mormon  strength. — The  Mormons  are  a 
religious  sect  whose  principles  are  in  con¬ 
tradiction  to  the  teachings  of  Protestant¬ 
ism.  They  seek  to  conserve  and  to  propa¬ 
gate  their  faith  through  the  use  of  their 
organization  in  business  and  in  politics. 
Utah  is  the  state  in  which  they  are  par¬ 
ticularly  dominant.  Yet  southern  Idaho 
is  almost  as  much  Mormon  as  Utah  and 
groups  of  the  sect  are  found  in  many  other 
sections  of  the  West,  especially  Wyoming. 
Arizona  and  Nevada.  Their  societies 
have  been  organized  and  churches  built  in 
some  eastern  centers  of  the  United  States. 
They  number  more  than  500,000  ad¬ 
herents. 

The  Christian  leavenj — It  is  true  that 
just  now  there  seem  to  be  signs  that  the 
right  to  individual  thinking  is  asserting 
itself  among  the  Mormons.  Christian 
ideals  and  ideas  are  slowly  bearing  fruit 
in  spite  of  all  the  hindrances.  Contact 
with  other  minds  in  business  and  in 
schools  is  breaking  down  irrational  super¬ 
stitions.  Our  program  has  not  been  one 
of  proselytism,  but  rather  one  of  con¬ 
structive  religious  teaching,  which  in  time 
undermines  false  teachings  and  commands 
the  approval  of  hearts  made  for  truth. 


Chief  Two  Guns  White  Calf,  whose  face 
you’ve  often  seen- — on  nickels 


Some  Mormons  have  been  received  into 
our  church  and  more  will  follow.  In  fact, 
the  situation  just  now  indicates  that  a 
day  of  rapid  advance  is  not  far  ahead. 
Many  are  already  beginning  to  break  with 
the  old  superstition.  A  strong  established 
church  proclaiming  life  and  liberty,  will 
be  necessary  if  large  numbers  are  not  to 
lapse  into  skepticism  and  unbelief.  A 
vital  church  program  has  tended  also  to 
affect  the  message  of  the  Mormon  leaders. 
Reference  is  often  made  by  them  in  ad¬ 
dresses  to  Jesus  and  his  moral  ideals. 
The  church  has  lifted  up  the  Christ 
until  he  is  securing  some  recognition. 
The  result  will  be  that  the  hearts  and 
minds  that  open  their  doors  to  him 
even  slightly  will  come  to  feel  more  and 
more  of  his  transforming  influence.  This 
is  the  day  for  providing  adequate  and 
attractive  buildings  and  the  launching 
of  a  thoroughly  comprehensive  program 
of  religious  service  in  these  Mormon 
fields. 

With  the  development  of  irrigation  and 
extension  of  the  mining  and  allied  indus- 


HOME  MISSIONS 


451 


tries  in  these  supposedly  desert  states, 
they  will  become  more  and  more  signifi¬ 
cant  in  the  life  of  the  nation. 

4.  The  Negro 

1.  A  General  Statement 

When  one  pauses  to  think  of  that  group 
of  Americans  who  are  Negroes  he  enters  a 
world  consisting  of  nearly 
ten  million  souls  who  have 
wrapt  up  in  them  all  the 
needs  and  longings,  pow¬ 
ers,  and  possibilities  of 
human  nature.  All  too 
slowly  have  the  principles 
and  ideals  of  American 
democracy  been  applied 
to  these  peoples. 

While  some  Negroes 
have  made  commendable 
progress,  the  masses  have 
yet  to  be  lifted.  Illiter¬ 
acy,  poverty,  race  preju¬ 
dice,  industrial  restric¬ 
tions,  unspeakable  living 
conditions,  the  northern 
exodus  and  inadequate  leadership  are 
present  factors  in  the  life  of  this  people 
with  which  the  church  must  deal  in  the 
most  consecrated  way. 

The  northward  trend  of  the  Negro  pop¬ 
ulation  continues  and  these  people,  used 
to  farming  and  outdoor  life,  are  now  to  be 
found  in  industrial  centers  where  housing 
conditions  are  often  unspeakable  and 
where  young  people  are  a  prey  to  the 
worst  elements  of  the  community. 

A  decade  ago  the  task  of  uplifting  the 
Negro  lay  predominately  in  our  southland. 
Today  the  challenge  comes  almost  as  for¬ 
midably  out  of  the  northern  centers. 

The  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  must 
listen  to  their  voices,  sometimes  resonant 
with  hope,  sometimes  weary  with  disap¬ 
pointment,  as  they  seek  better  treatment, 
a  fair  chance  for  education,  reasonable 
economic  conditions  in  city  and  country 
and  an  even-handed  justice  everywhere. 

The  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  has 
327,467  Negro  members  in  the  United 
States.  And  because  the  Negro  members 
of  our  church  have  had  better  opportuni¬ 


ties,  we  have  the  unique  advantage  of 
shaping,  in  a  large  way,  the  destiny  of 
this  plastic  race. 

2.  The  City  Negro  in  the  North 

The  northern  migration.  —  The  largest 
population  of  Negroes  in  single  groups 
or  colonies  is  no  longer  found  in  the  South, 


but  in  the  northern  cities.  The  migration 
to  the  North  has  not  ceased. 

During  the  last  ten  years  the  Negro 
population  in  Chicago  has  increased  150 
per  cent  and  in  Cleveland  300  per  cent. 
In  smaller  industrial  centers,  for  exam¬ 
ple,  Youngstown,  Ohio,  the  increase  has 
reached  244  per  cent.  The  migration  to 
the  northern  cities  ranges  from  Boston 
and  Philadelphia  to  Kansas  City  and  Du¬ 
luth,  and  from  Denver  to  San  Francisco. 
Housing  facilities  are  very  crowded. 
“Boundaries”  of  Negro  colonies  are  ex¬ 
panding.  Schools  and  churches  are  ur¬ 
gently  needed  as  well  as  provision  for 
sound  recreation  and  social  life.  The  Negro 
is  essentially  religious.  In  various  groups 
they  have  rented  stores  and  dwelling 
houses  and  often  have  occupied  cellars,  for 
church  services.  Every  sort  of  nonde¬ 
script  religious  group  has  taken  advan¬ 
tage  of  the  situation. 

3.  The  City  Negroes  in  the  South 

Population  increasing. — Notwithstand¬ 

ing  the  movement  to  the  North,  the  popu- 


At  a  northern  church  service 


452 


WORLD  SERVICE 


calls  that  timidly  arise 
from  crowded  Negro  quar¬ 
ters  in  southern  cities. 


Ynmr  f  *1  *  churc,h  by  a  &rouP  of  northern  Negroes  for  a 
g  time,  but  now  they  have  a  new  church  home  Look 
down  in  the  right-hand  corner  of  this  page 

lation  of  Negroes  in  southern  cities  is 
constantly  increasing.  In  some  cities  the 
recent  increase  has  been  as  high  as 
thirty-four  per  cent.  While  many  south¬ 
ern  Negroes  have  made  noteworthy  prog¬ 
ress  and  live  in  good  homes,  the  vast 
majority  in  the  larger  cities  live  in  con¬ 
gested  quarters  with  unimproved  streets, 
inadequate  school  and  church  facilities 
and  where  general  conditions  severely 
handicap  moral  and  religious  progress. 

While  our  denomination 
has  made  some  progress 
in  educational  work 
among  the  Negroes,  not 
until  the  beginning  of  the 
Centenary  did  we  have  a 
dozen  well-built  Negro 
church  buildings  in  all  the 
southland. 


tural  Negro 

A  southern  problem. _ 

By  the  rural  agricultural 
Negro,  we  mean  all  Ne¬ 
groes  engaged  in  agri¬ 
cultural  pursuits,  and  also 
those  who  reside  in  town 
and  village  communities 
whose  existence  is  pri¬ 
marily  dependent  on  agri¬ 
culture. 

Notwithstanding  the 
large  influx  of  Negroes  in 
,  .  ^  the  North,  eighty-five  per 

cent  of  the  race  live  in  the  South,  and  a 
vast  majority  of  them  are  in  agricultural 
communities. 

rTtna^ry  and  ownershiP- —  Two-thirds 
of  the  Negroes  of  the  rural  South,  how¬ 
ever,  are  tenant  farmers  and  America  has 
no  tenantry  problem  larger  and  more  com¬ 
plex  than  this.  In  Georgia,  4,498,836 
acres  of  farm  land  are  worked  by  Negro 
tenants;  in  Alabama,  3,489,142  acres;  in 
Mississippi,  3,986,830;  a  total  including 


Our  form  of  organiza¬ 
tion  and  supervision  and 
our  attitude  toward  uni¬ 
versal  fraternity  in  the 
church  places  us  in  a  posi¬ 
tion  of  leadership  and 
responsibility  among  Ne¬ 
groes  in  the  cities  of  the 
South.  Our  national  safety 
as  well  as  the  moral  de¬ 
velopment  of  the  race 
demands  that  we  heed  the 


Their  new  church 


HOME  MISSIONS 


453 


This  Negro  church  teaches  girls  how  to  earn  their  living 


all  the  Southern  States  of 
23,633,113  acres. 

There  have  been  few 
improvements  in  farming 
methods,  due  very  largely 
to  the  cheapness  of  labor, 
the  large  number  of  ten¬ 
ants  and  their  low  state 
of  development.  Major 
Millsaps  of  Jackson,  Mis¬ 
sissippi,  founder  of  Mill- 
saps  College,  said,  “It  has 
been  popular  here,  now 
happily  growing  less  so, 
to  exploit  the  Negro  by 
high  store  prices  (the 
store  is  usually  on 
the  plantation),  encour¬ 
aging  him  to  get  in  debt.  It  has  often 
made  him  hopeless.” 1  Fully  three  mil¬ 
lions  of  Negroes  live  under  these  condi¬ 
tions. 

Negroes  in  the  rural  South  own  about 
one-third  of  the  farms  they  work.  The 
communities  which  show  the  greatest  ad¬ 
vancement  in  this  respect  are  those  where 
the  missionary  agencies  of  the  North  have 
done  their  best  work.  Ownership  has  not 
carried  with  it  independence  and  wealth, 
but  it  has  resulted  in  better  home  life, 
better  morals,  higher  religious  ideals, 
self-support  and  generous  contributions 
to  the  general  program  of  the  church. 

The  religious  and  missionary  problems 
involved  in  these  communities  are  more 
or  less  unique,  yet,  upon  analysis,  they  re¬ 
solve  themselves  into  questions  of  build¬ 
ings  and  leadership. 

The  characteristic  rural  church  for  Ne¬ 
groes  is  a  small,  rough,  one-room  building, 
constructed  of  crude  materials  and  wholly 
unsuited  to  any  sort  of  activity,  except 
the  holding  of  platform  meetings.  The 
majority  of  the  buildings  are  either  heir¬ 
looms  handed  down  from  the  days  of 
slavery  or  weather-boarded  buildings 
fashioned  after  them.  One  might  travel 
over  the  entire  Baton  Rouge  District  of 
the  Louisiana  Conference  or  the  Hunts¬ 

1  A  Handbook  for  Inter-Racial  Committees  pp.  24 
and  25. 


ville  District  of  the  Central  Alabama  Con¬ 
ference.  the  Western  District  of  the  North 
Carolina  Conference,  the  Savannah  Dis¬ 
trict  of  the  Savannah  Conference  or  any 
district  in  the  Tennessee  Conference  and 
find  scarcely  a  Negro  church  that  is  not  a 
plain  weather-boarded  building,  fur¬ 
nished  with  ordinary  “two-strips-across- 
the-back”  benches.  The  exception  to  this 
will  almost  invariably  be  those  country 
churches  which  the  Board  of  Home  Mis¬ 
sions  and  Church  Extension  has  assisted 
in  recent  years. 

Perhaps  the  most  outstanding  need  of 
the  rural  Negro  churches  is  the  providing 
of  adequate  buildings.  Particularly  should 
there  be  an  adequate  centralized  church 
plant  on  each  circuit  to  serve  as  a  com¬ 
munity  center. 

“Rosenwald  Schools.”— -A  few  years  ago 
the  rural  public  school  buildings  for  Ne¬ 
groes  in  the  South  were  in  a  disreputable 
condition.  Among  others,  Julius  Rosen¬ 
wald,  a  Jewish  philanthropist  of  Chicago, 
became  greatly  interested  in  correcting 
this  condition.  He  evolved  a  plan  and  pro¬ 
vided  the  resources  for  assisting  such 
communities  as  stood  ready  to  help  them¬ 
selves,  in  the  construction  of  new  and  ad¬ 
equate  school  buildings.  Today  more  than 
a  thousand  communities  scattered  all  over 
the  Southern  States  are  sharing  in  the 
benefits  of  “Rosenwald  Schools.”  As  a 


454 


WORLD  SERVICE 


by-product  of  this  movement,  it  has  been 
possible  to  secure  better  teachers  for 
these  better  schools  and  many  communi¬ 
ties  have  been  stimulated  to  erect  ad¬ 
equate  school  buildings  for  themselves. 
This  single  movement  made  by  one  man 
has  done  for  the  rural  Negro  schools  of 
the  South  a  service,  the  value  of  which  is 
past  computation.  The  time  is  ripe  for 
our  church  to  do  for  the  rural  Negro 
church  of  the  South  what  has  been  so  well 
begun  for  the  rural  school. 

The  need  of  trained  leaders. — Closely  as¬ 
sociated  with  the  question  of  buildings  is 
that  of  leadership.  The  evil  of  the  ab¬ 
sentee  pastor,  with  church  services  held 
once  a  month  or  once  in  two  weeks  and 
then  by  an  untrained  farmer-preacher, 
must  in  some  way  be  overcome.  Already 
definite  steps  have  been  taken  to  provide 
trained  leaders  through  the  establishment 
of  a  professorship  for  rural  training  at 
Gammon  Theological  Seminary,  Atlanta, 
Georgia,  and  through  the  holding  of  sum¬ 
mer  schools  for  rural  pastors  already  in 
service.  The  Negro  pastor  in  a  rural 
church  is  confronted  with  such  conditions 
of  disease,  lack  of  sanitation,  inadequate 
nourishment,  poverty  and  lack  of  ad¬ 
equate  social  and  educational  opportunities 
that  he  must  be  equipped  to  lead  his  peo¬ 
ple  to  better  things  in  all  of  these  fields. 
The  Home  Mission  policy  and  program  of 
the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church  is  to  minister  to 
all  of  these  varied  needs 
and  thus  bring  a  richer 
and  fuller  life  to  our  mil¬ 
lions  of  Negro  Americans. 

5.  The  Rural  Industrial 
Negro 

In  both  South  and 
North.  —  The  rural  in¬ 
dustrial  Negro  settle¬ 
ments,  which  are  scattered 
all  through  the  South  and 
some  sections  of  the 
North,  include  the  cotton 
mill  towns,  the  oyster 
and  fishing  settlements  of 
Maryland  and  Virginia, 


the  mining  towns  of  Alabama,  West  Vir¬ 
ginia  and  Kentucky  and  the  turpentine, 
lumber  and  construction  camps  in  several 
states.  These  settlements  present  prob¬ 
lems  peculiar  to  themselves.  The  popula¬ 
tion  is  largely  transient,  thus  placing  upon 
the  local  church  a  responsibility  too  heavy 
to  be  carried  without  assistance. 

These  centers  constitute  an  important 
missionary  responsibility  which  the  church 
must  no  longer  neglect. 

5.  Industrial  Workers 
1.  Industrial  Villages  and  Towns 

Church  work  difficult. — Industrial  work¬ 
ers  in  villages  and  towns  include  groups 
of  laboring  people  mainly  dependent  for 
living  upon  industrial  activities  rather 
than  upon  agriculture.  They  are  found 
principally  in  the  mining  camps,  lumber 
and  logging  camps,  quarries,  cement  fac¬ 
tories,  coke  and  chemical  works,  fishing 
communities,  cotton  mill  and  other  textile 
and  small  mill  towns. 

There  is  usually  extreme  centralization 
of  wealth  in  the  hands  of  operators,  many 
of  whom  are  absentee  and  by  religious 
or  racial  affiliation  are  not  interested  in 
the  work  of  Protestant  churches.  A  steady 
income  for  the  worker  is  very  uncertain 
and  transiency  runs  as  high  as  seventy- 
five  per  cent  in  a  year.  Uncertainty  and 
real  poverty  make  maintenance  of  ad- 


HOME  MISSIONS 


455 


equate  church  work  most  difficult.  There 
is  also  a  large  percentage  of  foreign¬ 
speaking  population  in  these  industrial 
communities. 

Mining  camps. — The  latest  available 
statistics  on  occupations  that  may  be  prop¬ 
erly  classed  as  rural  industrial  show  that 
there  are  over  1,000,000  employed  in 
mining  alone.  This,  at  a  conservative  es¬ 
timate,  represents  a  total  population  of  at 
least  3,000,000. 

The  lumber  industry, — Lumber  and  log¬ 
ging  camps  represent  a  missionary  task 
demanding  a  high  grade,  especially 
adapted  missionary  service.  The  map 
shown  below  indicates  the  logging  activi¬ 
ties  of  concerns  having  a  capital  of 
$75,000  or  over.  We  are  working  in  but 
one  place.  The  future  program  demands 
that  the  great  responsible  religious  organ¬ 
ization,  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church, 
plan  to  do  the  work  adequately.  The 
places  where  we  are  not  at  work  are  prac¬ 
tically  neglected  by  religious  agencies. 
Not  only  are  the  loggers  to  be  considered, 
but  also  their  families.  In  many  of 
these  places,  there  are  conditions  which 
make  our  advance  imperative  for  the  sake 
of  the  children. 

2.  Industrial  Cities 

A  clear  mission  field. — The  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church  has  an  important  obli¬ 
gation  in  scores  of  communities  in  cities 


whose  population  is  made  up  of  skilled 
and  unskilled  workers  in  the  industries. 

These  industrial  communities,  with 
their  congested  housing  conditions  and 
shifting  populations,  usually  tenants, 
many  of  whom  are  foreign,  have  very  in¬ 
adequate  religious,  education  and  wor¬ 
ship  facilities.  Here  uncertainty,  over¬ 
crowding,  ignorance,  misunderstanding, 
poverty  and  exploitation  create  unrest, 
strife  and  depression. 

The  absence  of  the  owners  and  mana¬ 
gers  from  the  community  leaves  such 
groups  peculiarly  unable  to  provide,  with¬ 
out  outside  aid,  the  leadership  and  equip¬ 
ment  needed  for  their  evangelization  and 
Christian  development. 

Some  notable  beginnings. — When  an  in¬ 
vestment  is  made  which  is  sufficient  for 
instituting  a  seven-day-a-week  program 
serving  the  needs  of  these  people,  they 
rally  eagerly  to  its  support. 

6.  The  Cities 
1.  General  Statement 

One  hundred  and  forty-four  cities  each 
have  50,000  or  more  population. 

Forty-two  per  cent  or  44,000,000  of  our 
total  population  are  in  cities  of  more  than 
10,000. 

In  1920,  21,760,000  of  foreign  birth 
and  the  children  of  foreign-born  parents 
were  found  in  cities  of  25,000  and  over. 
The  cities  are  growing  more  rapidly  than 
the  church  is  adjusting 
itself  to  the  conditions 
created  by  the  un¬ 
dreamed-of  development. 

Twenty  -  three  cities 
with  more  than  25,000 
people  have  increased 
from  105  per  cent  to 
1,266  per  cent  since 
1910. 

The  cities  are  a  mael¬ 
strom  of  conditions  in¬ 
volved  in  industrial  situ¬ 
ations,  over-crowded 
housing,  enforced  ming¬ 
ling  of  various  nationali¬ 
ties  and  races  and  the 


456 


WORLD  SERVICE 


A  class  in  English  provided  by  a  metropolitan  church 

rapid  shifting  and  growth  of  population. 

The  city  work  of  the  church,  especially 
from  the  missionary  point  of  view,  seems 
to  fall  into  five  general  divisions: 

a.  Downtown  churches,  often  with  a 
substantial  church  constituency  drawn 
from  distant  points,  but  neglecting  the 
polyglot,  transient  masses  nearby. 

b.  Semi-downtown  neighborhood  par¬ 
ishes,  where  the  constituency  has  moved 
away  leaving  the  church  helpless  in 
reaching  the  immediate  broken  commu¬ 
nity. 

c.  The  older  changing  residential  com¬ 
munities,  whose  population  is  disinte¬ 
grating,  bringing  in  new  unchurched 
elements  demanding  an  adapted  pro¬ 
gram. 

d.  Newly  developing  residential  sec¬ 
tions,  usually  homogeneous  in  population 
but  where  the  constituency  is  unorgan¬ 
ized  and  undeveloped. 

e.  Suburban  developments. 


In  this  section  of  the 
city  are  the  business 
blocks,  factories,  thea¬ 
ters,  hotels  and  poor  grade 
of  apartments.  It  is  the 
congested,  corrupted  and 
sin-ridden  sections  of  the 
city’s  life  that  usually  be¬ 
come  malignant  sores 
upon  the  body  politic. 
The  necessity  of  vitaliz¬ 
ing  and  maintaining  the 
downtown  church  is  in¬ 
separable  from  the  task 
of  city  evangelism.  The 
children  and  young  people 
in  these  sections  must  be  reached,  Ameri¬ 
canized  and  Christianized  for  the  sake  of 
the  future.  Here  in  the  humble  homes  or 
in  the  boarding  houses  dwell  many  of  the 
cities’  future  leaders  in  business,  profes¬ 
sional  and  political  life. 

The  church  center.  —  The  downtown 
church  as  a  center  must  vitally  relate 
itself  to  the  welfare  of  the  entire  city. 


2.  Downtown  Churches 

City  sore  spots. — In  nearly  every  one  of 
the  287  cities  of  25,000  and  over  in  the 
United  States,  there  is  at  least  one  “down¬ 
town  situation.”  The  supporting  mem¬ 
bership  has  been  driven  out  by  changing 
conditions  to  the  newer  residential  sec¬ 
tions  leaving  the  downtown  church  sur¬ 
rounded  with  great  unchurched  popula¬ 
tions,  largely  foreign  and  crowded  into 
the  back  streets  and  alleys. 


A  city  church  in  the  theater  district  flings 
out  the  banner 


458 


WORLD  SERVICE 


A  huge  Sunday  school  in  an  “older 


3.  Semi-downtown  Neigh¬ 
borhood  Parishes 


Its  ministry  must  break  down  prejudices 
and  provide  a  meeting  ground  for  all 
classes.  It  must  lead  in  reform  and  in 
humanitarian  work.  The  crowds  must  be 
reached  with  the  universal  language  of  a 
service  ministry.  The  downtown  is  usually 
purely  missionary  in  character  and  ex¬ 
ceedingly  urgent.  Outside  aid  must  be 
provided  to  remodel  or  improve  the  prop¬ 
erty.  A  trained  leader  and  a  staff  who 
understand  the  complexities  of  the  mod¬ 
ern  city  must  be  provided. 

Outstanding  downtown  service. — One  of 
the  greatest  achievements 
of  the  Centenary  under 
the  reorganized  Board  of 
Home  Missions  and 
Church  Extension  has 
been  the  changed  front 
in  many  so-called  hopeless 
downtown  churches. 

Many  “Old  First” 
churches  need  their  prop¬ 
erties  entirely  overhauled 
or  made  more  nearly  fit 
for  a  seven-day-a-week 
ministry.  In  some  cases 
additional  real  estate  must 
be  purchased  and  parish 
houses  must  be  erected. 


town  centers  of  all  our  larger  cities,  there 
are  churches  in  the  downtown  or  semi¬ 
downtown  sections  whose  membership  is 
a  mere  remnant  of  the  former  supporting 
membership.  The  usual  condition  of 
these  churches  is  the  necessity  of  closing 
their  doors  just  as  the  need  for  their  ex¬ 
istence  becomes  increasingly  acute.  The 
community  is  usually  congested  with  low 
living  ideals  and  lack  of  proper  home  con¬ 
ditions  for  children  and  young  people. 

The  field  requires  specially  trained 
leadership  who  can  plan  and  carry  for- 


The  challenge  of  chang¬ 
ing  conditions. — In  addi¬ 
tion  to  the  “Old  First” 
churches  in  the  down- 


This  church  had  to  give  up  its  traditional  program  in  order  to  furnish 
a  seven-day-a-week  ministry  to  the  foreign-speaking  and  unskilled 
laboring  community  that  moved  into  its  vicinity 


HOME  MISSIONS 


459 


ward  a  strong  and  vital  program  which 
will  include  social,  recreational  and  reli¬ 
gious  educational  work  and  usually  a 
thorough-going  program  for  Americani¬ 
zation. 

J.  Older  Changing  Residential  Com¬ 
munities 

The  challenge  of  the  transient. — In  the 
older  residential  sections  of  the  city,  the 
better  classes  of  people,  economically  and 
morally,  are  constantly  moving  out  and 
unskilled  labor  with  a  large  sprinkling  of 
foreign-speaking  people  are  taking  their 
places.  Old  homes  are  remodeled  into 
apartments  and  flats.  While  the  older 
church  constituency  is  decreasing,  the 
population  of  the  community  to  be  served 
is  larger  than  ever.  In  this  type  of  com¬ 
munity,  the  newcomers  who  are  moving 
in  are  not  interested  in  the  church  and  in 
many  cases  are  entirely  antagonistic. 
The  church  must  be  reinforced  through 
some  outside  agency  or  cease  to  exist. 
Usually  the  building  must  be  remodeled 
so  as  to  lend  itself  to  a  thorough-going 
community  program,  including  recreation 
and  religious  education,  as  well  as  wor¬ 
ship.  Especially  trained  leadership  is 
necessary.  Experience  teaches  that  where 
a  church  of  this  kind  is  willing  to  adjust 
itself  to  the  changing  conditions  of  its 
community,  the  people  of  the  neighbor¬ 
hood  are  quick  to  respond.  Churches 
which  would  have  been  abandoned  under 
the  traditional  program,  have  become 
busy  centers  carrying  forward  a  seven- 
day-a-week  ministry. 


5.  Developing  Residential  Communities 

A  missionary  investment. — Just  beyond 
the  older  residential  sections  of  our  cities 
is  a  zone  adjoining  the  newer  residential 
streets,  spreading  out  from  the  older  sec¬ 
tions,  but  still  within  the  city  limits. 
This  section  of  a  city  usually  remains 
static  for  a  number  of  years  and  then 
begins  to  grow  very  rapidly.  We  usually 
find  a  one-room  church,  often  poorly 
located,  that  has  been  utterly  ineffective 
in  comparison  with  the  great  develop¬ 
ment  of  the  community. 

During  the  Centenary,  in  many  cases 
of  this  kind,  a  comparatively  small  invest¬ 
ment  of  missionary  funds  has  enabled  the 
local  church  to  secure  a  strategic  location, 
build  a  new  and  more  adequate  and  more 
attractive  plant,  and  within  a  year  or  two 
such  churches  have  reached  a  place  of 
permanence  and  power  in  the  life  of  the 
community.  Unless  such  stimulus  from 
the  outside  is  rendered  and  capable  leader¬ 
ship  established,  churches  of  this  type 
are  doomed  to  defeat  in  these  commu¬ 
nities  of  good  homes,  schools,  parks  and 
clubs. 

6.  Suburban  Developments 

The  suburban  problem. — Pra  c  t  i  c  a  1 1  y 
every  American  city  of  75,000  population 
or  over  is  spreading  out  into  suburban 
communities.  The  development  of  rapid 
transit  lines,  the  desire  to  establish  a  home 
in  a  more  pleasant  environment  and  the 
crowding  of  the  city  with  consequent  as¬ 
cending  real  estate  values  are  responsible 
for  suburban  development. 


460 


WORLD  SERVICE 


The  people  settling  in  the  suburbs  are 
for  the  most  part  salaried  people  and 
young  business  or  professional  men  with 
fair  salaries  or  “just  getting  started.” 
They  buy  their  homes  by  making  monthly 
payments.  Some  suburban  communities, 


on  account  of  their  location,  are  almost 
entirely  inhabited  by  employees  of  indus¬ 
tries. 

Up  until  the  time  of  the  Centenary,  in 
such  communities  the  Board  of  Home  Mis¬ 
sions  and  Church  Extension  of  the  Metho¬ 
dist  Episcopal  Church  was  not  in  position 
to  co-operate.  The  local  congregations, 
with  very  little  strength,  undertook  to 
carry  the  burden  alone  and  in  a  majority 
of  instances  failed  to  accomplish  an  ade¬ 
quate  piece  of  church  work.  Some  prepos¬ 
terous  and  irretrievable  mistakes  have 
been  made  in  these  cases. 

A  typical  case.— A  rapidly  growing  sub¬ 
urb  is  open  to  the  denomination  which  is 
able  to  care  for  it  properly.  Our  Metho¬ 
dist  leaders  look  over  the  situation,  dis¬ 
cover  the  cheapest  and  hence  the  poorest 
location,  or  perhaps  someone  offers  to 
donate  a  location  that  is  usually  not 
adapted  to  the  work,  yet  the  best  that  can 
be  secured  because  of  the  straitened 
financial  condition.  They  build  a  $4,000  to 
$6,000  chapel,  secure  a  minister  for  $800 


to  $1,200  a  year,  and  launch  their  program 
in  the  midst  of  this  fine  populous  commu¬ 
nity.  They  have  a  difficult  time  because 
of  the  unsuitable  equipment  and  the  inade¬ 
quate  leadership  and  are  barely  able  to 
exist.  In  three  or  four  years,  another 
denomination  sends  its 
leaders  to  look  over  the 
field,  they  determine  it  is 
inadequately  churched 
and  probably  launch  a 
program,  which  because 
of  their  financial  condi¬ 
tion,  is  of  the  same  in¬ 
adequate  character  as 
that  inaugurated  by  the 
Methodists.  Then  come 
the  churches  of  other  de¬ 
nominations,  one  after 
the  other,  and  do  like¬ 
wise.  Thus  is  laid  the 
foundation  for  a  genera¬ 
tion  or  more.  The  spirit 
of  competition,  rivalry 
and  in  some  instances 
open  strife,  divide  the 
people  into  groups.  Each  group  seeks 
to  build  up  its  own  enterprises  at  the  ex¬ 
pense  of  all  the  others.  Work  worthy  of 
the  kingdom  of  God  cannot  be  accom¬ 
plished.  The  churches  through  this  policy 
are  inevitably  brought  into  ill  repute  and 
finally  into  confusion  and  defeat. 

The  new  policy. — The  present  policy  of 
the  board  is,  when  possible,  to  make  a  sci¬ 
entific  inventory  of  such  a  community, 
assist  the  people  in  purchasing  the  most 
strategic  location  and  then  aid  them 
through  a  modest  donation  as  a  challenge 
to  erect  a  $25,000  to  $75,000  plant  more 
nearly  adequate  to  carry  a  program  which 
includes  all  necessary  social,  educational, 
recreational  and  spiritual  ministry.  A  first 
class  pastor  is  secured,  one  competent  in 
leadership  to  grip  the  heart  of  the  com¬ 
munity  and  make  a  vital  religious  contri¬ 
bution.  The  people  respond  and  ultimately 
a  great  church,  dominating  the  whole  com¬ 
munity,  is  developed. 

With  our  church  thus  adequately 
equipped  and  having  a  competent  leader- 


Typical  growing  suburban  community 


HOME  MISSIONS 


461 


The  sincerity  of  our 
Christianity  is  being 
tested  by  these  peopleof  an 
alien  race  who  are  among 
us.  Whatever  our  attitude 


Above — the  public  school  in  a  certain  town 
Below — the  church,  parsonage,  and  lot  in  the  same  town 


1.  The  Orientals 

An  international  oppor¬ 
tunity. — According  to  the 
1920  census,  there  are  in  the  United 
States  111,010  Japanese,  61,639  Chinese, 
5,603  Filipinos,  2,507  Hindus,  and  1,224 
Koreans.  Their  sojourn  in  our  country 
gives  America  a  rare  opportunity  to  mold 
life  and  character  and  to  start  influences 


United  States.  Added  to  these  considera¬ 
tions,  however,  is  the  fact  that  in  many 
American  communities, these  Orientals  are 
the  victims  of  sharp  racial  discrimination. 
It  then  becomes  doubly  important  that 
someone  shall  approach  them  in  the  spirit 
of  Jesus  Christ.  A  string 
of  effective  churches  with 
well  trained  pastors  along 
the  Pacific  Coast  stands  as 
a  witness  to  the  fact  that 
they  do  and  will  respond 
to  such  an  approach.  The 
record  for  self-support 
and  for  missionary  giving 
on  the  part  of  these 
Japanese  and  Chinese 
churches  has  been  a  most 
commendable  one. 


ship,  the  other  denominations  making  an 
investigation  of  the  field  are  satisfied  that 
the  community  is  well  cared  for  and  turn 
their  attention  elsewhere.  This  congrega¬ 
tion  not  only  immediately  pays  back  to  the 
Board  of  Home  Missions  and  Church  Ex¬ 
tension  the  original  do¬ 
nation,  but  also  becomes 
for  all  time  a  great  source 
of  revenue  to  all  the  be¬ 
nevolent  enterprises  Of 
the  denomination.  This 
method  has  proven  it¬ 
self  to  be  an  unqualified 
success  and  an  exhibition 
of  wise  statesmanship. 

The  interests  of  the  king¬ 
dom  keep  pace  with  the 
growth  of  the  community 
where  the  church  is  thus 
well  established. 


which  will  eventually  affect  the  lands  from 
which  these  people  have  come  to  America. 

Race  prejudice. — All  of  the  reasons 
which  lead  us  to  send  missionaries  to 
Japan  and  China  may  also  be  urged  for 
the  evangelization  of  the  Orientals  in  the 


7.  The  Foreign- 
Language  Groups 


462 


WORLD  SERVICE 


A  Japanese  Methodist  Episcopal  church  on  the  Pacific  Coast 


upon  questions  of  immigration  may  be,  we 
can  find  no  Christian  excuse  for  treating 
these  friends  from  the  Orient  in  anything 
but  a  Christian  manner.  They  are  here, 
and  there  is  no  possibility  of  eliminating 
them  even  if  we  would.  The  number  of 
Chinese  is  steadily  decreasing  and  the 
number  of  Japanese  is  increasing  only  by 
the  birth  of  children  who  are  American 
citizens  and  who  will  grow  up  in  our  pub¬ 
lic  schools.  Surely  we  cannot  fail  to  share 
with  these  people  the  very  best  which  we 
have,  the  Christian  religion. 

Distribution  of  Methodist  work. — The 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church  is  reaching 
a  group  of  Koreans  in  New  York  City. 
There  is  a  Japanese  Church  in  New  York, 
and  important  Chinese  work  in  New  York, 
Philadelphia  and  Boston.  Our  largest 
Oriental  work,  however,  is  west  of  the 
Mississippi  River.  It  extends  into  a  num¬ 
ber  of  western  states,  but  is  best  developed 
along  the  Pacific  coast  and  particularly  in 
California  where  the  largest  number  of 
Orientals  reside.  San  Francisco,  Los  An¬ 
geles,  Sacramento,  and  Mexicali  in  Lower 
California  are  the  four  chief  centers  of 
Oriental  population. 

While  the  Chinese  are  not  so  numer¬ 
ous  as  the  Japanese,  nevertheless,  there  is 


a  field  for  a  large  piece 
of  missionary  work 
among  them.  The  total 
number  of  Chinese  in 
California  was  28,612  in 
1920. 

The  student  group. — 
Among  the  Orientals  we 
are  touching  several 
quite  distinct  groups. 
There  are  the  Oriental 
students  who  flock  to  our 
great  educational  cen¬ 
ters  and  who  have  some¬ 
times  returned  to  their 
own  countries  less  reli¬ 
gious  than  when  they 
came. 

Other  Oriental  con¬ 
tacts.  —  There  is  also 
another  group  made  up 
of  individuals  in  busi¬ 
ness,  industrial  or  agricultural  pursuits 
who  are  in  this  country  more  or  less 
temporarily,  although  the  periods  of  resi¬ 
dence  often  extend  over  many  years.  An¬ 
other  group  is  made  up  of  native  born 
Orientals  and  therefore  American  citizens 
or  of  persons  who  have  become  eligible  for 
citizenship  through  service  in  the  World 
War.  Perhaps  no  better  single  illustration 
of  the  effectiveness  of  our  work  could  be 
cited  than  the  following  letter  written  by 
an  enlisted  Japanese  boy,  who  had  been  in 
our  Berkeley,  California,  church,  to  a 
friend  who  was  about  to  enlist,  the  latter, 
a  member  of  our  Sunday  school  in  Oak¬ 
land  : 

“I  know  you  will  live  straight  and  be  a 
true  and  loyal  soldier  of  democracy.  Don’t 
for  a  moment  think  that  the  army  is  full 
of  immoral  or  degraded  fellows.  No,  not 
by  a  long  shot.  They  are  few,  or  rather 
in  the  minority.  But  my  advice  to  you  is 
to  keep  your  book  of  life  a  clean  sheet. 
Use  pure  English  and  avoid  and  abstain 
from  language  unbecoming  a  true  Ameri¬ 
can.  It  is  the  only  way,  by  your  actions 
and  daily  life,  that  you  can  prove  to  the 
American  people  the  true  worth  of  Japa¬ 
nese  blood  in  an  American  community. 
You  are  one  of  the  few  chosen  ones,  and 


HOME  MISSIONS 


463 


upon  you  and  me  rests  a  great  responsi¬ 
bility.  You  are  the  link  of  friendship  and 
the  bond  which  will  tie  the  East  and  West. 
All  I  can  ask  of  you  is  to  do  your  level  best 
and  be  worthy  of  the  people  who  bid  you 
godspeed  and  await  the  news  of  your 
progress.  And  last,  the  most  important  of 
all,  be  true,  be  loyal,  be  faithful  to  the  land 
of  lands,  my  own  United  States!” 

2.  Mexicans  and  Spanish  -  Speaking 
Americans 

Two  distinct  problems. —  What  is  often 
loosely  spoken  of  as  the  Mexican  problem 
in  our  Southwest  presents  in  reality  two 
quite  distinct  situations. 

By  the  treaty  of  Guadalupe  Hidalgo, 
made  with  Mexico  in  1848,  the  United 
States  took  over  important  areas  of  our 
present  Southwest.  With  the  acquisition 
of  this  territory  we  also  acquired  an  im¬ 
portant  group  of  Spanish-speaking  citi¬ 
zens.  Living  on  the  frontier,  these  new 
citizens  were  not  quickly  assimilated  and 
they  did  not  learn  the  English  language. 
The  years  passed,  new  generations  were 
born,  and  today  the  descendants  of  these 
early  Spanish-speaking  peoples  are  still 
speaking  the  Spanish  language  in  New 
Mexico  and  they  form  approximately  sixty 
per  cent  of  the  population  of  that  state. 
Even  the  work  of  the  courts  and  the  state 
legislature  must  be  car¬ 
ried  on  in  Spanish  or 
translated  into  that  lan¬ 
guage  so  that  the  individ¬ 
uals  concerned  may  un¬ 
derstand  what  is  being 
done.  It  is  hardly  fair  to 
call  these  people,  who 
have  for  several  genera¬ 
tions  been  an  integi’al  part 
of  the  United  States, 

“Mexicans.”  They  are 
Americans  who  still  speak 
the  Spanish  language. 

Mexican  immigrants.  — 

On  the  other  hand,  we  do 
have  a  very  large  number 
of  real  Mexicans  who 
have  arrived  more  or  less 
recently  in  the  United 


States.  The  overthrow  of  the  Diaz  gov¬ 
ernment  in  Mexico  with  the  ensuing  revo¬ 
lutions  made  conditions  so  intolerable  in 
Mexico  that  multitudes  of  Mexicans  en¬ 
tered  this  country  as  refugees.  Some  came 
through  the  regular  channels  of  immigra¬ 
tion,  some  came  by  special  permit  as  con¬ 
tract  laborers  and  many  more  merely 
“stepped  across  the  border.”  These  people 
are  scattered  all  over  the  United  States 
from  New  York  to  the  Pacific  Coast,  but  an 
overwhelming  majority  of  them  are  to  be 
found  in  the  states  of  Texas,  Colorado,  Ari¬ 
zona,  and  California.  Relatively  few  of 
them  have  settled  in  New  Mexico.  They 
are  to  be  found  not  only  in  congested 
city  centers  such  as  San  Antonio,  El  Paso, 
Los  Angeles  and  lesser  cities,  but  in  thou¬ 
sands  of  small  hamlets  and  in  rural  and  in¬ 
dustrial  communities  of  every  sort  and  de¬ 
scription. 

Indispensable  to  industry. —  Whatever 
may  have  been  the  original  intention  of 
these  immigrants,  it  is  now  apparent  that 
they  are  to  become  a  permanent  part  of 
our  national  life.  There  is,  of  course,  some 
shifting  back  and  forth  across  the  border, 
but  the  tendency  is  for  the  returning  im¬ 
migrant  to  bring  several  others  to  the 
United  States  with  him.  The  Mexican  has 
already  made  himself  well-nigh  indispen- 


A  Mexican  church  and  parsonage  in  the  Southwest 


464 


WORLD  SERVICE 


A  Swedish  church  made  possible  by  Centenary  aid 

sable  to  the  mines  and  railroads,  to  the 
sugar  beet  industry  in  Colorado,  to  the 
onion  growers  of  Texas,  to  the  cotton 
planters  of  Arizona,  and  to  the  producers 
of  vegetables,  walnuts  and  citrus  fruits. 

There  is  hardly  any  sort  of  manual  labor 
in  the  great  Southwest,  in  which  the  Mex¬ 
ican  does  not  find  a  place.  He  has  become 
an  economic  factor. 

Important  advances.  —  The  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church  has  registered  impor¬ 
tant  advances  in  recent  years  in  its  work 
among  Mexicans  and  Spanish-speaking 
people  in  the  United  States.  This  is  par¬ 
ticularly  true  of  the  work  in  New  Mexico, 

Arizona,  and  California  where  new  work¬ 
ers  have  been  raised  up  and  trained,  new 
church  buildings  erected  and  many  re¬ 
markable  conversions  have  taken  place. 

Through  the  Mexican  immigrants  now 
in  the  United  States,  we  have  an  unprece¬ 
dented  opportunity  to  interpret  America 
and  the  Christian  religion  to  our  near 
neighbor,  Mexico,  and  to  promote  mutual 
understanding  and  to  improve  the  rela¬ 
tionships  between  Mexico  and  the  United 
States.  Mexico  is  not  only  at  our  doors, 
but  a  substantial  number  of  her  people  are 
within  our  own  borders.  In  this  situation, 
we  find  an  opportunity,  a  responsibility 
and  a  test  of  our  loyalty  to  the  Master  who 
said,  “Thou  shalt  love  thy  neighbor  as  thy¬ 
self.” 


3.  The  Older  Immigra¬ 
tion 

National  unity.  —  De¬ 
veloping  a  strong  and 
sturdy  nation  does  not 
necessarily  pre-suppose 
people  of  one  blood,  but 
rather  people  of  one 
mind.  Out  of  the  diver¬ 
sity  of  races  there  must 
be  created  the  unity  of 
spirit,  a  task  in  which 
the  church,  through  its 
missionary  agencies, 
renders  the  state  a  most 
unique  and  unifying 
service.  Especially  has 
this  been  the  case  among 
the  older  immigrants. 

A  contribution  to  American  life. — In  the 
older  immigration,  there  are  the  Danes, 
Germans,  Norwegians,  Swedes,  and  Swiss. 
These  racial  groups  arrived  as  early  as  the 
seventeenth  centuiy  and  their  descen¬ 
dants  today  number  about  twenty-three 
million.  They  have  made  a  most  important 
and  nationally  valuable  contribution  in  the 
laying  of  the  foundations  and  the  building 
up  of  our  nation,  and  in  conserving  its 
unity.  They  have  settled  for  the  most 
part  in  the  Central  and  Northwestern 
states,  though  large  numbers  are  in  Texas, 
in  the  Pacific  Northwest,  and  in  practi¬ 
cally  every  large  city  of  the  union. 

In  the  crowded  industrial  centers,  in  the 
silk  and  woolen  mills  of  the  East,  and  in 
the  jewelry,  furniture,  steel,  automobile, 
leather  and  glass  industries  and  at  the 
shipping  ports,  they  predominate.  They 
are  also  largely  the  tillers  of  the  soil  in  the 
mountain  regions  of  many  states,  where 
they  are  mostly  unchurched.  In  Texas  and 
in  some  Northern  borderline  states  whole 
counties  are  practically  populated  with 
Germans,  Swedes,  and  Danes,  many  com¬ 
ing  from  Canada  where  there  are  growing 
settlements  of  these  groups.  California, 
Nebraska,  Michigan,  Ohio,  and  Pennsyl¬ 
vania  have  large  colonies  of  German¬ 
speaking  Russians  with  only  a  few  mis¬ 
sion  churches  ministering  to  them.  In 
Utah,  numerous  Swiss  centers  are  without 


HOME  MISSIONS 


465 


A  national  problem.—  Xen  nationalities 
The  presence  in  America, 
of  foreigners,  and  their  children,  totaling 
one-third  of  our  population,  demands  that 
we  press  upon  their  attention  through 
every  possible  means,  the  Christian  prin¬ 
ciples  we  believe  essential  for  the  highest 
human  attainment. 

Since  1880  the  newer  immigration  from 
southern  and  eastern  Europe  has  brought 
us  an  entirely  different  class  of  New 
Americans.  Our  Italians,  Russians,  and 
Poles  are  numbered  by  millions.  They  are 
crowded  into  our  great  industrial  centers 
and  spread  throughout  the  rural  districts. 
The  principle  of  “safety  first”  demands 
that  we  press  upon  their  hearts  and  minds 


represented  in  a  daily  vacation  Bible  school 

those  fundamental  religious  ideals  and 
convictions  that  have  founded  our  national 
life. 

Not  only  their  evangelization,  but  their 
Americanization  requires  most  strenuous 
efforts  by  the  churches,  and  no  Americani¬ 
zation  in  any  cheap  or  shallow  sense  is 
meant.  They  need  to  be  rooted  and 
grounded  in  the  faith  that  made  our 
fathers  die  for  our  institutions  while  their 
fathers  were  bombing  the  institutions  they 
were  forced  to  support. 

A  high  government  official  said,  “If  it 
were  possible  to  do  so,  America  could  make 
no  investment  for  the  public  safety  that 
would  equal  in  results 
and  expenditure  the  con¬ 
tinuance  and  extension 
of  the  work  with  for¬ 
eigners  as  it  is  being 
done  by  several  churches 
which  I  could  name.” 
We  must  not  allow  this 
fundamental  Americani¬ 
zation  program  to  be 
displaced  by  a  shallow 
program  carried  on  by 
agencies  that  leave  the 
gospel  out. 

The  harvest  is  ripe. — 
We  have  no  longer  any 


Senior  and  Adult  Departments  of  a  Russian  Sunday  school 


a  church,  while  in  the  ex¬ 
pansive  agricultural  areas 
of  the  West  and  North¬ 
west  large  sections  of 
these  people  have  no  or¬ 
ganized  church  life,  but 
are  mainly  found  in  the 
Turnverein  and  lodge  and 
have  no  connection  with 
the  church.  It  is  esti¬ 
mated  that  from  eight  to 
ten  millions  of  these  older 
immigrant  groups  are  not 
yet  affiliated  with  the 
church. 

U.  The  Newer  Immigra¬ 
tion 


466 


WORLD  SERVICE 


Church  of  All  Nations,  Morgan  Memorial, 
Boston,  Massachusetts 


question  as  to  our  responsibility  for 
missionary  work  with  the  foreign-speak¬ 
ing  masses  in  the  home  land,  neither  is 
there  any  doubt  as  to  the  results  possible. 

Although  from  countries  where  the 
Roman  or  Greek  Catholic  churches  domi¬ 
nate,  a  high  percentage  of  these  people 
are  open  to  the  evangelical  appeal.  In  a 
free  country,  many  have  broken  from  the 
domination  of  the  Catholic  church  and 
have  become  agnostic,  radical  or  profess¬ 
edly  atheistic.  But  these  need  Christ  and 
many  of  them  realize  their  need. 

Many  adults  of  the  first  generation  of 
immigrants  retain  a  formal  loyalty  to  their 
traditional  faith.  The  second  generation, 
however,  mingling  in  the  public  school  and 
in  business  with  Gentiles  and  with  Protes¬ 
tants,  find  their  prejudices  broken  down 


and  will  not  enforce  upon  their  children  a 
formal  loyalty  to  the  old  country  faith  of 
their  fathers. 

The  work  demands  extreme  haste,  not 
only  on  account  of  the  vast  numbers  now 
approachable,  but  also  because  there  is 
every  indication  that  with  the  renewed 
activity  of  our  industries  and  the  conse¬ 
quent  need  of  unskilled  labor,  every  effort 
will  be  made  to  increase  immigration. 

Methodist  responsibility. —  As  a  denomi¬ 
nation,  our  responsibility  is  even  greater 
than  is  indicated  by  our  relative  member¬ 
ship  among  the  evangelical  denominations. 

The  leadership  that  is  now  available  and 
is  becoming  available  for  this  work  in  re¬ 
sponse  to  appeals  for  workers  in  the  home 
land  is  encouraging.  This  is  true  of  lan¬ 
guage  pastors  and  of  American  workers, 
both  trained  and  consecrated  to  this  form 
of  work.  There  are  entering  our  schools 
an  increasing  number  who  feel  the  call  and 
urge  of  the  mission  field  in  America.  This 
very  encouraging  outlook  as  to  leadership 
will  admit  of  no  slacking  of  the  program. 

We  can  go  forward  into  this  staggering 
task  in  humble  confidence  that  we,  as  a 
Church,  have  been  called  to  this  field  and 
can  render  effective  service  in  it. 

Our  Italian  work.— -Our  most  extensive 
mission  to  foreign-speaking  groups  is  that 
to  the  Italians.  This  work  now  reaches 
sixty-five  points,  scattered  from  Portland, 
Maine,  to  Los  Angeles,  and  from  Chicago 
to  New  Orleans.  There  are  many  stories 
of  achievement,  but  there  are  as  many 
unmet  needs.  Work  in  temporary  build¬ 
ings,  rented  halls  and  dwellings  ought  to 
be  established  in  real  church  buildings. 
New  centers  should  be  opened  immediately 
at  scores  of  points  where  contacts  have 
been  established.  The  “First  Italian 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church  of  Los  Ange¬ 
les”  worships  in  a  disreputable  shack. 
Only  the  utmost  faith  could  expect  good 
results  where  such  equipment  must  be 
used. 

5.  Immigrant  Port  Work 

The  time  for  friendly  aid. —  There  is  no 
time  when  an  immigrant  is  so  much  in 


HOME  MISSIONS 


467 


need  of  help  and  when  as¬ 
sistance  is  so  greatly  ap¬ 
preciated  as  at  the  time  of 
his  arrival  in  America.  It 
is  generally  admitted  by 
those  who  know,  that  any 
kind  of  attention  or  act  of 
service  rendered  to  an  im¬ 
migrant  while  he  is  en 
route  or  within  thirty 
days  of  arriving,  looms 
larger  in  his  appreciation 
than  twice  that  amount  of 
attention  after  he  is  set¬ 
tled.  It  is  then,  too,  that 
he  gets  his  first  and  most 
lasting  impressions  of 
America.  To  meet  the  im¬ 
migrant  at  the  port  of  en¬ 
try,  to  give  him  a  friendly 
word  and  assistance  in 
meeting  his  immediate 
problems,  to  furnish  him  reading  matter, 
to  save  him  from  the  altogether  too  fre¬ 
quent  exploitation  on  the  part  of  un¬ 
scrupulous  persons  and  to  help  him  locate 


Foreign  language  periodicals  read  in  the  parish  of  an 
eastern  city  church 


with  his  friends  and  to  find  a  job — that  is 
a  part  of  our  task. 

Co-operative  plans. —  The  most  impor¬ 
tant  points  are  Boston,  New  York,  Balti¬ 
more,  Philadelphia,  New  Orleans,  and  San 
Francisco.  This  is  a  work  in  which  co-op¬ 
eration  is  particularly  desirable.  At  Ellis 
Island  a  plan  of  co-operation  involving 
Jewish,  Catholic,  Protestant  and  other  re¬ 
ligious  and  welfare  agencies  is  in  opera¬ 
tion.  This  should  be  extended  to  other 
ports.  The  Home  Missions  Council,  The 
Travelers  Aid  of  America,  and  The  World 
Alliance  for  International  Friendship  have 
all  offered  to  co-operate  in  this  field.  Here 
is  an  opportunity  for  the  Methodist  Epis¬ 
copal  Church  to  co-operate  in  establishing 
the  greatest  piece  of  immigrant  aid  work 
ever  attempted.  It  involves  meeting  the 
immigrant  at  the  port  of  embarkation; 
meeting  him  at  our  American  ports,  and 
touching  him  with  helpful  service  up  to 
the  time  when  he  gets  his  job  and  is  set¬ 
tled  with  friends  in  America. 


Doctor  and  nurse  provided  by  a  church 
community  center 


8.  Rural  Problems 
1.  The  Medium-sized.  Residential  Town 
The  near  city. —  In  communities  from 
about  2,500  to  about  10,000  population,  we 


468 


WORLD  SERVICE 


find  religious  conditions  of  a  peculiar  type. 
The  medium  sized  residential  town  is  to 
be  found  in  every  part  of  the  country. 
Quite  often  it  is  the  county  seat  town.  In 
other  cases  it  is  the  overgrown  agricul¬ 
tural  village  or  has  become  a  large  enough 
manufacturing  center  to  call  itself  a  city. 
Retired  farmers,  trades-people  and  a 
limited  number  of  manufacturers  may  be 
found.  Wage  earners,  while  underpaid, 
are  not  class  conscious  as  they  are  in  the 
cities  or  in  the  transient  agricultural  labor 
sections. 

Religious  and  social  needs. —  The  follow¬ 
ing  characteristics  justify  the  considera¬ 
tion  of  this  type  of  community  in  the  home 
mission  and  church  extension  program  of 
the  church: 

a.  Most  of  the  church  buildings  now  in 
use  have  been  erected  from  thirty  to  fifty 
years  and  while  many  of  them  are  good 
looking  they  are  almost  totally  inadequate 
for  a  modern  church  program. 

b.  In  most  towns  of  this  size  the  con¬ 
ventional  ideas  as  to  what  constitutes  re¬ 
ligious  service  prevail.  About  the  only 
social  centers  in  many  such  towns  are  pool 
rooms  and  dance  halls.  The  older  men  go 
to  lodges.  The  churches  are  respectable 
clubs  of  a  limited  group  of  families  with 
their  younger  children.  They  do  not  have 
a  vital  program  touching  the  community 
or  even  their  own  constituency. 

c.  Very  few  of  these  towns  have  Chris¬ 
tian  Association  buildings.  The  demand 
for  community  service  equipment  is  likely 
to  be  met  by  funds  raised  and  controlled 
outside  the  churches.  Abundance  of  ex¬ 
perience  exists  to  show  the  dangers  of 
private  commercialized  control  of  amuse¬ 
ments. 

d.  The  immediate  need  in  most  of  these 
places  is  either  modern  church  buildings 
or  additions  for  larger  service,  or  a  defi¬ 
nite  broadening  of  program  to  meet  com¬ 
munity  needs. 

e.  As  in  many  other  types  of  American 
communities,  while  there  is  local  wealth, 
it  is  not  available. 

f.  In  many  cases  the  truly  progressive 
church  membership  is  not  the  financially 


able  element.  When  once  improvements 
are  introduced,  local  support  is  assured. 
Aid  is  needed  until  the  value  of  the  im¬ 
provement  is  demonstrated  to  the  com¬ 
munity. 

g.  A  home  mission  or  church  exten¬ 
sion  contribution  is  a  stimulus  to  right 
building.  Conditions  may  be  made  to  a 
gift  that  will  result  in  better  location,  more 
commodious  rooms  and  other  factors  that 
experience  and  study  indicate  to  be  ad¬ 
visable. 

2.  The  Agricultural  Village  and  Surround¬ 
ing  Country 

The  village  center.— -The  majority  of 
Methodist  Episcopal  churches  today  are 
located  in  incorporated  villages  and  towns. 
With  the  improvement  of  roads  the  village 
has  become  increasingly  the  center  of 
educational,  social  and  religious  life.  The 
agricultural  village  is  a  national  institu¬ 
tion  and  its  church  may  be  considered  the 
prevailing  type  of  rural  church. 

A  very  large  proportion  of  the  church 
buildings  now  being  used  in  such  villages 
were  erected  in  days  when  the  place  of  the 
church  in  the  community  was  radically 
different  from  what  it  is  today.  The 
churches  have  maintained  small  insignifi¬ 
cant  plants,  usually  with  only  one  room. 
In  a  small  per  cent  of  cases,  there  have 
been  an  extra  room  for  Sunday  school  and 
an  unsanitary  basement  for  occasional 
adult  socials.  Meanwhile,  other  agencies 
have  often  gone  ahead,  providing  the  most 
modern  type  of  equipment  for  present  day 
needs.  The  result  has  been  that  the  church 
as  a  useful  servant  in  the  community  has 
fallen  in  the  estimation  of  people.  In 
many  villages  the  population  has  changed 
until  now  they  are  more  predominantly 
the  home  of  retired  farmers  who  are  con¬ 
servative  and  whose  resources  for  church 
purposes  are  not  available  in  large 
amounts,  trades  people,  farm  laborers  and 
their  families,  who  usually  are  tenants  and 
whose  resources  are  very  limited. 

In  most  cases  the  building  of  a  structure 
suitable  to  modern  needs  presents  a  crisis 
in  the  local  community  that  cannot  be  met 
unless  outside  aid  is  given.  Pastors’ 


HOME  MISSIONS 


469 


salaries  are  very  low  in  a  large  percentage 
of  these  fields. 

Village  needs. — An  illustrative  type  of 
askings  for  village  agricultural  communi¬ 
ties  is  the  following : 

New  Boston,  in  the  Central  Illinois  Con¬ 
ference,  a  village  with  an  agricultural  en¬ 
vironment,  has  a  population  of  1000  peo¬ 
ple.  Our  church  has  the  responsibility 
for  this  field.  There  is  little  local  interest 
in  things  religious.  The  church  building 
is  dilapidated  and  the  salary  so  low  that 
able  ministers  cannot  be  persuaded  to  go 
there  unless  assured  of  adequate  support 
for  their  families.  Unless  aid  is  given 
both  for  building  and  pastoral  support,  un¬ 
til  the  place  has  been  revitalized,  it  will 
gradually  revert  to  practical  paganism  as 
many  other  neglected  communities  have 
done. 

3.  The  Agricultural  Open  Country 

The  country  circuit. —  The  M  e  t  h  o  d  i  st 
Episcopal  Church  has  a  very  large  respon¬ 
sibility  for  religious  work  in  the  open 
country.  Our  circuit  riders  with  mission¬ 
ary  fervor  and  holy  zeal  penetrated  iso¬ 
lated  communities,  crossed  the  plains  and 
organized  Methodist  classes  everywhere. 
The  open  country  church  is  characteristic 
of  Methodism  from  the  Atlantic  to  the 
Pacific.  In  most  of  these  sections,  the 
primitive  circuit  system  of  Methodism 
persists  to  an  excessive  degree.  Pastors 
usually  live  in  some  village  or  city  center 
and  go  out  for  occasional  services  in  the 
country  church.  The  conditions  that  affect 
the  farmers  as  a  class  affect  the  life  and 
financial  ability  of  the  open  country 
church. 

A  national  bulwark. — The  “churches  in 
the  wildwood”  as  well  as  on  the  prairie 
have  been  and  are  our  principal  recruiting 
stations  for  furnishing  Christian  leaders 
for  the  church  and  the  nation.  Many  a 
little  country  church  has  sent  at  least  a 
dozen  of  its  sons  into  American  pulpits  and 
to  the  mission  fields  of  the  world. 

No  one  questions  the  farmer’s  stand  on 
prohibition  and  other  moral  issues.  But  it 
must  be  clearly  understood  that  agricul¬ 


tural  life  today  is  making  rapid  changes 
and  it  is  necessary  that  the  open  country 
church  keep  up-to-date  if  it  is  to  direct 
religious  forces  in  the  country. 

A  new  program  needed. — Modern  church 
buildings  have  been  slowest  to  reach  the 
farmers.  Most  churches  in  the  open  coun¬ 
try  are  modeled  after  the  little  pioneer 
school  house  with  the  sole  addition  of  a 
small  steeple.  But  with  Methodism’s  en¬ 
larging  program  of  ministering  to  the 
whole  of  man  as  well  as  to  every  man,  so¬ 
cial  rooms  and  equipment  for  religious 
education  must  be  provided  as  well  as  the 
sanctuary  for  worship. 

The  time  has  now  come,  in  fact  is  here, 
when  our  church  must  recognize  the  new 
farm  consciousness  and  be  ready  to  meet 
it  with  an  improved  church  program,  both 
as  to  leadership  and  equipment.  Co-opera¬ 
tive  organizations  among  farmers  are  in¬ 
creasing  by  leaps  and  bounds.  Automo¬ 
biles,  good  roads,  and  the  movies  in  town 
are  factors  in  the  changing  farm  life.  Our 
task  during  these  changes  is  to  keep  the 
church  in  its  rightful  place  of  leadership. 

Limited  resources. — In  general,  resources 
are  limited.  Studies  of  farm  incomes,  sal¬ 
aries  paid  pastors  and  teachers,  and  funds 
available  for  public  improvements,  indi¬ 
cate  that  the  rank  and  file  of  the  farmers 
in  America  today  are  still  below  the  aver¬ 
age  in  financial  resources.'  The  result  is 
shown  in  the  abandoned  farms,  the  exodus 
of  wage  earning  groups  to  cities,  low  sal¬ 
aries  for  teachers  and  ministers,  and  the 
constant  shift  of  pastors  from  rural  to  ur¬ 
ban  service. 

Where  there  is  wealth  it  is  likely  to  be 
controlled  by  a  very  few  who  have  little  or 
no  interest  in  local  improvements. 

'Twenty-eight  per  cent  of  the  people  of  the  United 
States  gainfully  employed  are  engaged  in  agriculture, 
but  they  receive  only  about  eighteen  per  cent  of  the 
total  national  income.  The  average  annual  per  capita 
income  of  the  people  engaged  in  agriculture  during 
the  ten  years  1909-1918  was  only  a  little  over  half 
that  of  the  people  engaged  in  the  other  major  indus¬ 
tries.  These  figures  are  taken  from  the  United 
States  Census  of  Occupations  and  from  a  survey, 
Income  in  the  United  States,  prepared  by  Mitchell, 
King,  MacCauley  and  Knauth,  and  published  by  the 
National  Bureau  of  Economic  Research. 


470 


WORLD  SERVICE 


U.  Isolated  and  Range  Populations 

Two  types  of  isolation. — There  are  vast 
stretches  in  the  south  central  and  western 
parts  of  the  United  States  where  large 


The  old  missionary  frontier. —  Communi¬ 
ties  of  both  types  often  present  very  great 
missionary  need.  The  reasons  are  more 

or  less  obvious. 


herds  of  cattle  and  flocks  of  sheep  still 
graze,  where  dry  farming  is  being  carried 
on  and  where,  in  the  mountainous  regions, 
small  farming  is  combined  with  hunting 
and  trapping.  The  land  is  often  badly 
broken  and  moisture  is  limited  and  uncer¬ 
tain.  Two  general  types  of  isolation  are 
found.  The  first  is  without  any  consider¬ 
able  town  or  village  cen¬ 
ter,  simply  cross-roads 
trading  posts  serving  as 
gathering  places  for  the 
people.  These  centers, 
however,  are  visited  only 
when  necessity  arises 
and  very  little  social  and 
certainly  no  religious 
significance  can  be  at¬ 
tached  to  them.  The  sec¬ 
ond  are  the  small  villages 
and  towns  which  serve 
centers  sometimes  far 
removed  from  the  rail¬ 
roads. 


a.  The  number  of  people  is  so  small 
that  even  though  they  had  the  same  in¬ 
comes  as  enjoyed  by  others  in  more 
favored  rural  sections  of  the  country, 
their  resources  would  not  be  sufficient  to 
support  the  work. 

b.  The  very  limitation  of  their  social 
contacts  tends  to  make  them  indifferent 


Old  sod  farm  house 


HOME  MISSIONS 


471 


toward  religion  and  particularly  some  of 
the  older  forms  of  religious  expression. 

c.  The  distances  to  be  travelled  as  well 
as  the  condition  of  the  roads  interfere  with 


lation  in  these  now  sparsely  settled  regions 
is  destined  to  increase  and  we  have  the  fine 
opportunity  not  only  of  ministering  now 
to  people  who  are  in  real  need,  but  also 


regular  attendance  at  religious  services. 

d.  Owing  to  the  lack  of  moisture  and 
other  natural  limitations  causing  uncer¬ 
tainty  of  crops  and  income,  the  majority 
of  these  frontier  people  are  continually  on 
the  verge  of  poverty.  There  are  sections 
of  Montana,  for  example,  where  seven 
successive  crop  failures  have  reduced  peo¬ 
ple  to  destitution  and  forced  owners  to 
abandon  their  lands  and  seek  employment 
elsewhere. 

Under  such  conditions  thousands  of  chil¬ 
dren  are  being  reared  without  churches, 
without  Sunday  schools,  without  min¬ 
isters  of  religion,  and  without  religious 
training.  Other  thousands  are  enjoying 
these  privileges  only  because  missionary 
funds  are  made  available  for  assisting  in 
the  support  of  the  work.  If  the  gospel  of 
Jesus  Christ  is  to  be  made  known  to  the 
parents  and  children  in  such  isolated  com¬ 
munities,  and  if  Christian  ideals  are  to  be 
maintained  and  built  into  the  life  of  these 
new  settlements,  it  will  be  because  home 
mission  aid  makes  it  possible.  The  popu- 


of  establishing  organized  religion  in  com¬ 
munities  which  will  be  of  steadily  increas¬ 
ing  importance. 

5.  Tenant  and  Transient  Agricultural 
People 

The  increase  of  tenancy.—  In  the  best  ag¬ 
ricultural  sections  of  the  country,  since 
1870,  there  has  been  a  gradually  growing 
tenant  population  on  the  farms.  Accord¬ 
ing  to  the  United  States  census,  1920, 
1,558,000  (twenty-five  per  cent)  of  the 
farm  operatives  in  the  United  States  had 
been  on  their  present  farms  one  year  or 
less.  Over  fifty  per  cent  of  them  have  been 
on  their  farms  four  years  or  less.  The 
great  majority  of  the  persistent  movers 
are  “tenants.”  Rents  are  rising  and  the  in¬ 
come  passes  to  absentee  residents.  The 
transiency  of  the  tenant  introduces  into 
the  country  where  land  values  may  be 
high,  exactly  the  same  condition  that  ex¬ 
ists  in  the  industrial  populations  in  mining 
villages  or  logging  camps  or  in  the  stock- 
yard  section  of  Chicago.  The  church  and 


472 


WORLD  SERVICE 


other  social  institutions  decline.  The  ab¬ 
sentee  owner  is  not  interested  in  contrib¬ 
uting  largely  for  adequate  church  build¬ 
ings.  He  uses  his  influence  in  many  cases 
to  prevent  taxation  of  his  property  for 
consolidated  schools.  Instances  have  been 
known  in  Iowa  where  the  tenants  were 
threatened  with  eviction  if  proposals  for 
the  establishment  of  consolidated  schools 
in  the  country  were  passed.  The  absentee 
landlord  does  not  contribute  to  the  support 
of  the  pastor.  The  interest  of  the  tran¬ 
sient  tenant  is  but  temporary  and  he  can 
not  be  persuaded  to  give  largely  to  the 


church.  As  one  tenant  expressed  it,  new 
buildings  had  been  going  up  in  four  com¬ 
munities  where  he  had  been  located  in  the 
past  few  years. 

Transient  rural  populations. — In  addi¬ 
tion  to  the  transient  tenant,  modern  agri¬ 
culture  presents  the  problem  of  100,000 
agricultural  laborers  who  move  from  one 
state  to  another  in  the  great  wheat  belt, 
and  remain  in  one  place  but  a  short  time 
during  the  harvest  season.  No  church, 
local  or  otherwise,  has  an  adequate  pro¬ 
gram  for  the  spiritual  welfare  of  this 
group.  Indifference  to  them  as  aliens  to 
the  local  community  has  characterized 
much  of  their  treatment.  Is  it  any  won¬ 
der  that  they  are  antagonistic  to  the 
church,  the  state,  and  organized  society? 

G.  The  Cut-over  Timber  Lands 

In  Michigan,  Wisconsin,  and  Minnesota, 
in  western  Washington  and  Oregon,  and 
in  other  great  lumber  sections  of  the 
North,  West,  and  South,  the  passing  of  the 
timber  has  left  vast  expanses  of  so-called 
cut-over  lands.  Most  of  this  land  is  good 
for  agriculture  and  is  sold  by  timber  com¬ 
panies  at  low  figures.  The  cost  of  clear¬ 
ing  the  land  of  stumps  and  undergrowth, 
however,  is  such  as  to  tax  the  resources 
of  the  settler  for  many  years.  He  is,  in 
fact,  in  the  same  condition  as  the  pioneer 
in  the  Ohio  Valley  a  century  ago.  In 
those  days,  with  practically  no  capital, 
the  settler  had  to  live  almost  entirely  on 
the  products  of  his  own  small  patches  of 
cleared  land  until  he  could  clear  more 
acres  and  develop  resources  by  thorough 
thrift  and  saving.  So  with  the  cut-over 
land  pioneer  of  today.  He  can  hardly 
support  himself  and  has  no  surplus  left 


Deserts  like  this  can  be  made  to  blossom  by  the  scientific  storage  and  distribution  of  water,  as 

illustrated  at  the  bottom  of  the  next  page 


HOME  MISSIONS 


473 


for  schools  and  churches, 
yet  he  and  his  family  need 
the  ministry  of  the  gospel. 
Failure  to  help  now  will 
result  in  communities  like 
many  in  the  West,  indif¬ 
ferent  to  things  religious. 
Co-operation  now  will  re¬ 
sult  in  communities 
strong,  public  spirited  and 
Christian. 

Developments  in  the 
cut-over  lands  of  today, 
however,  are  much  more 
rapid  than  in  the  pioneer 
communities  of  an  earlier 
day.  In  the  first  few  years 
of  hardship,  we  are  fully 


Above,  the  public  school,  and  below,  our  church,  in  a  section  where 
grazing  and  dry  farming  are  giving  way  to  irrigation  farming 


justified  in  granting  missionary  aid  for 
the  development  of  his  church  life, 

7.  Irrigation  and  Drainage  Projects 

Where  empires  are  made  to  order. — 
It  requires  no  prophetic  vision  to  see  the 


abundant  evidence  that 
the  future  reclamation 
of  land  through  irri¬ 
gation  is  far  to  exceed 
in  area  all  previous 
achievements.  The  ex¬ 
perimental  stage  has 
been  passed.  Through 
government  aid,  the  ob¬ 
stacles  have  been  con¬ 
quered. 

Frontier  conditions 
obtain  wherever  a  new 
irrigation  project  ’s 
thrown  open  to  settle¬ 
ment.  The  settler  comes 
to  found  a  home,  not  to 
make  an  investment.  Payments  on  the 
land  must  be  made  annually.  Farm  equip¬ 
ment  must  be  purchased.  The  law  requires 
that  schools  and  public  improvements  be 
provided. 

All  classes  and  all  denominations  are 


31 


474 


WORLD  SERVICE 


SULLIVAN 


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JOHNSON  .J 
^  J  > 


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Atmans 

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\  /  /  v  ^  y" 

V  HAMILTON  J  rfe£c/ev*/sn&f 
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LEGEND 

METHODIST  EPISCOPAL 
METHODIST  EPISCOPAL  SOUTH 
PRESBYTERIAN,  U.S.A. 
PRESBYTERIAN,  U  S. 

UNITED  PRESBYTERIAN 

SOUTHERN  BAPTIST  CONVENTION 

SEVENTH  DAY  ADVENTIST 

CONGREGATIONAL 

INDEPENDENT 

HOLINESS 


SHADED  AREAS  ARE 
COUNTIES  WITH  NO 
CHURCH-AIDED  SCHOOLS 


Church-aided  schools  in  the  Tennessee  Mountains 


represented.  The  Mormons  are  very  en- 
ergetic  in  establishing  colonies  in  the  rich 
irrigation  areas. 

Quick  and  liberal  action  by  some  church 
is  necessary  if  responsible  religious  work 
is  to  be  established.  Our  form  of  epis¬ 
copal  supervision  makes  our  church 
peculiarly  responsible  for  the  sending  of 
missionaries  and  the  founding  of  churches 
in  such  frontier  regions. 

The  settlers  respond. — The  settlers  on 
the  great  irrigation  projects,  with  every 
shade  of  religious  ideals  or  lack  of  ideals, 
are  aggressive  and  intelligent.  Live  wire 
government  representatives  aid  them  in 
successful  conquest  of  soil  and  climatic 
conditions.  They  will  respond  to  an  ad¬ 
equate  church  program. 

Drainage  projects. — An  inter-state  com¬ 
mission  headed  by  Secretary  Herbert 
Hoover  is  now  pushing  forward  plans  in¬ 
volving  the  opening  of  millions  of  acres 
of  new  lands. 

It  is  estimated  that  there  are  in  the 
United  States  90,000,000  acres  of  land 
now  in  swamps  or  under  water  which  can 
profitably  be  reclaimed  through  drain¬ 
age.  The  soil  in  these  drainage  sections 
is  very  rich. 

Although  a  purely  missionary  work 
under  purely  missionary  conditions  is 


now  necessary,  these  districts  will  de¬ 
velop  into  small  farm  communities  with 
landowner  operation. 

8.  The  Highlanders  of  the  South 

Where  time  slips  back. —  Along  the 
southern  portion  of  the  Appalachian 
mountains,  extending  into  northern  Geor¬ 
gia  and  Alabama,  live  three  or  four  million 
descendants  of  the  original  English, 
Scotch,  Irish,  and  French  colonists.  This 
area,  called  the  “Southern  Highlands”  con¬ 
tains,  according  to  different  authorities, 
between  one  hundred  and  two  hundred 
counties  in  eight  states  centering  in  Ken¬ 
tucky,  Tennessee,  and  North  Carolina.  The 
problems  are  isolation,  illiteracy,  and  ar¬ 
rested  development. 

The  accompanying  map  shows  the  need 
of  this  region  educationally,  and  from  a 
broad  point  of  view,  it  also  shows  the  chal¬ 
lenge  for  a  religious  service  touching  all 
phases  of  the  people’s  life.  According  to 
the  data  presented  in  a  reliable  school 
directory  for  1921,  the  counties  colored 
dark  have  no  privately  aided  secondary 
schools.  Thirteen  counties  have  but  one 
high  school  each.  Seven  have  no  high 
schools  of  any  kind.  Five  counties  have 
not  more  than  twenty-five  per  cent  of  their 
population  belonging  to  church  as  com- 


HOME  MISSIONS 


475 


pared  with  forty-four 
per  cent  for  the  United 
States.  Such  church 
service  as  is  rendered  is 
often  of  the  once  a 
month  type  given  in  good 
weather  by  a  non-resi¬ 
dent  minister.  The 
circles  indicate  where 
the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church  should  begin  a 
far  larger  work  of  purely 
missionary  service  in 
this  critical  period. 

Real  home  missions. — 

The  Southern  Highlands 
have  certain  character¬ 
istics  that  make  them  a 
purely  missionary  terri¬ 
tory  requiring  long  and 
adequate  support  to  produce  permanent 
results.  Among  those  characteristics  are 
the  following: 


An  appreciated  church  service  to  a 
transient  harvest  hand 


A  community  center  for  southern  Highlanders 


a.  Poverty. —  The  crudest,  most  elemen¬ 
tary  types  of  agriculture  still  prevail. 
Here  the  home  is  still  a  self-sufficient,  inde¬ 
pendent  unit,  where  homespun  clothes  and 
knitted  stockings  are  produced  by  the 
women,  and  the  men  range  forest  and 
stream  for  their  food  supply,  or  wrest  it 
from  tiny  garden  patches  that  seem  about 
to  slip  their  moorings  and  go  sliding  down 
into  the  valley  below.  Housing  still  con¬ 
sists  of  log  cabins  with  plain  homemade 
furniture.  There  is  little  trade  and  very 
little  money  in  circulation  from  one  year’s 
end  to  the  other.  Only  seven  rural  churches 
in  the  Holston  Conference  in  Tennessee 
have  more  than  one  room.  Six  of  these 
are  the  result  of  the  Centenary.  The  aver¬ 
age  value  of  rural  churches  is  about  $1,200. 

b.  Indifference  to  religion. — Contrary  to 
popular  impression,  the  facts  indicate  that 
the  highland  counties  are  neglected  reli¬ 
giously.  Ten  counties  of  the  Holston  Con¬ 
ference  have  not  more  than  twenty-five 
per  cent  of  their  population  belonging  to 
any  church  and  everywhere  church  mem¬ 
bership  is  below  the  average.  A  small 
proportion  of  the  people  are  exceedingly 
religious  in  an  emotional  way,  but  the 
masses  are  untouched.  Large  portions  of 
this  country  are  without  religious  service 
of  any  kind,  many  of  the  people  being  S\, 


476 


WORLD  SERVICE 


isolated  that  it  would  be  impossible  for 
them  to  attend  worship. 

c.  A  free  salvation. — In  harmony  with 
the  economic  conditions,  the  section  is  bur¬ 
dened  with  the  philosophy  that  salvation 
should  be  absolutely  free.  Consequently 
we  must  assist  in  supporting  trained  pas¬ 
tors  until  they  can  build  up  a  new  and  bet¬ 
ter  basis  of  support  for  the  church. 

d.  A  worn-out  circuit  system. —  Metho¬ 
dism  here  is  still  bearing  the  burdens  of 
the  survival  of  an  excessive  preaching 
point  circuit  system.  In  common  with 
other  denominations  it  has  too  much  once- 
a-month  absentee  pastoral  service.  The 
parish  plan  must  be  substituted.  This 
section  has  good  stock,  it  has  good  eco¬ 
nomic  possibilities  when  rightly  developed. 
It  will  require  a  church  program  that 
touches  life  educationally  and  economi¬ 
cally  as  well  as  spiritually. 

9.  The  Rural  Leadership  Training  Move¬ 
ment 

The  General  Conference  of  1916  di¬ 
rected  the  Department  of  Rural  Work  of 
the  Board  of  Home  Missions  and  Church 
Extension  to  encourage  the  teaching  of 
rural  sociology  in  our  schools.  The  purpose 
of  this  provision  was  obviously  to  counter¬ 
act  the  undue  emphasis  upon  urban  life, 
to  give  proper  emphasis  to  the  importance 
of  rural  life,  and  to  present  to  the  students 
an  adequate  view  of  the  opportunity  for 
life  service  which  rural  America  offers  to 
the  college  student. 

The  organization  of  the  religious  and 
social  life  of  our  smaller  communities  is  as 
important  a  service  as  is  the  improvement 
of  economic  welfare.  But  as  yet  it  has 
been  practically  untouched.  For  many 
years  the  Board  of  Sunday  Schools  has 
maintained  a  staff  of  field  workers  and 
they  have  accomplished  great  results  in 
improvement  of  methods  of  religious  edu¬ 
cation.  The  demand  now  is  for  the  expan¬ 
sion  of  such  extension  work  to  touch  all 
phases  of  religious  life  and  service. 

The  Directors  of  Rural  Extension  Work 
connected  with  the  Methodist  educational 
institutions  and  affiliated  with  the  Depart¬ 


ment  of  Rural  Work  of  the  Board  of  Home 
Missions  and  Church  Extension  are  al¬ 
most  the  only  representatives  in  the  edu¬ 
cational  work  of  this  type  of  service.  They 
have  not  been  at  work  long.  There  is  no 
experience  to  guide  their  policies.  It  is  a 
pioneer  movement. 

The  types  of  work  now  being  done  by 
Directors  of  Rural  Extension  Work  is 
quite  varied.  Some  of  these  may  be  men¬ 
tioned  and  an  estimate  made  of  their  place 
in  the  permanent  organization. 

Teaching. — All  rural  leaders  are  en¬ 
gaged  in  some  form  of  teaching  in  the 
institutions  with  which  they  are  con¬ 
nected.  In  all  cases,  courses  related  to 
rural  church  and  community  life  have  been 
offered.  The  present  task  to  be  done  is 
that  of  standardizing  their  courses. 

The  conventional  prejudice  against  rural 
work  as  a  life  service  still  remains  as  a 
challenge  to  most  of  the  group.  In  the 
face  of  difficulties,  encouraging  progress 
has  been  made.  At  Boston  University,  a 
large  proportion  of  the  best  theological 
seminary  graduates  are  specializing  in 
rural  work.  At  Garrett,  out  of  one  hun¬ 
dred  students  who  recently  expressed 
themselves  as  to  the  type  of  work  in  which 
they  wished  to  specialize,  twenty-seven 
chose  the  rural  work  and  twenty-one  the 
urban.  The  others  were  distributed  among 
religious,  educational,  foreign  and  other 
special  types  of  service. 

Supervision  of  student  pastorates. — 
Theoretically  no  student  should  be  per¬ 
mitted  to  carry  full  work  in  an  institution 
and  draw  full  salary  on  a  country  charge 
independent  of  all  control  by  the  educa¬ 
tional  agency  whose  existence  has  made 
the  student  pastorate  possible.  Neither 
should  any  student  be  permitted  to  con¬ 
tinue  indefinitely  at  low  salary  on  a  rural 
charge  that  should  have  full  time  service 
at  an  adequate  salary.  These  principles 
apply  to  colleges  as  well  as  to  theological 
seminaries.  If  the  student  pastorate  is  to 
serve  effectively  for  training  purposes, 
and  if  the  interests  of  rural  communities 
are  to  be  conserved,  student  pastors  must 


HOME  MISSIONS 


477 


be  required  to  give  a  definite  minimum  of 
time  to  their  charges ;  to  follow  out  a  def¬ 
inite  program  of  training  that  will  be 
helpful  to  him  and  valuable  to  his  charge ; 
to  limit  the  number  of  courses  taken  in  the 
institution  so  that  he  can  give  real  pas¬ 
toral  service  to  the  charge. 

Some  progress  has  been  made.  Many 
student  charges  have  been  brought  to  self 
support.  The  problem  of  establishing 
rural  training  stations  has  become  recog¬ 
nized,  so  that  students  taking  training  for 
rural  work  may  work  under  the  direction 
of  trained  rural  ministers. 

Survey. — In  laying  the  foundation  for 
a  national  service  for  rural  work  the  De¬ 
partment  of  Rural  Work  has  been  carry¬ 
ing  on  a  survey  of  rural  life.  This  survey 
has  been  designed  to  discover  the  location 
of  every  church  of  every  denomination, 
the  residence  of  every  pastor,  whether 
churches  are  located  in  villages  or  in  the 
open  country,  circuit  systems,  and  other 
facts  that  would  enable  us  to  reorganize 
rural  service  in  harmony  with  present 
rural  conditions  and  to  plan  for  the  ad¬ 
vancement  of  the  work  of  the  church  to 
communities  and  to  homes  not  now  defi¬ 
nitely  served  by  any  church. 

Research. — The  department  has  been 
encouraging  in  every  possible  way  the 
development  of  scientific  methods  of  study. 
There  is  need  for  the  still  further  encour¬ 
agement  of  research  work  in  all  our  higher 
institutions  of  learning.  Many  problems 
are  awaiting  solution. 

Summer  Schools  and  Epworth  League 
Institutes. — The  Directors  of  Rural  Exten¬ 
sion  Work  have  furnished  almost  the  en¬ 
tire  staff  for  the  presentation  of  the  prob¬ 
lems  of  rural  life  in  Epworth  League 
institutes  and  in  our  summer  schools  for 
country  pastors. 

Rural  ministers’  seminars. — A  number  of 
the  men  have  been  trying  out  the  plan  of 
holding  meetings  at  selected  points  in 
their  territory  to  which  ministers  would 
come  at  least  once  a  month  for  study  of 
their  local  problems. 


Week-day  religious  education. — In  co¬ 
operation  with  the  Board  of  Sunday 
Schools,  a  number  of  the  directors  have 
been  experimenting  with  religious  educa¬ 
tion  for  rural  communities.  This  work 
has  taken  the  two  forms  of  vacation  Bible 
schools  and  the  establishment  of  special 
courses  for  religious  education  in  co-oper¬ 
ation  with  the  public  schools.  Founda¬ 
tions  have  been  laid  for  a  safe  and  rapid 
advance  in  this  form  of  rural  church  work. 

10.  The  Rural  Demonstration  Parish 
Legislation. — The  General  Conference  of 
1916  directed  the  Department  of  Rural 
Work  “to  apportion  such  funds  as  may  be 
appropriated  for  this  purpose  to  strategic 
centers  widely  distributed  throughout  the 
country  for  a  given  period  of  years  and 
thus  to  demonstrate  the  service  such  a 
church  enterprise  can  render.” 

Future  needs. — The  critical  period  of  the 
war  called  for  all  available  Centenary 
funds  for  sustentation  purposes  and  this 
very  important  feature  of  the  work  of  the 
department  has  been  neglected  for  the 
lack  of  funds.  In  the  future  a  spe¬ 
cial  fund  should  be  made  available  for  the 
department,  in  co-operation  with  the  De¬ 
partment  of  Frontier  Work,  which  can  be 
used  in  the  support  of  those  rural  projects 
under  carefully  trained  and  selected  lead¬ 
ership  that  offer  co-operation  in  the  de¬ 
velopment  of  modern  methods  of  church 
work.  The  development  of  these  projects 
requires  a  sufficient  amount  to  cover 
church  buildings,  parsonages,  equipment 
and  necessary  maintenance  to  show  what 
can  be  done  under  trained  leadership  with 
adequate  support. 

9.  Summer  and  Winter  Resorts 
The  resort  churches  are  located  at  places 
in  the  United  States  which,  because  of 
special  attractions,  become  centers  of  rest, 
healing  and  recreation  for  large  numbers 
of  our  people  during  the  extreme  weather 
of  the  summer  and  winter  months.  The 
permanent  or  “native”  colony  of  a  sum¬ 
mer  or  winter  resort  is  usually  relatively 
small  compared  with  the  influx  that  the 


478 


WORLD  SERVICE 


“season”  may  bring.  The  permanent  col¬ 
ony  may  find  itself  literally  swamped  by 
the  coming  of  a  large  number  of  people, 
who  in  the  majority  of  cases,  are  more  dis¬ 
posed  to  forget  their  religious  obligations 
than  they  are  to  remember  them.  If  some 
special  effort  is  not  made,  such  people  by 
their  very  presence,  will  inevitably  depress 
for  the  time  being  and  probably  perma¬ 
nently  the  religious  life  and  activities  of 
the  resort. 

These  resort  populations  constitute  a 
challenge  and  an  opportunity  for  the  re¬ 
ligious  forces  of  the  town  or  region,  but 
the  opportunity  and  the  challenge  can  only 
be  met  by  adequate  resources.  The  indig¬ 
enous  resources  are  usually  inadequate, 
hence  the  need  and  wisdom  of  co-operation 
by  the  general  church. 

The  survey  reveals  that  there  are  about 
fifty  of  these  resort  projects  scattered  all 
over  the  United  States.  As  might  be  ex¬ 
pected,  California,  Florida  and  certain 
sections  of  the  Atlantic  Coast  present  the 
most  needy  and  the  most  appealing  of 
these  half  hundred  opportunities. 

10.  Educational  and  Military 
Responsibilities 

1.  Student  Centers 

A  neglected  opportunity. — There  are  112 
state  and  municipal  colleges  and  universi¬ 
ties  in  the  United  States  and  560  other 
private  institutions  of  similar  grade.  The 
available  statistics  indicate  that  at  least 
100,000  young  Methodists  are  attending 
these  schools.  Nearly  three-fourths  of 
these  Methodist  young  people  in  non- 
Methodist  institutions  are  in  groups  rang¬ 
ing  from  fifty  to  twenty-five  hundred.  Un¬ 
til  within  recent  years  the  church  has  done 
little  or  nothing  to  minister  directly  to 
these  young  people.  Something  of  the  re¬ 
sult  of  this  neglect  is  suggested  by  the  fact 
that  ninety-two  per  cent  of  the  college- 
trained  men  in  Methodist  pulpits  come 
from  the  Methodist  schools  while  only 
eight  per  cent  come  from  all  other  colleges 
and  universities  including  state,  independ¬ 
ent  and  denominational  schools.  For 
many  years  more  Methodist  young 
people  have  gone  to  non-Methodist  col¬ 


leges  than  to  Methodist  colleges  and  uni¬ 
versities.  At  present  there  are  at  least 
sixty  of  these  non-Methodist  institutions 
each  enrolling  more  than  three  hundred 
Methodist  students. 

The  Wesley  Foundation. — The  work  of 
the  Wesley  Foundation  is  designed  to  bring 
friendship,  social  opportunity  and  voca¬ 
tional  counsel  and  religious  training  to 
Methodist  young  people  at  the  impression¬ 
able  college  age  while  they  are  attending 
tax-supported  and  independent  institu¬ 
tions.  In  connection  with  the  carrying 
out  of  the  program,  the  local  Methodist 
Episcopal  churches  are  used  as  laborato¬ 
ries  for  training  students  in  Christian 
work.  Special  class  groups  for  the  study 
of  various  phases  of  the  religious  life  are 
provided  and  a  wide  range  of  social  activi¬ 
ties  is  carried  out. 

This  work,  at  present  developed  by  the 
Joint  Committee  of  the  Board  of  Home 
Missions  and  Church  Extension  and  the 
Board  of  Education,  reaches  fifty-five  in¬ 
stitutions  and  employs  twenty-eight  full 
time  workers.  An  annual  expenditure  of 
$150,000  for  general  maintenance  for 
such  work  would  hardly  be  adequate  to  do 
the  work  efficiently  at  the  centers  already 
organized.  It  is  conservatively  estimated 
that  with  the  development  that  will  come 
to  religious  work  among  Methodist  stu¬ 
dents  at  non-Methodist  institutions,  there 
should  be  an  increase  of  at  least  $15,000 
a  year  for  the  next  ten  years  bringing  the 
total  annual  budget  up  to  $300,000  by  the 
year  1933. 

The  provision  for  buildings. — The  Board 
of  Home  Missions  and  Church  Extension 
has  been  charged  with  the  sole  responsi¬ 
bility  for  providing  adequate  equipment  in 
the  way  of  churches,  community  houses, 
and  residences  at  tax-supported  and  inde¬ 
pendent  institutions.  During  the  three 
years,  1919-1922,  the  Board  has  been  able 
to  give  substantial  assistance  to  twenty- 
four  institutions.  At  three  of  these  it  has 
co-operated  in  the  purchase  of  adequate 
and  desirable  sites  on  which  it  is  hoped 
buildings  will  be  erected  in  the  near  fu¬ 
ture.  At  twenty-one  such  centers  it  has 


HOME  MISSIONS 


479 


made  possible  the  erection  of  suitable 
buildings. 

It  is  most  urgent  that  during  the  ten 
years  following  the  Centenary  period, 
suitable  property  and  equipment  be  se¬ 
cured  so  that  Methodist  students  may  have 
proper  religious  care. 

Foreign  students. — The  Wesley  Founda¬ 
tion  makes  it  possible  to  do  for  foreign 
students  what  we  have  never  been  able 
to  undertake  previously,  namely  to  give 
them  a  sympathetic  and  personal  interpre¬ 
tation  of  the  Christian  religion  as  they 
pursue  their  academic  work  so  that  they 
may  not  return  to  their  native  lands  more 
pagan  than  when  they  came. 

At  Negro  schools. —  Attention  should 
also  be  called  to  the  fact  that  the  Wesley 
Foundation  idea  must  be  made  to  apply  to 
those  schools  ministering  to  Negro  Ameri¬ 
cans  where  there  is  an  increasing  tendency 
for  students  to  be  indifferent  toward  and 
to  drift  away  from  religion  and  its  influ¬ 
ence.  At  present  there  is  not  a  single 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church  for  Negroes 
in  any  large  Negro  educational  center, 
adequately  prepared  by  location,  building, 
equipment  and  leadership  to  minister  to 
the  Negro  students  whom  it  should  reach. 

The  Wesley  Foundation  program  is  at 
present  a  most  excellent  beginning  of  a 
task  whose  importance  can  scarcely  be 
overemphasized.  The  young  people  in  our 
colleges  are  the  finest  that  we  have;  they 
are  the  leaders  of  the  future  in  almost 
every  line.  We  must  not  permit  them  to 
spend  four  of  the  most  important  years  of 
their  lives  out  of  touch  with  the  church 
and  its  interests.  Instead  we  must  provide 
for  them  the  very  best  we  have  in  build¬ 
ings,  program  and  leadership. 

2.  Military  and  Naval  Reservations 

A  permanent  need. — During  the  World 
War  we  were  very  eager  to  minister  to  the 
soldiers  and  sailors  in  cantonments  and 
naval  stations.  There  is  still  a  definite 
need  to  continue  this  ministry  at  many 
points.  Where  we  have  continued  this 
work,  we  have  not  duplicated  the  efforts 
of  any  other  church  or  welfare  agency. 


11.  Home  Mission  Leadership 

Our  greatest  handicap  in  missionary 
work  in  the  United  States  is  the  shortage 
in  a  leadership  trained  and  adapted  to 
home  mission  work.  Investments  in  prop¬ 
erty  and  equipment  are  vain  without  an 
adequate  leadership  to  make  every  element 
in  the  equipment  count  toward  a  definite 
and  complete  evangelization  of  the  com¬ 
munity. 

This  shortage  is  always  felt  first  in  our 
weaker  and  most  needy  communities.  To 
meet  this  situation  among  the  ministry  of 
our  church  and  also  to  provide  trained 
workers  for  foreign  language,  industrial 
and  other  groups,  the  Board  has  adopted 
a  definite  policy. 

a.  Summer  schools. — In  order  to  give 
specialized  training  to  men  now  in  the 
ministry,  selected  young  men,  who  have 
not  had  the  opportunity  of  such  training, 
rural  and  city  summer  schools  have  been 
conducted.  Such  schools  have  been  from 
eighteen  to  twenty  days  in  length.  The 
very  strongest  men  possible  have  consti¬ 
tuted  the  faculties  of  these  training  con¬ 
ferences.  During  the  past  three  years 
about  4,000  men  have  been  in  attendance 
and  have  taken  such  courses. 

b.  Higher  education. — The  board  has  co¬ 
operated  with  theological  seminaries  and 
departments  of  religious  education  in 
certain  universities  in  making  it  possible 
to  have  training  given  for  students  pre¬ 
paring  for  special  types  of  home  mission 
work. 

c.  Rural  leadership.  —  Departments  of 
Rural  Leadership  have  been  established 
in  about  thirty  of  our  Methodist  schools, 
thus  helping  to  recruit  and  train  men  for 
service  in  rural  fields. 

d.  Scholarships. — The  board  has  granted 
from  year  to  year  a  limited  number  of 
scholarships  to  selected  students  who  are 
taking  special  training  for  some  form  of 
home  mission  work. 

12.  Evangelism 
1.  Definition  of  Evangelism 

What  is  evangelism? — Evangelism  is 
an  earnest  effort  on  the  part  of  the 


480 


WORLD  SERVICE 


followers  of  Jesus  Christ  to  bring  in  the 
kingdom  of  God  by  seeking  first  to  be¬ 
come  the  type  of  individuals  that  possess 
and  practice  the  spirit  and  purpose  of  the 
kingdom  of  God  and  to  help  others  to 
become  like-minded  and  undertake  the 
self-same  task. 

A  program  of  evangelism  must  con¬ 
stantly  impress  upon  the  leadership  of 
the  church  that  evangelistic  efficiency  can 
result  only  from  lives  that  have  been 
brought  into  the  conscious  and  joyous  ex¬ 
perience  of  oneness  with  God,  and  thus 
qualify  for  active  participation  in  the 
work  of  saving  the  world. 

A  church  evangelistically  efficient  will 
seek  to  reach  and  save  its  constituency, 
especially  the  unchurched  people  in  its 
immediate  community.  The  spirit  of 
evangelism  must  be  at  the  heart  of  the 
program  of  the  church.  With  this  spirit, 
it  will  in  a  large  measure  be  prepared  to 
meet  its  full  responsibility  in  reaching 
and  saving  the  people  in  its  community 
and  wholesomely  affect  the  relationships 
of  all  men.  Money,  building,  equipment, 
leadership,  all  depend  on  the  enthrone¬ 
ment  of  the  spirit  of  evangelism,  itself  the 
heart  of  the  enterprise. 

2.  The  Problem  of  Evangelism 

The  problem  of  evangelism  arises 
largely  from  one  or  more  of  the  following 
reasons : 

The  need  of  the  deepening  of  the  spiritual  life  of 
the  church. 

The  dependence  by  pastors  on  special  evangelists. 

Lack  of  a  definite,  organized  evangelistic  program. 

Spasmodic,  rather  than  a  continuous  evangelistic 
program  and  practice. 

Lack  of  accurate  knowledge  of  local  conditions. 

Failure  to  use  Christ’s  method  of  personal  evan¬ 
gelism. 

Inadequate  preparation  of  childhood  for  life's 
supreme  decision. 

The  need  of  broad  social  sympathies. 

Indifference  of  many  foreign-speaking  people  and 
industrial  workers  to  the  message  of  the  church. 

Local  financial  problems  that  dissipate  the  strength 
and  absorb  the  time  of  the  people,  leaving  little  if 
any  for  definite  evangelism. 

3.  The  Purpose  of  the  Department 

The  purpose  of  the  Department  of  Evan¬ 
gelism  is  to  stimulate  and  utilize  the  spirit¬ 
ual  resources  of  the  church  that  it  may 


meet  its  full  responsibility  in  preventing 
the  loss  of  childhood  from  the  kingdom  of 
God  and  in  evangelizing  the  unchurched 
and  unsaved  in  the  home  field. 

J.  The  Program  of  the  Department 

To  hold  conferences  with  pastors  and 
lay  members  for  the  deepening  of  the 
spiritual  life  and  the  setting  up  of  the 
evangelistic  program  of  the  church. 

To  encourage  and  help  ministers  to  be 
pastor-evangelists  by  means  of  coaching 
conferences. 

To  help  to  place  district  evangelists 
under  district  superintendents  for  the 
purpose  of  developing  charges  in  evangel¬ 
istic  efforts,  and  to  give  direct  super¬ 
vision  for  a  program  of  evangelism 
adequate  to  meet  the  needs  of  the  com¬ 
munity  or  district. 

To  make  available  to  district  superin¬ 
tendents  and  pastors  the  services  of 
accredited  evangelists. 

To  assist  the  Board  of  Education  of  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church  in  evangel¬ 
istic  work  in  colleges,  universities,  and 


Meetings  held  by  a  district  evangelist 


HOME  MISSIONS 


481 


To  encourage  a  responsibility  roll  in 
each  local  church. 

To  prepare  helps  in  soul  winning  for 
personal  workers’  classes. 

To  train  young  people  in  personal 
evangelism  in  summer  institutes. 

To  stimulate  the  churches  to  a  study 
and  practice  of  evangelism  in  its  relation 
to  social  and  industrial  problems. 

To  co-operate  with  other  denomina¬ 
tional  agencies  in  evangelistic  efforts. 

To  secure  and  train  intercessors. 

To  provide  leaflet  literature  to  be  dis¬ 
tributed  in  attractive  form  in  both 
English  and  foreign  languages,  thus 
reaching  all  classes  of  people. 

5.  The  District  Evangelist 

Seventy-one  district  evangelists  are  now 

at  work  under  the  direction  of  the  Board 
of  Home  Missions  and  Church  Extension, 
their  salaries  being  paid  in  part  or  in  full 
by  the  board.  By  this  plan,  the  evangelist 
is  to  be  paid  regularly  a  stipulated  salary. 
He  gives  full  time  under  the  district 
superintendent  and  reports  to  the  De¬ 
partment  of  Evangelism.  Meetings  are 
held  mostly  in  weak  and  needy  churches 
where  the  evangelist  puts  on  a  definite, 
constructive  all-round  local  church  pro¬ 
gram. 

6.  Missionary  Evangelism 

The  missionary  evangelist  is  the  herald 
of  salvation  in  places  to  which  he  must  be 
sent  from  the  outside  and  be  practically 
supported  by  the  board. 

Among  the  1,500,000  migrant  workers 
in  the  oil  fields,  fruit  industry,  construc¬ 
tion  camps  and  wheat  harvests,  the  mis¬ 
sionary  evangelist  is  welfare  worker, 
counsellor  and  guide  in  many  matters,  all 
leading  to  the  highway  of  the  soul. 

With  the  lumberjacks  in  Tennessee, 
Michigan  or  northwest,  as  comrade, 
friend,  adviser,  and  sky  pilot,  he  is  the 
stabilizer  of  thought,  the  buffer  for  de¬ 
structive  radicalism,  and  the  only  ap¬ 
proach  that  the  church  of  Jesus  Christ 
has  to  a  group  of  unmarried  men  who  feel 
themselves  to  be  outside  the  pale.  Many 
of  these  men  the  missionary  evangelist 


brings  into  the  fellowship  of  the  church. 

In  mining  camps,  like  those  about 
Wilkeson,  Washington,  he  organizes  com¬ 
munity  life,  stimulates  religious  activity, 
and  opens  Sunday  schools  and  preaching 
places. 

In  the  South,  the  Negro  missionary 
evangelist  is  working  in  one  needy  com¬ 
munity  after  another,  interpreting  reli¬ 
gion  for  the  shaping  of  character,  and 
stimulating  to  broader  vision  the  minis¬ 
terial  leadership  of  our  colored  churches. 

The  foreign-speaking  evangelists  labor 
among  the  Portuguese  on  Cape  Cod,  the 
Italians  in  Portland,  Maine,  the  Lithu¬ 
anians  in  Chicago,  the  Japanese  in  San 
Francisco  and  Hawaii,  and  the  Spanish- 
Americans  in  New  Mexico. 

Thus,  under  varying  conditions,  among 
all  sorts  of  folks,  the  missionary  evangel¬ 
ist  is  helping  to  bring  in  the  kingdom  in 
ways  which  the  local  church  is  not 
equipped  to  do  and  therefore  must  be 
supported  by  the  church  at  large. 

There  is  also  the  evangelist  who  not 
only  wins  souls  to  the  kingdom,  but  also 
helps  the  local  congregation  to  put  its 
finances  on  a  firm  footing  and  thus  pre¬ 
pare  the  church  for  an  aggressive  evan¬ 
gelistic  campaign.  One  of  these  evangel¬ 
ists  assisted  last  year  in  raising  a  total 
of  $135,000  for  new  church  enterprises 
and  to  pay  old  debts,  $25,000  of  which 
was  to  clear  off  a  fifty-six  year  debt  of 
$19,500  on  which  the  local  people  had 
paid  $70,000  interest. 

The  hospital  evangelist  or  chaplain 
renders  that  fine  service  to  the  sick  and 
wounded  in  the  hours  much  given  to  med¬ 
itation  and  reflection,  which  helps  to  an 
appreciation  of  the  relative  values  of  the 
things  of  life  and  the  claims  of  Christ 
upon  their  lives. 

The  forty-one  Methodist  Episcopal 
army  and  navy  chaplains  find  one 
of  their  practical  points  of  contact 
with  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church 
through  the  Department  of  Evangelism, 
which  provides  each  man  with  an  inci¬ 
dental  fund  for  use  in  furnishing  office 
supplies,  music,  flowers,  and  literature 
not  furnished  by  the  government. 


482 


WORLD  SERVICE 


In  work  among  student  groups  the  de¬ 
partment  co-operates  with  the  Board  of 
Education  in  promoting  the  week  of 
prayer,  assisting  in  the  organization  of 
gospel  teams  and  in  providing  evangelis¬ 
tic  speakers  for  our  college  and  other  ed¬ 
ucational  institutions.  The  results  of  this 
work  cannot  be  measured  in  this  genera¬ 
tion. 

The  success  of  street  preaching  has 
been  very  marked  in  East  Harlem.  New 
York,  among  the  radical  groups,  and  in 
Chicago  where  a  number  of  city  pastors 
and  students  of  Garrett  Biblical  Institute 
in  the  summer  of  1922  preached  on  the 
streets  and  in  the  public  parks  of  the 
city.  Some  of  the  meetings  were  very 
largely  attended  and  some  results 
achieved. 

About  800  Methodist  Episcopal  pastors 
are  availing  themselves  of  the  oppor¬ 
tunity  to  deliver  short,  crisp,  vital  mes¬ 
sages  at  the  noon  hour  in  the  shops  and 
factories  of  our  great  industrial  centers. 

Forums  are  established  where  oppor¬ 
tunity  is  afforded  for  free  and  open  dis¬ 
cussion  of  social  and  industrial  questions 
under  Christian  auspices.  Some  remark¬ 
able  results  have  already  been  accom¬ 
plished.  The  department  assists  in 
securing  speakers  and  helpers  for  such 
open  forums. 

7.  Intercession 

Intercession  is  an  important  factor  in 
all  evangelistic  effort.  The  members  of 
the  League  of  Intercession  enrolled  with 
the  Department  of  Evangelism  are  culti¬ 
vated  and  helped  in  definite  and  united 
prayer  for  our  great  kingdom  interests. 
When  the  entire  membership  of  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church  unites  as 
intercessors,  the  day  of  the  Kingdom  will 
be  greatly  advanced. 

8.  Evangelistic  Literature 

The  need  of  evangelistic  literature 
grows  apace.  These  silent  preachers  go 
everywhere  and  are  ever  ready  to  deliver 
their  message.  The  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church  needs  a  variety  of  tracts  for  this 
purpose  written  in  a  popular  style, 
printed  legibly  and  in  convenient  form 


and  issued  by  the  hundreds  of  thousands. 
The  department  is  publishing  all  the  lit¬ 
erature  of  this  character  its  budget  will 
permit. 

13.  Foreign-Language  Literature 

A  silent  messenger. —  The  need  for  a  con¬ 
structive  Christian  foreign  language  lit¬ 
erature  for  use  among  various  racial 
groups  in  America,  has  long  been  felt. 
Many  immigrants  who  will  never  be  able 
to  read  English  easily  or  to  understand  it 
when  spoken  in  public  address  can  and  do 
read  their  own  mother  tongues.  Even  in 
the  case  of  those  who  do  learn  English 
ultimately  there  is  often  a  long  period  of 
delay  running  into  years,  during  which 
ideas  can  be  conveyed  to  them  in  English 
only  in  the  most  imperfect  manner.  So¬ 
cialist,  atheistic,  and  other  radical  groups 
have  taken  advantage  of  this  situation  to 
spread  communistic  ideas  and  infidelity 
among  these  people  at  a  time  when,  be¬ 
cause  of  their  break  with  the  past  and  its 
traditions,  they  are  particularly  respon¬ 
sive  to  new  ideas.  Certain  religious 
groups  have  also  seized  upon  this  method 
of  reaching  these  new  arrivals.  Up  to 
date,  however,  most  Protestant  agencies 
have  been  slow  to  recognize  that  Ameri¬ 
can  ideas  and  ideals,  including  those  reli¬ 
gious  ideas  which  we  most  cherish,  can  and 
must  be  interpreted  in  languages  other 
than  our  own  even  in  America. 

The  Committee  of  Six.—  Following  the 
direction  of  the  General  Conference  of 
1916,  the  Committee  of  Six  on  Foreign 
Language  Publications  has  been  hard  at 
work.  Already  there  are  available  and  in 
use  more  than  a  dozen  carefully  edited 
pamphlets  in  from  one  to  twelve  different 
languages.  One  of  these  is  the  “Social 
Creed  of  the  Churches,”  a  translation  of  a 
statement  adopted  by  the  Federal  Council 
of  the  Churches  of  Christ  in  America. 
This  is  available  in  Arabic,  Czech,  Fin¬ 
nish,  Italian,  Lithuanian,  Magyar,  Polish, 
Portuguese,  Russian,  Slovak,  and  Spanish. 
Another  is  “Facts  and  Figures  Concern¬ 
ing  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church.” 
This  leaflet  grew  directly  out  of  the  deeply 
felt  need  on  the  part  of  a  pastor  in  a 


HOME  MISSIONS 


483 


SSSSgrl 


bibliaj 

-isottkk  Kcszti 

K  '  VA9.IKV, 


LECZKJCK  f 


cbjsto 

d»bf 


ifuwft't"- 


■CAKTW 


yii'tpbi 


^•'^McrcKon 

c»onA^t,Mon 

HCPKWJ. 


I*'*1” 


«'V>W 

J*  ^ u4r  r$!  ^ -  '.*>  ’ 
v*-  'r-N^b  **-' 

— 

rrVc-*  J~  -'-  *■”'  -  '  *¥•» 

j’_.  ,-*••  •-fuf'A  -1  V**. 

L,1  U.>  -*'<  r?* 

*■“ rr i : ’ .■*>-.  j  — '  ’  sr  * — ;  “ 

” 

J-  e*.  iv  ^  ^*'4  *>■  tA'-  •  * : 

^’-r—w^-rV 

ji  w^<  5' Jf  J'-_X.;  J-.-/'  i-S 
r;— '  w  J  U  v,  (M  prV  ->** 


-J 


Samples  of  foreign-language  literature  provided  by  the  Committee  of  Six 


great  polyglot  community  with  many  Slo¬ 
vaks,  Lithuanians,  Poles,  Ukrainians,  Ar¬ 
menians,  Syrians  and  others.  “What,” 
said  he  in  desperation,  “can  I  do  to  make 
the  people,  many  of  whom  are  anti-reli¬ 
gious  and  are  regularly  reading  the  most 
radical  literature,  understand  that  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church  is  something 
bigger  than  the  little  wooden  building  in 
which  I  must  carry  on  my  work?”  The 
pamphlet  is  an  attempt  to  help  him  and 
many  others  like  him  to  answer  that  ques¬ 
tion  in  some  measure.  There  are  also 
translations  of  parts  of  Fosdick’s  “The 
Meaning  of  Prayer,”  and  “The  Manhood 
of  The  Master”  and  other  pamphlets  such 
as  “The  Church  and  the  Working  Man,” 
and  “Things  of  First  Importance”  for  spe¬ 
cial  groups. 

Interdenominational  work. — Co-operating 
with  several  other  denominations  through 
the  Sunday  School  Council  of  Evangelical 
Denominations,  bi-lingual  Bible  lesson 
quarterlies  are  already  available  or  in 
process  of  publication  in  the  Czech,  Italian, 


Magyar,  Polish,  Russian,  and  Spanish  lan¬ 
guages.  Methodist  periodical  literature  is 
also  published  in  the  Swedish,  Portuguese, 
Norwegian-Danish,  Slovak,  Korean,  Japa¬ 
nese,  and  Filipino  languages,  the  last  three 
being  issued  in  Hawaii.  An  Italian-Eng- 
lish  story  leaf  is  designed  to  enable  par¬ 
ents  who  do  not  read  English  to  read  in 
Italian  the  lessons  studied  by  their  chil¬ 
dren  in  Sunday  school.  Co-operating  with 
the  Home  Missions  Council  and  the  Coun¬ 
cil  of  Women  for  Home  Missions,  race 
studies  on  “The  Czecho-Slovaks  in 
America,”  “The  Poles  in  America,”  “The 
Russians  and  Ruthenians  in  America,” 
“The  Italians  in  America,”  and  “The 
Greeks  in  America,”  have  been  published 
through  the  George  H.  Doran  Company. 
A  sixth  study,  “The  Magyar  in  America” 
is  now  in  press.  These  studies  are  de¬ 
signed  to  help  Americans  to  understand 
the  background  and  the  problems  pre¬ 
sented  by  these  various  race  groups  which 
have  come  to  see  how  our  American 
experiment  in  democracy  works  out. 


484 


WORLD  SERVICE 


An  important  method. — The  importance 
of  extending  this  foreign-language  litera¬ 
ture  work  is  very  great.  When  we  com¬ 
pare  the  size  of  our  issues  with  the  extent 
of  the  field  to  be  reached,  we  realize  that 
we  are  but  touching  its  fringes.  With 
added  funds  we  could  very  greatly  extend 
our  sphere  of  influence  and  the  result  of  a 
single  pamphlet  among  these  eager  seek¬ 
ers  after  truth,  who  can  foretell?  One 
foreigner  with  pronounced  anti-religious 
sentiments  in  the  coal  fields  of  Pennsyl¬ 
vania  said  after  reading  a  pamphlet  issued 
by  our  Committee,  “Well,  I  thought  I  was 
an  atheist,  but,  if  that  is  what  Christianity 
means,  possibly  I  am  not  an  atheist  at  all.” 
A  wise  use  of  our  literature  in  homes  and 
among  laboring  groups  will  break  down 
prejudice  and  drive  out  erroneous  and  dan¬ 
gerous  corruptions  of  America  and  of 
Protestantism  faster  than  any  other 
method  which  we  can  use  and  the  way  will 
be  paved  for  a  far  more  effective  work 
among  the  rising  generation  of  young 
people. 

14.  The  Goodwill  Industries 

Not  charity. — The  Goodwill  Industries 
are  institutions  where  cast-off  shoes, 
clothes  and  furniture  collected  from  the 
homes  and  business  houses  of  the  commu¬ 
nity  are  renovated  by  people  economically 
or  physically  unfit  to  be  employed  in  the 
regular  industries.  Under  Christian  fore¬ 
men,  they  become  shoemakers,  tailors, 
carpenters,  upholsterers,  milliners  and 
dressmakers  and  are  fitted  for  earning  a 
livelihood.  The  product  of  their  labors 
while  learning  a  trade  is  sold  at  a  low  price 
to  needy  people  unable  to  purchase  new 
goods.  During  this  process  of  the  recon¬ 
struction  of  men  and  things  the  message 
of  the  gospel  is  interpreted  through  chapel 
worship  and  personal  contact  with  Chris¬ 
tian  men  and  women. 

The  Goodwill  Industries  represent  the 
church  in  promoting  business  life,  scien¬ 
tific  and  Christian  methods  of  saving  the 
waste  in  order  to  provide  for  the  material 
and  religious  needs  of  old,  handicapped 
and  unemployed  people,  many  of  whom  are 
now  alienated  from  the  church  by  poverty 


or  social  and  religious  prejudice  and  con¬ 
sider  that  the  church  has  no  message  for 
labor. 

It  is  estimated  that  from  2,500,000  to 
10,000,000  people  in  America  are  in  pov¬ 
erty  and  do  not  have  sufficient  income  from 
year  to  year  to  secure  the  necessaries  of 
life,  food,  clothing  and  shelter.  On  the 
other  hand,  enough  material  is  wasted  in 
America  to  provide  an  abundance  for  these 
millions  of  needy  people  if  this  waste  ma¬ 
terial  were  properly  conserved. 

The  Goodwill  Industries  ar  designed  to 
give  the  needy,  “not  charity  but  a  chance”, 
in  the  self-supporting  work  of  saving  the 
waste  materials  of  the  community. 

These  Industries  are  business-like  in 
their  methods  of  saving  this  waste  mate¬ 
rial,  so  much  so,  that  in  a  short  time  after 
proper  provision  is  made  for  tools  and 
trained  leadership,  they  become  self  sup¬ 
porting. 

They  are  so  scientific  in  saving  this 
waste  material  that  they  have  substituted 
for  menial  charity,  a  chance  for  the  un¬ 
fortunate  to  become  self  supporting  and 
self  respecting. 

The  Goodwill  Industries  are  so  Chris¬ 
tian  in  their  methods  of  saving  waste 
material  that  they  literally  follow  the 
methods  of  Jesus  in  feeding  the  hungry, 
clothing  the  naked,  healing  the  sick  in 
body  and  mind  and  preaching  the  Gospel 
to  the  poor. 

The  Christian  method  in  all  ages  of  the 
church  transcends  social,  national  and  re¬ 
ligious  prejudice.  The  Goodwill  Indus¬ 
tries  are  so  operated  as  to  constitute  an 
industrial  democracy.  The  people  who 
work  and  those  who  supervise  and  finance 
the  enterprise,  share  together  the  respon¬ 
sibility  of  the  management. 

Goodwill  Industries  are  not  run  for 
profit  but  for  service. 

Goodwill  Industries  constitute  more 
than  temporary  material  relief.  Fourteen 
trades  are  taught  in  the  Goodwill  Indus¬ 
tries  run  by  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church.  Americanization  classes  are  con¬ 
ducted  for  foreign-speaking  people.  Day 
nurseries,  kindergartens,  music  schools, 
industrial  schools,  fresh  air  camps,  and 


Missions  and  Church  Extension 


486 


WORLD  SERVICE 


daily  vacation  Bible  schools  are  main¬ 
tained  for  the  children. 

The  Goodwill  Industries  conduct  reli¬ 
gious  meetings  every  week  day.  Where 
there  is  no  church  near  to  minister  to  the 
people,  a  Church  of  Good  Will  is  organized 
for  that  purpose. 

But,  a  chance. — In  1922,  twenty  Goodwill 
Industries  reclaimed  more  than  $1,000,000 
from  waste  materials  and  ministered 
through  their  workshops  and  stores  to 
more  than  250,000  needy  folks.  Nearly 
10,000  unfortunate  people  have  turned  this 
waste  material  into  articles  of  use  which 
1,000,000  other  unfortunate  folks,  who 
could  not  afford  new  things,  purchased  at 
small  prices  in  our  sixty-five  stores  in 
twenty  cities.  Fully  $500,000  in  self  re¬ 
specting  opportunity  wages  have  been  paid 
to  the  10,000  old,  handicapped  and  unfor¬ 
tunate  folks  at  work  in  our  industries. 
The  foremen,  teachers  and  regular  over¬ 
seers  received  $250,000  in  salaries.  Many 
persons  have  been  remade  economically  by 
learning  one  of  the  fourteen  trades  taught 
in  our  factories.  The  Industries  constitute 
the  largest  Trade  School  in  the  denomina¬ 
tion.  These  students  could  never  learn  a 
trade  elsewhere.  They  support  themselves 
and  other  dependents  as  they  learn.  More 
than  6,000  religious  services  were  held  in 
the  Goodwill  Industries  in  1922. 

It  would  be  altogether  impossible  to  care 
for  these  unfortunate  peoples  by  any  other 


method.  It  is  either  this  method  or  leave 
them  without  a  chance  and  without  reli¬ 
gious  opportunity.  There  are  at  least 
twenty-one  other  cities  throughout  the 
country  where  Goodwill  Industries  should 
be  organized  and  carried  forward  at  the 
earliest  possible  date. 

15.  Emergency  Needs 
Calamity  cases. — The  term  “emergency,” 
is  used  to  cover  those  needs  for  church  ex¬ 
tension  aid  entitled  to  consideration  by 
the  Board  of  Home  Missions  and  Church 
Extension,  in  which  church  property  has 
been  destroyed  in  whole  or  in  part,  by 
fire,  flood,  tornado  or  other  natural 
calamity,  and  where  such  property  can  not 
be  rebuilt  or  restored  without  outside 
help.  In  rare  cases,  since  the  beginning 
of  the  Centenary,  other  problematic  and 
difficult  situations  growing  out  of  crop 
failures  or  sudden  collapse  of  business  en¬ 
terprises  have  been  relieved  by  emergency 
funds.  In  general,  however,  emergency 
funds  have  been  used  for  real  calamity 
cases  and  the  funds  available  are  scarcely 
sufficient  for  anything  else.  Our  experience 
has  again  and  again  demonstrated  that  it 
is  well  worth  while  to  stimulate  the  work 
of  rebuilding  or  restoring  these  destroyed 
and  damaged  churches.  The  aid  given  in 
any  case  is  determined  by  the  amount  of 
loss  sustained  and  the  resources  which 
the  board  has  available. 


NO  RETREAT ! 

The  Board  of  Home  Missions  and  Church  Extension  steadfastly  refuses  to 
beat  a  retreat  and  as  steadfastly  refuses  to  listen  to  timid  and  visionless  counsel. 
It  is  profoundly  convinced  that  Christ  is  calling  the  church  to  join  him  in  a  con¬ 
quering  crusade  that  shall  end  only  when  the  social  organism  has  been  thoroughly 
Christianized.  The  board  believes  that  the  great  body  of  Methodists  join  in  this 
conviction. 


A  LABORATORY,  RUST  COLLEGE,  HOLLY  SPRINGS,  MISSISSIPPI 

Slow  moves  the  pageant  of  a  climbing  race. 

Paul  Laurence  Dunbar 


BOARD  OF  EDUCATION  FOR  NEGROES 

ANALYSIS  OF  STATEMENT 


I.  The  Board  of  Education  for 
Negroes 

1.  General  object 

2.  Its  program  for  the  education 
of  the  Negro 

II.  The  Negro’s  Educational  Needs 

1.  Reasons  for  educating  him 

2.  The  kind  of  education  for  him 

3.  The  pressing  need  of  Negro 
education 


V.  Church  and  State  Education 
for  the  Negro 

VI.  Growth  and  Needs  of  the  Insti¬ 
tutions 

VII.  What  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church  Must  do  for  Negro  Ed¬ 
ucation  in  the  Next  Ten  Years 

1.  Standards  that  must  be  at¬ 
tained 

2.  The  future  program 


III.  Negro  Progress 

1.  In  business  and  the  professions 

2.  In  religious  leadership 

IV.  The  Only  Source  of  Leader¬ 
ship  for  the  Negro  Race 


VIII.  Our  Brother  in  Black,  a  Mis¬ 
sionary  Appeal 

1.  Some  results  of  fifty-six  years 
of  education 

2.  The  program  justified  by  the 
results 


487 


488 


WORLD  SERVICE 


I.  THE  BOARD  OF  EDUCATION 
FOR  NEGROES 
1.  General  Object 

“The  work  of  the  Board  of  Education 
for  Negroes  shall  be  the  establishment 
and  maintenance  of  institutions  for  Chris¬ 
tian  education  among  the  colored  people  in 
the  Southern  States  and  elsewhere.  The 
instruction  in  these  institutions  shall  in¬ 
clude  such  literary,  professional,  and  bib¬ 
lical  courses  of  study,  and  such  industrial 
training  as  will  tend  to  develop  the  highest 
Christian  character.  These  institutions 
shall  be  located  with  reference  to  an  educa¬ 
tional  system  comprising  collegiate  centers 
and  co-operative  preparatory  academies, 
so  that  with  the  greatest  economy  the  edu¬ 
cational  needs  of  the  people  may  be  most 
fully  met.  Contributions  shall  be  taken 
through  the  church  for  the  maintenance 
and  support  of  this  work,  and  for  this 
purpose  Lincoln’s  Birthday  shall  be  ob¬ 
served  wherever  practicable. 

“The  schools  shall  be  made  self-sup¬ 
porting  as  rapidly  as  the  financial  condi¬ 
tion  of  the  people  will  permit.  Special 
efforts  shall  be  made  to  secure  permanent 
endowments  for  the  various  institutions, 
and  the  Board  of  Managers,  whenever  it 
is  satisfied  that  the  support  will  be  ample, 
and  that  the  property  will  be  maintained 
and  perpetuated,  may  convey  the  control 
of  said  schools  to  a  local  Board  of  Trus¬ 
tees.”  1 

2.  Its  Program  for  the  Education  of 
the  Negro 

A  central  university.— The  Board  of  Ed¬ 
ucation  for  Negroes  has  a  well-defined 
plan  for  the  development  of  its  schools. 
The  program  calls  for  one  university  at 
Atlanta,  Georgia,  in  the  very  center  of 
the  South.  Plans  have  already  been 
adopted  by  the  board  for  the  re¬ 
organization  of  Clark  University,  provid¬ 
ing  for  schools  of  liberal  arts,  science, 
commerce,  music,  law,  also  post-graduate 
courses,  the  theology  and  medicine  of  the 
university  to  be  done  at  Gammon  Theo¬ 
logical  Seminary  and  Meharry  Medical 
College.  In  providing  for  post-grad¬ 

1  Discipline,  f451. 


uate  work,  we  look  toward  the  train¬ 
ing  of  college  presidents,  professors  and 
outstanding  leaders,  not  only  for  our  own 
system  of  schools,  but  for  the  entire 
Negro  educational  needs  of  the  country. 
This  work  is  now  entirely  done  in  north¬ 
ern  universities. 

First-class  colleges. — The  program  calls 
for  not  less  than  four  or  five  first-class 
colleges  located  in  various  sections  of  the 
South,  so  as  to  provide  full  college 
courses  within  easy  reach  of  the  Negro 
masses. 

Because  of  inadequate  funds  in  the 
past  not  one  of  the  institutions  now  rated 
as  colleges  has  had  a  chance  for  self- 
determination  as  to  its  permanent  classi¬ 
fication.  The  system  is  being  maintained 
as  given  in  this  report.  With  the  in¬ 
creased  help  which  now  comes  from  the 
Centenary  and  is  expected  from  the  pro¬ 
gram  following  the  Centenary,  the  policy 
of  self-determination,  based  upon  growth, 
will  permanently  fix  the  number  of  stand¬ 
ard  colleges  the  board  may  profitably 
operate. 

Moreover,  the  Southern  States  are  con¬ 
stantly  raising  the  standards  of  their  in¬ 
stitutions  for  the  Negro.  The  board  will 
be  compelled  for  the  next  five  or  more 
years  to  watch  the  growth  of  the  schools 
and  the  action  of  the  states  and  other  de¬ 
nominational  agencies,  in  order  to  act 
wisely. 

Junior  colleges,  institutes,  and  academies. 
— The  balance  of  the  schools  are  to  be 
junior  colleges  and  secondary  schools, 
from  which  will  go  out  school  teachers 
and  such  of  the  ministers  and  Christian 
leaders  as  shall  find  it  impossible  to  secure 
a  full  college  training  and  a  complete 
theological  course  added.  Under  the  con¬ 
ditions  prevailing  among  the  Negroes, 
for  a  long  time  to  come,  the  junior  col¬ 
leges  and  secondary  schools  must  suffice 
for  the  great  mass,  not  only  of  the  minis¬ 
ters,  but  local  church  leaders  as  well, 
such  as  Sunday-school  superintendents 
and  teachers,  Epworth  League  presi¬ 
dents  and  workers  in  all  departments  of 
the  churches. 


NEGRO  EDUCATION 


489 


Negro  fourth  grade  containing  pupils  from  eight  years  of  age  to  forty 


II.  THE  NEGRO’S  EDUCATIONAL 
NEEDS 

1.  Reasons  for  Educating  the  Negro 

a.  He  is  a  man  entitled  to  it.  It  is  his 
inherent  right  to  be  trained. 

b.  Education  makes  him  a  producer  as 
well  as  a  consumer. 

c.  As  a  producer,  he  becomes  an  asset, 
not  a  liability. 

d.  A  democracy  like  the  United  States 
is  safe  when  all  its  people  are  educated. 

e.  No  people  in  a  country  should  per¬ 
manently  be  left  weak.  It  forms  the  basis 
for  the  destruction  of  the  weak  and  a 
handicap  of  the  strong. 

2.  The  Kind  of  Education  for 

the  Negro 

a.  All  that  the  individual  is  capable  of 
taking. 

b.  It  should  cover  all  phases  of  life. 

c.  It  should  be  Christian. 

d.  It  should  be  thorough. 

3.  The  Pressing  Need  of  Negro 

Education 

a.  There  are  10,381,309  Negroes  in  the 
United  States,  or  one-tenth  of  our  popu¬ 
lation,  needing  mental,  moral,  spiritual 
care  and  leadership. 

b.  The  necessity  for  qualifying  for 
voting  in  church  and  state,  requires  educa¬ 
tion.  The  trend  is  for  educational  quali¬ 
fication  in  and  for  everything.  The  Negro 
32 


without  education  may  become  a  liability 
and  positive  burden  to  civilization. 

c.  In  fifty-six  years,  Negroes  have 
made  marvelous  progress  in  business.  The 
call  is  for  educated  leadership  beyond  the 
present  capacity  of  the  schools  to  furnish. 

III.  NEGRO  PROGRESS 
1.  In  the  Professions  and  in  Business 

Two  Negro  medical  schools. — There  are 
only  two  approved  institutions  for  the 
medical  training  of  the  Negro.  Howard 
University,  Washington,  District  of  Co¬ 
lumbia,  and  Meharry  Medical  College, 
Nashville,  Tennessee.  For  the  year  1920- 
21  Howard  University  had  459  students 
in  medicine,  dentistry,  and  pharmacy,  and 
Meharry  Medical  College  had  645,  or  186 
in  excess  of  Howard  University. 

It  is  an  astounding  fact  that  there  are 
only  two  medical  schools  and  one  law 
school  specifically  established  for  a  race 
of  people  numbering  10,381,309.  No 
southern  state  provides  for  the  medical  or 
legal  education  of  the  Negro.  Schools  of 
the  North  are  open  to  the  race,  but  re¬ 
strictions  are  on  the  increase,  by  which 
he  is  either  prohibited  or  advised  to  seek 
training  at  one  of  the  Negro  schools. 

The  limit  has  been  reached  at  Meharry 
Medical  College  in  the  accommodation  for 
students.  The  increase  of  the  endowment 
to  $1,000,000  is  imperative.  The  Metho- 


490 


WORLD  SERVICE 


Directors  of  a  Negro  bank 


dist  Episcopal  Church,  through  the  Board 
of  Education  for  Negroes,  has  contrib¬ 
uted  $300,000  for  the  expansion  and  en¬ 
dowment  of  Meharry  Medical  College, 
and  now  enters  $10,000  per  annum  in  its 
budget  of  askings,  that  the  school  may 
retain  the  rank  of  Class  A. 

One  Negro  law  school.  —  In  1920-21, 
there  were  60,000  business  operations  by 
the  Negro.  These  consisted  of  banking, 
insurance,  grocery,  real  estate,  etc.  The 
taxable  property  of  the  Negro  is  valued 
at  $1,500,000,000.  With  this  accumula¬ 
tion  comes  the  need  of  the  Negro  lawyer, 
and  yet  there  is  but  one  Negro  law  school 
from  Washington  to  Los  Angeles.  The 
only  Negro  institution  conducting  a  law 
department  is  Howard  University,  with 
72  students  in  1920-21. 

The  board  contemplates  the  organiza¬ 
tion  of  Clark  University,  with  the  inclu¬ 
sion  of  a  law  department  as  one  of  the 
imperative  needs. 

2.  In  Religious  Leadership 

The  religious  status  of  the  Negro  in 
1920-21 


Churches  .  45,000 

Ministers  .  37,000 

Communicants  .  4,800,000 

Sunday  schools . .  46,000 

Sunday-school  pupils .  2,250,000 


Church  property  value . $90,000,000 

Alarming  facts. — As  gratifying  as  the 
above  showing  may  be  in  fifty-six  years 
of  freedom,  there  are  some  alarming 
symptoms  in  the  facts  when  analyzed.  Of 
the  10,381,309  Negroes  in  the  United 


States,  but  4,800,000  are 
enrolled  as  members  of 
churches.  The  Negro 
has  been  hitherto  re¬ 
garded  as  our  most  re¬ 
ligious  race. 

There  are  but  a  few 
over  one  half  as  many 
Sunday-school  pupils  in 
Negro  churches  as  there 
are  Negro  church  mem¬ 
bers.  Where  are  the 
children  of  this  hitherto 
deeply  and  openly  religious  race? 

Negroes  in  theological  seminaries. — Of 
the  37,000  Negro  ministers,  20,317  are 
Baptists  and  15,171  Methodists.  With 
the  exception  of  1,779  Negro  ministers  in 
the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  and 
1,014  in  the  Protestant  Episcopal,  Pres¬ 
byterian  and  Congregational  Churches,  the 
bulk  of  Negro  ministers,  numbering 
34,207,  belong  to  the  distinctively  Negro 
Methodist  and  Baptist  bodies.  In  all  the 
theological  institutions  and  departments 
for  the  training  of  Negro  ministers  there 
are  now  910  students.  Of  these,  114  were 
reported  in  Gammon  Theological  Semi¬ 
nary  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church, 
which  was  the  largest  number  in  any  one 
theological  institution  for  Negroes.  Of 
the  total  number  of  910  Negro  students 
in  the  36  theological  institutions  and  de¬ 
partments,  346  are  in  nine  institutions 
operated  by  northern  boards,  and  the 
Southern  Presbyterian  Church. 

There  are  1,152  students  in  the  Negro 
medical  colleges,  as  compared  with  910 
in  Negro  theological  seminaries.  The 
rating  of  the  medical  schools  is  far  above 
that  of  two  thirds  of  the  theological  semi¬ 
naries. 

Not  more  than  one  fourth  of  the  37,000 
Negro  ministers  can  be  said  to  have  ad¬ 
equate  training  for  leadership. 

Need  of  a  trained  ministry.— The  out¬ 
standing  need  of  the  Negro  race  is  a 
trained  ministry.  Gammon  Theological 
Seminary  at  Atlanta,  Georgia,  has  been 
a  mighty  lever  of  power  for  the  Negro 
race.  The  imperative  need  is  expansion 
in  buildings  and  endowment,  in  order  that 


NEGRO  EDUCATION 


491 


the  seminary  may  do  its  largest  work  in 
theological  and  extension  courses.  Any 
money  expended  here  is  an  investment 
that  will  yield.  The  Centenary  income  of 
over  $400,000  per  year  from  Negro 
conferences  is  directly  attributable  to  the 
Negro  ministerial  leadership  from  Gam¬ 
mon  Theological  Seminary  and  other  in¬ 
stitutions. 

Summer  institutes. — Great  and  perma¬ 
nent  good  has  been  done  in  the  work  of 
the  Board  of  Home  Missions  and  Church 
Extension,  in  providing  rural  institutes 
for  Negro  conferences,  wherein  the  min¬ 
isters  and  lay  leaders  are  brought  to¬ 
gether  at  Wiley  College,  Morgan  College, 
and  Clark  University  for  two  or  three 
weeks  of  study  each  summer.  It  has 
stimulated  the  ministry  and  membership 
of  our  Negro  conferences. 

IV.  THE  ONLY  SOURCE  OF  LEAD¬ 
ERSHIP  FOR  THE  NEGRO  RACE 

A  trained  leadership  imperative.  —  No 
race  can  come  to  its  own  without  trained 
leadership.  The  one  source  is  the  insti¬ 
tution  of  learning.  The  success  of  fifty- 
six  years  in  producing  a  leadership  for 
the  race  warrants  the  continuance  of  the 
work  as  the  source  of  supply. 

When  we  were  called  to  war,  it  was  the 
educated  Negro  of  our  Methodist  schools 
that  made  possible  the  large  contribution 
of  Negro  forces  to  the  victory  achieved. 
The  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  had  ed¬ 
ucated  a  Negro  leadership,  so  that  one 
of  its  graduates  guided  the  entire  race  in 
its  relation  to  American  forces  at  home 
and  overseas. 

Every  board  of  the  church  is  depend¬ 
ent  upon  our  Negro  institutions  for  the 
working  of  its  program  at  home  and 
abroad. 

V.  CHURCH  AND  STATE  EDUCA¬ 
TION  FOR  THE  NEGRO 

Religious  value  of  church  education. — It 
has  been  said  over  and  over  that  but  for 
the  denominational  institutions  begun 
and  continued  in  the  South  for  the  Negro 
people,  the  wisdom  of  educating  the 
Negro  never  would  have  been  discov¬ 


ered.  Hence  the  forward  movement  in 
the  South  by  the  state  for  the  education 
of  the  Negro  may  be  justly  considered  as 
one  of  the  victories  of  northern  philan¬ 
thropy.  Now  that  there  are  one  or  more 
state  institutions  in  every  southern  state 
for  the  education  of  the  Negro,  along  with 
our  schools,  each  is  finding  its  place  in  a 
definite  way.  The  Christian  school  is 
preparing  Christian  leaders  for  all,  and 
the  more  emphasis  placed  upon  the  Chris¬ 
tian  basis,  the  better.  The  religious  re¬ 
vival  in  our  schools  where  young  people 
are  sought  to  become  converts  and  follow¬ 
ers  of  Christ  is  unknown  to  the  state 
school. 

One  of  the  institutions  of  our  church, 
situated  alongside  of  a  state  school,  had 
such  a  religious  revival  among  the  stu¬ 
dents  that  it  influenced  the  state  school 
and  conducted  the  revival  for  both,  by 
having  the  state  school  students  join  in 
the  meetings. 

Denominational  schools  have  found 
their  specific  work  to  be  the  training  of 
ministers,  teachers,  physicians,  pharma¬ 
cists,  lawyers,  and  home-makers,  leaving 
the  state  schools  to  train  the  Negro  in 
industry,  agriculture,  commerce  and  busi¬ 
ness.  Our  Christian  schools,  therefore, 
are  spending  most  of  their  funds  in  the 
academic  and  professional  training  of  the 
Negro,  on  the  religious  basis;  and  the 
state  is  expending  large  sums  in  the  in¬ 
dustrial  and  handicraft  pursuits. 


Type  of  public-school  facilities  provided  for 
Negroes  by  the  state 


492 


WORLD  SERVICE 


Leaders  for  our  greatest  racial 


VI.  GROWTH  AND  NEEDS  OF  THE  INSTITUTIONS 

1.  Growth  of  Institutions  in  Teachers  and  Students 


Institutions  Teachers  Students 

_ A _ _ _ _ A _ 

1901-02  1911-12  1921-22  1922-23  1901-02  1911-12  1921-221  1922-23’ 


South  Atlantic  States  : 

Morgan  College  .  5 

Princess  Anne  Academy  .  5 

Bennett  College  .  10 

Claflin  College  .  34 

Clark  University  .  14 

Gammon  Theological  Seminary  .  4 

Cookman  Institute  .  4 

East  South  Central  States: 

Meharry  Medical  College  .  19 

Walden  College  .  33 

Morristown  Normal  and  Industrial  College....  IS 

Central  Alabama  Institute  .  4 

Rust  College  .  12 

Haven  Institute  and  Conservatory  of  Music....  7 

West  South  Central  States  : 

Philander  Smith  College  .  13 

New  Orleans-Gilbert  College  .  14 

Flint-Goodridge  Hospital  and  Nurse  Train¬ 
ing  School  .  15 

Wiley  College  .  14 

Samuel  Huston  College  .  10 

West  North  Central  States: 

George  R.  Smith  College  .  9 

Totals  . 241 


10 

17 

26 

72 

105 

445 

449 

11 

14 

15 

84 

140 

180 

177 

11 

17 

18 

257 

238 

344 

303 

43 

29 

36 

636 

603 

489 

565 

11 

19 

20 

580 

480 

490 

510 

5 

7 

7 

62 

58 

142 

135 

13 

16 

19 

214 

470 

296 

271 

36 

43 

'45 

233 

537 

646 

643 

20 

10 

17 

560 

266 

160 

191 

22 

29 

24 

356 

349 

396 

321 

15 

12 

12 

148 

182 

214 

180 

20 

25 

26 

322 

378 

435 

519 

8 

16 

22 

356 

377 

341 

374 

21 

22 

19 

464 

412 

417 

337 

21 

25 

26 

482 

535 

582 

596 

7 

35 

24 

74 

20 

22 

34 

30 

25 

35 

502 

552 

541 

567 

22 

24 

19 

273 

420 

294 

274 

11 

13 

15 

142 

115 

111 

93 

332 

398 

425 

5,817 

6,237 

6,545 

6,539 

1  The  attendance  record  for  1922-23  is  given  as  of  October  31,  1922,  while  the  record  of  other  years  rep¬ 
resents  the  highest  enrolment  in  the  full  year.  Many  students  come  into  school  in  the  rural  South  after 
crops  have  been  harvested,  so  that  the  enrolment  for  1922-23  will  exceed  any  former  year  in  the  last 
decade.  The  record  for  1921-22,  as  for  1922-23  includes  students  in  elementary  grades.  These  are  being 
discontinued  as  fast  as  the  public  schools  are  established  and  operated  for  the  proper  number  of  months. 


NEGRO  EDUCATION 


493 


minority  provided  by  one  school 


2.  Progress  of  Institutions  in  Property  and  Equipment 

Property  Equipment 


Institutions 

1901-02 

1911-12 

1921-22 

1922-23 

1901-02 

1911-12 

1921-22 

1922-23 

South  Atlantic  States  : 
Morgan  College  . 

$  44,000  $ 

44,000  $ 

517,000 

$  520,000 

$  7,000  $  10,000 

$  24,500 

$  24,500 

Princess  Anne  Academy  . 

46,000 

52,000 

85,000 

86.000 

3,000 

8,000 

20,000 

20,000 

Bennett  College  . 

60,000 

34,000’ 

43,000 

145,000 

2,500 

2,000’ 

3,000 

10,000 

Claflin  College  . 

110,000 

119,520 

250,000 

279,900 

5,000 

36,430 

15,000’ 

20,000 

Clark  University  . 

350,000 

236,400’ 

330,000 

545,000 

5,000 

20,000 

5,200’ 

25,000 

Gammon  Theological  Seminary 

100,000 

108,000 

90,000’ 

130,000 

3,500 

10,464 

11,500 

15,000 

Cookman  Institute  . 

21,000 

31,000 

50,000 

55,000 

1,500 

712’ 

3,000 

4,000 

East  South  Central  States  : 
Meharry  Medical  College . 

50,000 

50,000 

140,000 

245,000 

7,500 

4,000’ 

15,000 

25,000 

Walden  College  . 

75,000 

25,000’ 

70,000 

175,000 

4,000 

1,000 

2,500’ 

5,500 

Morristown  Normal  and  In¬ 
dustrial  College  . 

75,000 

66,390’ 

134,500 

140.000 

2,000 

10,900 

15,000 

18,000 

Central  Alabama  Institute  . 

8,000 

30,000 

40,000 

65,000 

1,000 

2,000 

3,800 

4,000 

Rust  College  . 

125,000 

106.700’ 

89,500' 

116,000 

5,000 

4,500’ 

5,000 

15,000 

Haven  Institute  and  Conserva¬ 
tory  of  Music  . 

8,000 

15,000 

30,000 

170,000 

1,500 

920’ 

2,000 

40,000 

West  South  Central  States 
Philander  Smith  College  . 

30,000 

50,000 

51,500 

122,000 

2,500 

6,785 

5,000’ 

15,000 

New  Orleans-Gilbert  College.. 

125,000 

75,000’ 

135,000 

155,000 

3,500 

5.000 

4,100’ 

16,000 

Flint-Goodridge  Hospital  and 
Nurse  Training  School  . 

20,000 

27,000 

65,000 

70,000 

1,500 

3,975 

10,000 

12,000 

Wiley  College  . 

64,000 

53.541’ 

190,000 

235,000 

3,500 

12,500 

10,000’ 

42,000 

Samuel  Huston  College  . 

48,000 

32,400’ 

75,000 

117,000 

2,000 

8,316 

5,750’ 

10,000 

West  North  Central  States 
George  R.  Smith  College  . 

50,000 

52,000 

37,200’ 

62,000 

1,000 

2,175 

3,000 

4,000 

Totals  . 

$1,409,000  $1,207,951’  $. 

?,422,7002 

$3,432,900’ 

$62,500  $149,677 

$163, 3502 

$325, 0002 

1  The  decreases  in  valuation  of  property  and  equipment  here  noted  are  due  to  fluctuation  in  real  estate 
values,  to  fire  losses  and  to  discontinuance  of  the  more  costly  industrial  departments  requiring  large  out¬ 
lay  in  machinery,  as  at  Claflin  and  Clark. 

2 The  increase  in  valuation  of  property  and  equipment  as  follows:  $1,228,422  in  1921-22  over  1911-12 
and  of  $1,171,850  in  1922-23  over  1921-22,  is  due  mostly  to  the  Centenary  and  the  wise  expenditure  of  such 
funds  by  the  Board  in  realty  purchases  and  expansion. 


494 


WORLD  SERVICE 


3.  Comparative  Progress  of  Local  School  Income  and  Board  Appropriations 


School  Income 


Board  Appropriation 


Institutions 

South  Atlantic  States  : 

Morgan  College  . 

Princess  Anne  Academy  . . . 

Bennett  College  . - . 

Claflin  College  . 

Clark  University  . 

Gammon  Theological  Seminary  . 

Cookman  Institute  . 

East  South  Central  States  : 

Meharry  Medical  College  . 

Walden  College  . - . - . 

Morristown  Normal  and  Industrial  College.... 

Central  Alabama  Institute  . 

Rust  College  . - . 

Haven  Institute  and  Conservatory  of  Music 

West  South  Central  States  : 

Philander  Smith  College  . 

New  Orleans-Gilbert  College  . 

Flint-Goodridge  Hospital  and  Nurse  Training- 

School  . 

Wiley  College  . 

Samuel  Huston  College  .  .  . 

West  North  Central  States  : 

George  R.  Smith  College  . . . 

Totals  . 


1901-02 

1911-12 

1921-22 

'  1901-02 

1911-12 

1921-22 

$  5,947 

$  6,483 

$  25,910 

$  5,753 

$  3,594 1 

$  15,400 

5,650 

6,500 

8,500 

Provided  for  by  Morgan  Coll. 

3,234 

6,720 

25,346 

2,575 

3,000 

7,500 

23,136 

81,093 

52,601 

7,500 

9,500 

15,000 

23,871 

13,885 

52,170 

7,735 

8,500 

15,000 

3,880 

18,059 

30,258 

12,000 

14,500 

15,366 

1,014 

7,789 

15,655 

2,100 

2,950 

7,500 

13,122 

39,380 

147,621 

1,000 

1,500 

10,000 

11,936 

13,640 

14,582 

8,000 

6,400 

3,333 

6,458 

24,445 

60,249 

4,312 

4,500 

13,000 

640 

6,576 

18,808 

900 

2,800 

7,500 

12,725 

18,309 

31,606 

5,000 

5,600 

10,000 

770 

9,145 

33,285 

500 

1,500 

10,000 

12,561 

11,340 

28,514 

3,725 

4,450 

10,000 

11,211 

*  14,595 

42,233 

5,000 

5,000 

13,000 

4,412 

7,909 

48,396 

500 

2,400 

6,000 

12,081 

27,062 

60,905 

2,700 

4,450 

15,000 

6,699 

22,653 

32,455 

1,283 

3,700 

10,000 

3,902 

8,754 

19,161 

2,375 

3,000 

7,500 

$163,249 

$344,337 

$748,255 

$72,958 

$87,344 

$191,099 

e  given  as 

we  are  in 

the  begi 

inning  of 

the  year 

when  this 

report  is  made. 


Accurate  accounting  of  funds.  —  The 
Board  of  Education  for  Negroes  is  con¬ 
stantly  studying  the  best  and  most  ap¬ 
proved  methods  to  secure  accurate  ac¬ 
counting  for  the  funds  of  the  church 
appropriated  for  the  education  of  the 
Negro  and  of  student  fees.  The  board 
receives  the  following  formal  reports: 

Monthly  report  of  president,  covering 
receipts  and  expenditures. 

Monthly  report  of  president,  covering 
student  attendance. 

Teacher’s  application  blank. 

The  additional  methods  of  accounting 
being  inaugurated  will  bring  weekly  to 
the  office  of  the  board  duplicate  ledger  ac¬ 
counts  of  bursars.  In  this  way  the  office 
will  know  every  week  the  business  of  its 
entire  list  of  schools,  and  check  any  ir¬ 
regularity  promptly.  The  success  of  our 
schools  in  the  last  ten  years  has  been  due 
in  no  small  degree  to  the  improved  busi¬ 
ness  methods  in  their  conduct. 


VII.  WHAT  THE  METHODIST  EPIS¬ 
COPAL  CHURCH  MUST  DO  FOR 
NEGRO  EDUCATION  IN  THE 
NEXT  TEN  YEARS 

1.  Standards  that  Must  be  Attained 
Standardizing  agencies. — The  Board  of 
Education  for  Negroes  of  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church,  in  the  conduct  of  its 
institutions,  must  meet  the  requirements 
of  standardizing  agencies  in  the  educa¬ 
tional  world.  Negro  institutions  must 
now  measure  up  to  the  same  standards  as 
white  institutions,  in  order  to  have  the 
credits  of  their  graduates  accepted  in 
Class  “A”  institutions.  The  standardiz¬ 
ing  agencies  which  cover  the  institutions 
of  the  United  States  in  general  are  as 
follows  :2 

The  Association  of  American  Uni¬ 
versities. 

-  List  of  approved  Colleges  of  Arts  and  Sciences 
and  Junior  Colleges — compiled  by  the  American  Med¬ 
ical  Association,  January  15,  1922. 


NEGRO  EDUCATION 


495 


The  North  Central  Association  of  Col¬ 
leges  and  Secondary  Schools. 

The  University  of  California. 

The  Association  of  Colleges  and  Pre¬ 
paratory  Schools  of  the  Middle  States 
and  Maryland. 

The  Association  of  Colleges  and  Pre¬ 
paratory  Schools  of  Southern  States. 

The  Council  on  Medical  Education 
and  Hospitals  of  the  American  Medical 
Association  has  published  a  list  of  Negro 
Colleges  in  Classes  I,  II,  and  III.  The 
classification  is  based  upon  the  findings 
of  the  Phelps-Stokes  Fund  and  the  United 
States  Bureau  of  Education  in  the  in¬ 
vestigation  of  Negro  institutions  of  learn¬ 
ing. 

This  investigation,  which  was  made  ten 
years  ago,  placed  most  of  the  schools  of 
the  board  in  Class  III,  covering  entrance 
requirements  for  medical  colleges. 

The  board  is  now  having  a  re-investiga- 
tion  of  its  institutions,  since  the  great  help 
of  the  Centenary  in  the  last  four  years  has 
made  possible  radical  changes  in  curricu¬ 
lum,  large  additions  to  science  depart¬ 
ments,  and  increase  in  libraries.  Likewise, 
the  erection  of  new  buildings,  increase  of 


The  abundant  life  is  not  for  these,  unless  yo'u 
give  them  the  opportunity 


Educational  institutions  affiliated  with  the 
Board  of  Education  for  Negroes 


teachers’  salaries,  installing  of  school 
furnishings,  and  additions  to  endowment 
are  direct  results  of  the  Centenary.  Me- 
harry  Medical  College  at  Nashville  has 
been  placed  in  Class  A;  Wiley  College, 
Marshall,  Texas,  is  recommended  by  the 
Texas  State  Board  of  Education  for  rec¬ 
ognition  as  a  Class  “A”  college,  and  other 
institutions  of  the  board  are  soon  to  re¬ 
ceive  the  same  recognition.  Pressure  is 
constantly  brought  to  bear  to  raise  the 
standards  in  all  institutions  of  the  board. 

Public  school  standards. — State  boards 
of  education  in  many  of  the  states 
where  our  institutions  are  located 
now  require  teachers  in  high  schools  to 
be  graduates  of  standard  colleges  having 
a  four-year  course;  also  teachers  of  ele¬ 
mentary  schools  to  be  graduates  of  nor¬ 
mal  schools,  with  training  from  four  to 
six  years,  the  first  four  in  high  schools 
and  the  remaining  one  or  two  in  normal 
or  teacher-training  courses. 

State  requirements.  —  The  denomina¬ 
tional  institutions  for  the  education  of 
the  Negro,  in  order  to  be  upon  the  ac¬ 
credited  lists  of  State  Boards  of  Educa¬ 
tion,  must  be  regularly  inspected  by  rep¬ 
resentatives  of  the  state.  They  meet 
state  requirements  in  teaching  force, 
hours  of  academic  work  for  each  se¬ 
mester,  laboratory  and  library  equip¬ 
ment,  as  well  as  buildings  affording 
adequate  space  for  all  such  work.  When 
a  school  is  upon  the  accredited  list  of  a 
state  board,  the  graduates  receive  cer¬ 
tificates  to  teach  in  elementary  and  high 


496 


WORLD  SERVICE 


Class  in  first  aid  at  rural  pastors’  summer  school 


Negro  Youth,  organized 
in  1913,  is  to  promote 
high  academic  standards 
in  college  work.  The  as¬ 
sociation  admits  only  col¬ 
leges  which  have  met 
full  laboratory,  library 
and  collegiate  standards, 
generally  accepted  by  the 
best  standardizing  agen¬ 
cies.  The  importance  of 
a  compulsion  of  this  sort 
to  exact  high-grade  cur¬ 
ricula  cannot  be  over¬ 
estimated.  And  Negro 
schools  must  not  lag  be¬ 
hind  in  quality. 


schools  without  examination.  These  cer¬ 
tificates  are  presented  to  the  graduates 
with  their  diplomas  on  the  day  of  grad¬ 
uation.  In  some  states,  because  of  re¬ 
ciprocal  relations  with  other  states,  a 
graduate  is  eligible  to  teach  in  several 
states.  Graduates  of  Wiley  College  have 
such  reciprocal  privileges. 

Standards  of  great  foundations. — Such 
agencies  interested  in  the  training  of 
teachers  and  erection  of  school  buildings 
for  the  education  of  the  Negro,  as  the 
General  Education  Board,  the  John  F. 
Slater  Fund,  the  Julius  Rosenwald  Fund, 
the  Anna  T.  Jeanes  Foundation,  the 
Phelps-Stokes  Fund,  have  secretaries  and 
field  agents  constantly  visiting  Negro  de¬ 
nominational  schools.  They  note  the  ad¬ 
equacy  or  inadequacy  of  Negro  institu¬ 
tions  to  do  the  work  required.  They  give 
publicity  to  the  same,  which  influences 
and  weakens  or  strengthens  the  constitu¬ 
ency  and  friends  of  the  institution  in  its 
support. 

Church  standards. — The  institutions  of 
the  Board  of  Education  for  Negroes,  of 
the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  are 
under  the  direction  of  the  University 
Senate  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church  by  General  Conference  mandate, 
and  subject  to  the  standards  and  ideals 
of  the  senate. 

National  association  standards.  —  The 
National  Association  of  Colleges  for 


2.  The  Future  Program 


A  Ten-Year  Forecast 


Institutions  Teachers’ 

South  Atlantic  States:  Salaries 

Morgan  College  . $  450,000 

Princess  Anne  Academy  .  50,000 

Bennett  College  .  250,000 

Claflin  College  .  350,000 

Clark  University  .  300,000 

Gammon  Theological  Seminary1  . 

(Provided  for  by  endowment) 

Cookman  Institute  .  140,000 

East  South  Central  States  : 

Meharry  Medical  College  1  .  100,000 

Walden  College  .  150,000 

Morristown  Normal  and  Indus¬ 
trial  College  .  200,000 

Central  Alabama  Institute  .  120,000 

Rust  College  .  250,000 

Haven  Institute  and  Conserva¬ 
tory  of  Music  .  250,000 


Repairs 
$  80,000 
20,0CJ 
100,000 
100,000 
100,000 


50,000 


30,000 

100,000 

25,000 

100,000 

100,000 


West  South  Central  States  : 

Philander  Smith  College  . $ 

New  Orleans-Gilbert  College  .... 
Flint-Goodridge  Hospital  and 

Nurse  Training  School  . 

Wiley  College  . 

Samuel  Huston  College  . 

West  North  Central  States  : 
George  R.  Smith  College  . 


250,000  $  50,000 

250,000  100,000 

100,000  100,000 

300,000  100,000 

200,000  50,000 

150,000  30,000 


Ten-Year  Totals .  $3,860,000  $1,235,000 


1  See  The  Negro  and  Religious  Leadership  (page 
490)  and  Negro  Progress  in  the  Professions  (page 
489)  for  explanation  of  the  items  on  Gammon 
Theological  Seminary  and  Meharry  Medical  Col¬ 
lege,  also  the  reorganization  of  Clark  University 
upon  a  university  basis. 


NEGRO  EDUCATION 


497 


Needs  in  Buildings,  Equipment  and  Endowment 

Equip-  Endow- 

Institutions  Buildings  ment  ment 


South  Atlantic  States: 

Morgan  College  . $ 

Princess  Anne  Academy 

Bennett  College  . 

Claflin  College  . 

Clark  University  . 

Gammon  Theological 

Seminary1  . 

Cookman  Institute  . 


250,000  $  50,000  $  500,000 
50,000  5,000  200,000 

150,000  50.000  500,000 

120,000  50,000  500,000 

150,000  50,000  500,000 

250,000  .  500,000 

130,000  20,000  250,000 


East  South  Central  States: 
Meharry  Medical  Col¬ 
lege1  . . 

Walden  College  .  105,000 

Morristown  Normal 
and  Industrial  College  100,000 
Central  Alabama  In¬ 
stitute  .  150,000 

Rust  College  .  150,000 

Haven  Institute  and  Con¬ 
servatory  of  Music .  100,000 

W est  South  Central  States: 
Philander  Smith  College  300,000 
New  Orleans-Gilbert 

College 2  .  200,000 

Flint-Goodridge  Hospi¬ 
tal  and  Nurse  Train¬ 
ing  School 3  .  300,000 

Wiley  College  .  300,000 

Samuel  Huston  College..  200,000 


West  North  Central  States: 

George  R.  Smith  College  200,000 


15,000 

200.000 

20,000 

500,000 

25,000 

50,000 

200,000 

500,000 

25,000 

500,000 

50,000 

500,000 

50,000 

500,000 

50,000 

50,000 

50,000 

200,000 

500,000 

500,000 

40,000 

300,000 

Ten- Year  Totals....$3,205,000  $650,000  $7,350,000 


SUMMARY 
Ten-year  Forecast 


Teachers’  Salaries  . $  3,860,000 

Repairs  .  1,235,000 

New  Buildings  .  3,205,000 

Equipment  .  650,000 

Endowment  .  7,350,000 

Administration  .  1,000,000 


Total  . $17,300,000 

Estimated  Need  for  Institution  North  of  Ohio  River 
in  East  North  Central  States 
Building  and  Equipment 
Maintenance 
Endowment 

Total  . $1,000,000 


The  operating  room  in  a  Negro  hospital 


VIII.  OUR  BROTHER  IN  BLACK— A 
MISSIONARY  APPEAL 
1.  Some  Results  of  Fifty-six  Years 
of  Education 

Educated  twelve  bishops  for  our  own 
and  other  Methodisms. 

Produced  a  ministerial  and  lay  leader¬ 
ship  in  fifty-six  years,  capable  of  raising 
benevolences  among  Negroes  from  nothing 
to  $400,000  per  year. 

Two  hundred  six  thousand  five  hun¬ 
dred  forty-five  have  been  enrolled  ana 
31,560  have  been  graduated  from  educa¬ 
tional  institutions.  The  public  school 
system  of  the  South  has  been  supplied 
with  15,241  teachers. 

Among  our  graduates  there  are  such 
outstanding  leaders  as  an  assistant  secre¬ 
tary  to  the  Secretary  of  War,  an  assist¬ 
ant  to  the  United  States  attorney-general, 
a  one  time  registrar  of  the  United  States 
treasury,  a  United  States  minister  to  Li¬ 
beria,  scores  of  college  presidents  in  our 


1  With  the  endowment  Gammon  Theological  Semi¬ 
nary  has  and  will  have,  if  the  addition  requested  is 
granted,  the  institution  can  take  care  of  its  equip¬ 
ment  and  repairs.  The  growth  of  the  institution, 
however,  will  demand  new  buildings  which  cannot 
be  provided  for  out  of  endowment  funds.  The  Board 
of  Education  for  Negroes,  having  dealt  so  generously 
with  Meharry  Medical  College,  thinks  it  cannot 
further  provide  buildings  and  equipment. 

2  The  New  Orleans-Gilbert  College  is  now  located 

on  St.  Charles  Avenue,  New  Orleans,  La.,  and  is 
very  valuable  property.  The  institution  is,  however, 
in  cramped  quarters.  It  is  thought  if  suitable  loca¬ 


tion  could  be  found  with  a  large  tract  of  land  it 
would  be  in  the  interest  of  development  to  change 
the  location  of  the  institution.  In  this  event  the 
amount  asked  plus  the  income  from  sale  of  property 
will  replace  the  institution  on  a  new  site.  If  the  in¬ 
stitution  remains  on  present  site  the  amount  of 
$200,000  will  be  needed  to  erect  necessary  buildings. 

3  The  Flint-Goodridge  Hospital  and  Nurse  Train¬ 
ing  School  is  the  only  Methodist  Hospital  for  all  the 
New  Orleans  Area.  Additional  property  and  a  new 
building  will  be  necessary  to  care  adequately  for  the 
Methodist  people  and  others ;  hence  the  askings  in 
the  table. 


498 


WORLD  SERVICE 


own  and  other  institutions,  and  leaders 
of  large  insurance  and  business  corpora¬ 
tions. 

The  Negro  lawyer  who  secured  a  deci¬ 
sion  from  the  Supreme  Court  of  Mary¬ 
land  against  the  famous  Baltimore  segre¬ 
gation  ordinance  was  graduated  from  one 
of  our  schools. 

The  Negro  lawyer  who  pleaded  and  se¬ 
cured  a  decision  of  the  United  States 
Supreme  Court  on  a  phase  of  the  South¬ 
ern  disfranchisement  acts,  was  a  law 
student  at  old  Central  Tennessee  Col¬ 
lege,  now  Walden  College. 

One  third  of  all  the  Negro  physicians, 
pharmacists  and  dentists  practicing  in 
the  United  States,  have  graduated  from 
Meharry  Medical  College,  Nashville,  Ten¬ 
nessee. 

In  Atlanta,  Georgia,  graduates  of  our 
schools  include: 

48  physicians  and  dentists ; 

30  public  school  teachers; 

10  ministers ; 

1  real  estate  agent ; 

8  clerks  in  government  and  other  service ; 

16  housewives ;  besides  proprietors  of  drug  and 
grocery  stores,  and  chiefs  of  departments  of  in¬ 
surance. 

This  kind  of  service  can  be  duplicated 
in  Chicago,  New  York,  Baltimore,  Pitts¬ 
burgh,  St.  Louis,  New  Orleans,  Birming¬ 
ham,  Jacksonville  and  every  large  city  of 
the  South. 

From  Claflin  College  have  gone: 

250  tradesmen ; 

300  business  men ; 

79  musicians ; 

18  lawyers ; 

78  ministers ; 

6  foreign  missionaries ; 

430  high  and  elementary  school  teachers ; 

53  doctors; 

6  nurses  ; 

14  dentists;  and 

6  pharmacists. 

This  is  but  a  sample  of  what  has  hap¬ 
pened  in  each  of  the  institutions  during 
its  history  of  service. 

In  Flint-Goodridge  Hospital  at  New 
Orleans,  Louisiana,  1,052  bed  patients 
and  8,200  outside  cases  were  ministered 
to  from  July  1,  1921  to  July  1,  1922.  Dur- 


Meharry  has  trained  one-third  of  the  Negro 
dentists  in  the  United  States 


ing  the  same  time  there  were  won  for 
Jesus  Christ,  212.  All  the  results  are  be¬ 
yond  any  power  to  tell. 

2.  The  Program  Justified  by  the 
Results 

Justified  by  results, — During  the  Cen¬ 
tenary  period  the  schools  of  the  Board  of 
Education  for  Negroes  have  been  able  to 
do  more  than  ever  toward  reaching  edu¬ 
cational  ideals  and  arriving  at  the  place 
of  large  usefulness,  befitting  the  great 
church  and  the  need  everywhere  before 
us. 

The  Brother-in-Black  has  justified  by 
results  all  the  help  given  to  him.  He  still 
needs  the  loving,  substantial  support  of 
the  great  church  to  bring  him  to  the  day 
of  full  development,  a  blessing  to  himself 
and  to  others.  His  is  a  missionary  appeal, 
vindicated  and  justified  by  results  se¬ 
cured. 

The  program  is  just  begun.  Methodist 
Episcopal  schools  for  Negroes  must  be 
the  equal  of  any  for  that  race  anywhere. 
And  in  this  strategic  advance,  our  great 
and  good  church  must  “carry  on.” 


CAMPUS,  OHIO  WESLEYAN  UNIVERSITY 

Christianity  is  the  greatest  civilizing,  molding,  uplifting 
power  on  this  globe,  and  it  is  a  sad  defect  in  any  institu¬ 
tion  of  high  learning  if  it  does  not  bring  those  under  its 
care  into  closest  possible  relation  to  it. 

Mark  Hopkins 


THE  BOARD  OF  EDUCATION 

ANALYSIS  OF  STATEMENT 


I.  The  Functions  of  the  Board 

II.  The  Method  and  Scope  of  These 
Studies 

III.  Present  Needs 

1.  General  survey 

2.  Frontier  schools 

3.  Southern  schools 

4.  Theological  schools 

5.  Graduate  schools 


6.  Methodist  schools  and  church  ex¬ 
tension. 

7.  Religious  training  in  non-Meth¬ 
odist  institutions 

8.  Religious  training  in  Methodist 
institutions 

9.  Education  and  Christian  civili¬ 
zation 

IV.  What  Should  the  Methodist  Epis¬ 
copal  Church  do  for  Education 
in  the  Next  Ten  Years 


499 


500 


WORLD  SERVICE 


I.  THE  FUNCTIONS  OF  THE  BOARD 

“The  object  of  the  Board”  is  to  promote 
“ministerial  and  general  education.”  The 
methods  and  extent  of  the  work  as  pre¬ 
scribed  and  suggested  by  the  law  of  the 
church 1  may  be  grouped  under  three 
heads,  aid  to  institutions,  co-operative  re¬ 
lations  and  general  service. 

Aid  to  institutions. — The  location  and 
organization  of  new  institutions  of  learn¬ 
ing  in  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church 
are  subject  to  the  approval  of  the  board. 
It  has  an  “advisory  relation  to  the  busi¬ 
ness  and  educational  management”  of  all 
our  institutions  of  learning;  it  is  charged 
with  “devising  ways  and  means”  for  aid¬ 
ing  them  in  financial  undertakings;  it 
must  “receive  and  disburse  such  funds  as 
may  from  time  to  time  be  committed  to 
it,”  the  largest  of  these  being  the  public 
educational  collection ;  it  is  required  to  re¬ 
ceive  and  securely  invest  certain  funds, 
in  effect  endowment  funds,  for  the  benefit 
of  educational  institutions  and  “other  ed¬ 
ucational  agencies  under  the  patronage  of 
the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church;”  and  it 
exercises  special  responsibility  for  the 
maintenance  and  administration  of  the 
southern  schools  for  white  students. 

Co-operative  relations. — The  Board  of 
Education  has  co-operative  relations  “with 
the  Board  of  Bishops  in  the  work  of  the 
Commission  on  Courses  of  Study,”  nomi¬ 
nating  three  members  of  the  commission 
and  helping  to  “provide  funds;”  with  “the 
Board  of  Home  Missions  and  Church  Ex¬ 
tension  in  the  care  and  religious  training 
of  Methodist  students  at  tax-supported 
and  independent”  educational  institu¬ 
tions;  with  conference  educational  soci¬ 
eties  in  providing  and  administering  loan 
funds  for  students ;  with  the  Board  of  Ed¬ 
ucation  for  Negroes  in  supplying  from  its 
staff  an  educational  director  for  the 
schools  of  the  Negroes;  with  the  Uni¬ 
versity  Senate,  which  fixes  standards  and 
classifies  institutions,  as  the  executive 
agency  and  financial  support  of  the  sen¬ 
ate;  with  the  Educational  Association  of 


1  Discipline,  1920,  f456. 


the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  as  ad¬ 
viser,  executive,  and  representative  in 
similar  bodies;  with  the  Association  of 
American  Colleges  and  the  Amer’can 
Council  on  Education  as  a  constituent 
member,  helping  to  determine  general  ed¬ 
ucational  policies  and  procedure;  and  with 
the  Council  of  Church  Boards  of  Educa¬ 
tion  by  contributing  to  its  budget  and 
sharing  actively  in  its  work  of  investiga¬ 
tion,  publicity,  and  promotion. 

General  service. — The  general  service  of 
the  board  consists  mainly  in  preparing 
and  publishing  statistical  and  other  edu¬ 
cational  treatises;  in  helping  teachers  to 
find  positions  and  schools  to  find  teach¬ 
ers;  and  in  administering  the  loan  fund 
derived  from  the  Children’s  Day  collec¬ 
tion.  This  fund  is  absolutely  restricted 
in  use  to  the  one  purpose  of  aiding  stu¬ 
dents.  It  grows  larger  each  year,  and 
the  beneficiaries  now  number  more  than 
30,000.  The  board  serves  also  in  a  great 
many  matters  that  cannot  be  classified. 

II.  METHOD  AND  SCOPE  OF  THESE 
STUDIES 

Annual  budget  reports. — The  law  of  the 
church  requires  every  educational  insti¬ 
tution  asking  an  appropriation  from  the 
public  educational  collection  to  submit  to 
the  Board  of  Education,  as  a  basis  for  its 
request,  a  budget  for  the  year  in  which 
the  help  is  asked  and  a  complete  state¬ 
ment  of  the  income  and  expenditure  for 
the  preceding  year.  These  budgets  and 
statements,  when  compared  with  financial 
reports  for  earlier  years,  furnish  the  best 
basis  for  such  estimates  as  are  here  sub¬ 
mitted. 

A  budget  is  a  list  prepared  beforehand 
of  all  expected  receipts  and  expenditures 
for  the  coming  scholastic  year.  It  is 
itemized  closely  and,  under  proper  admin¬ 
istration,  is  remarkably  accurate.  One 
of  our  schools  1  having  an  annual  expendi¬ 
ture  of  more  than  $1,000,000  reports  that 
in  eighteen  years  it  has  seldom  had  a  defi¬ 
cit,  that  it  has  never  had  one  that  was 

1The  word  “school”  is  used,  except  when  plainly 
limited,  to  include  secondary  school,  college,  univer¬ 
sity,  and  professional  school. 


EDUCATION 


501 


EXPENDITURES 

ABSOLUTE 

INCREASE 

PER  CENT  INCREASE 

46,809,000 

!  1  !  1  1 - 1 - 

ENROLMENT 

PER  CAPITA  COST 

14,110 

$97 

W//////////M 

Z/M  35% 

187% 

0  25%  50%  75%  100%  125%  150%  175% 


Increase  in  enrolment,  expenditures,  and  per  capita  cost,  1913-1921 


not  foreseen,  and  that  the  maximum  devi¬ 
ation  from  budget  estimates  has  not  ex¬ 
ceeded  three  per  cent. 

Budget  forms  prepared  by  the  board  are 
used  by  all  our  educational  institutions. 
The  accounting  of  their  finances  is  re¬ 
duced  to  a  careful  system  and  estimates 
based  upon  budgets  checked  against  each 
other  year  after  year  are  dependable  in 
the  highest  degree. 

Other  figures  necessary  for  comparative 
purposes  were  obtained  from  reliable 
sources  such  as  the  General  Education 
Board,  the  Carnegie  Foundation  for  the 
Advancement  of  Teaching,  and  the  United 
States  Bureau  of  Education. 

III.  PRESENT  NEEDS 
1.  General  Survey 


Number  of  schools — 

Universities  and  colleges .  44 

Professional  schools :  theology,  law, 

medicine . 35 

Schools  of  secondary  grade .  35 


Total  . 114 

Endowments  and  holdings — 

Real  property  and  equipment,  $42,000,000 

Endowments  .  49,000,000 

Aggregate . .  91,000,000 

Less  debts  .  5,000,000 


Net  total  .  .  $86,000,000 

Number  of  students — 

1912-13  . . 39,591 

1920-21  . .  53,701 

Gain — 36  per  cent. 

Aggregate  school  expenditure  of 
Methodist  schools — 

1912-13  . $  4,388,000 

1920-21  .  11,197  000 

Increase — 155  per  cent. 


Average  school  expenditure  per 
student — 


1912-13  . .  . $111 

1920-21  _ _  208 


Increase — 87  per  cent. 

Comparative  income. — Financially  our 
schools  are  not  as  well  off  as  the  larger 
support  now  given  to  them  would  indb 
cate.  The  aggregate  income  has  in¬ 
creased,  but  the  number  of  students  has 
increased  largely  and  the  expense  per 
student  has  nearly  doubled.  At  the  same 
time,  general  school  standards  have  been 
rising  rapidly.  The  gap  between  assured 
income  and  necessary  expense  is  propor¬ 
tionally  larger  than  eight  years  ago. 

Expense  of  the  school  year,  1921-22. — 
The  aggregate  maintenance  expense  of  the 
schools  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church 
of  all  grades,  except  schools  in  the  South 
and  some  professional  schools  of  in¬ 
dependent  financial  organization,  is 
$11,151,003.  The  assured  income  from  all 
sources,  including  the  present  public  ed¬ 
ucational  collection,  is  $9,717,407.  The 
schools  needed  $1,433,596  1  more  than  they 
received  from  dependable  sources. 

Provision  for  maintenance. — How  can 
such  a  need  be  met?  In  recent  years  it  has 
not  been  fully  met.  But  much  of  it  has  been 
covered  by  generous  gifts  from  the  Gen¬ 
eral  Education  Board,  (such  gifts  soon 
will  cease),  and  by  the  unremitting  toil  of 
presidents  and  financial  agents  in  secur¬ 
ing  extraordinary  and  therefore  tempo¬ 
rary  sustentation  funds.  They  should  be 
relieved  of  a  part  of  the  burden  of  rais¬ 
ing  current  funds  in  order  that  they  may 
have  more  time  and  energy  for  other 
work  of  great  importance. 

1  Figures  for  the  school  year  1922-23  will  not  be 
complete  until  July  or  August,  1923. 


502 


WORLD  SERVICE 


The  usual  income  of  our  educational  in¬ 
stitutions  consists  of  interest  from  endow¬ 
ments;  fees  paid  by  students;  miscella¬ 
neous  contributions;  special  collections  in 
the  churches;  and  the  public  educational 
collection. 

Income  from  endowment  and  fees  paid 
by  students  is  relatively  dependable.  The 
other  kinds  of  income  are  subject  to  sud¬ 
den  fluctuations  which  can  neither  be 
foreseen  nor  prevented.  Since  our  schools 
have  immediate  and  essential  needs  which 
cannot  wait  for  the  slow  process  of  in¬ 
creasing  endowment  and  student  fees, 
their  success  depends  largely  upon  in¬ 
creasing  and  stabilizing  other  kinds  of 
income.  What  may  reasonably  be  ex¬ 
pected  from  each  kind? 

1.  Interest  on  endowment 

Our  schools  always  have  solicited  funds 
for  buildings,  equipment  and  endowment. 
They  will  need  to  continue  soliciting  by 
private  methods  and  public  campaigns. 
Endowment  furnishes  an  essential  element 
of  stability.  But  providing  for  current 
needs  by  endowment  is  slow  and  in  some 
cases  impracticable.  Subscriptions  usu¬ 
ally  are  payable  in  instalments  extending 
from  three  to  five  years.  After  they  are 
collected,  the  funds  must  be  invested  and 
another  year  passes  before  the  interest  is 
due.  Again,  endowment  sometimes  can 
not  be  obtained.  That  is  generally  true 
of  schools  on  the  frontier.  Some  institu¬ 
tions  will  secure  endowment  rapidly 


Soldiers’  Memorial  Hall,  Mount  Union  College 


enough  to  insure  steady  and  effective 
service.  Others  quite  as  worthy  and  as 
necessary  to  the  church  will  not.  The 
Board  of  Education  should  have  money  to 
help  them.  It  should  also  have  sufficient 
funds  to  use  in  equalizing  educational 
conditions  throughout  the  church  as  a 
whole. 

2.  Fees  paid  by  students 

Fees  have  been  very  generally  increased 
since  the  war,  and  in  many  cases  are  quite 
as  high  as  they  ought  to  be.  Some  Metho¬ 
dist  colleges  are  now  charging  $200  for 
tuition  in  addition  to  other  fees.  Rates 
ought  not  to  be  increased  so  as  to  bear  too 
heavily  upon  students,  many  of  whom  are 
poor.  No  large  increase  in  income  toward 
current  expense  seems  obtainable  from 
this  source. 

3.  Miscellaneous  contributions 

Nearly  all  educational  institutions  re¬ 
ceive  help  from  miscellaneous  contribu¬ 
tions  from  former  students  and  other 
friends  of  the  institution.  Such  income  is 
uncertain  and  usually  small  in  amount. 

During  the  last  two  years  our  schools 
have  shared  largely  in  the  famous 
“Christmas  gift”  made  by  Mr.  John  D. 
Rockefeller  for  the  relief  of  teachers.  The 
General  Education  Board,  which  admin¬ 
istered  the  fund,  appropriated  to  Metho¬ 
dist  schools  $564,000  for  the  years 
1920-22.  Help  from  this  source  is  rap¬ 
idly  diminishing  and  soon  will  end,  since 
the  fund  was  intended  to  be  exhausted  in 
a  brief  period. 

J.  Special  collections  in  the  churches 

A  few  of  our  institutions  receive  some 
help,  and  a  very  small  number  receive 
large  help,  through  special  collections  in 
addition  to  the  public  educational  collec¬ 
tion  taken  in  the  churches  of  the  patroniz¬ 
ing  territory.  This  method,  except  in 
cases  of  the  very  greatest  need,  is  ques¬ 
tionable.  Special  appeals,  however  nec¬ 
essary  at  times,  and  the  duplication  of 
collections  widely  throughout  the  church 
may  seriously  hinder  the  united  financial 
appeal. 


EDUCATION 


503 


5.  The  public  educational 
collection 

The  church  undoubt¬ 
edly  intended  the  public 
educational  collection  to 
cover  the  necessary  cur¬ 
rent  expenses  in  so  far  as 
they  are  beyond  the  abil¬ 
ity  of  the  schools,  and  also 
to  meet  the  cost  of  special 
work  committed  to  the 
Board  of  Education. 

6.  Can  expenditures  be 

reduced ? 

Instructional  costs 
make  up  about  one-half 
of  the  total  expenditures. 

They  cannot  be  reduced  without  cutting 
salaries,  overloading  teachers,  and  dimin¬ 
ishing  both  service  and  standing.  Salaries 
in  our  schools  average  about  one-third 
lower  than  in  state  schools.  It  is  hardly 
possible  to  ask  more  of  the  missionary 
spirit  from  our  teachers.  In  justice  the 
salaries  should  be  increased.  Depart¬ 
ments  of  instruction  often  are  under¬ 
manned  and  in  many  instances  are  merged 
where  they  ought  to  be  divided.  Very  few 
teachers  are  carrying  less  than  the  maxi¬ 
mum  load  allowed  in  accredited  colleges. 
Reduction  in  the  number  of  teachers  means 
eliminating  departments  and  restricting 
attendance.  Operating  costs  probably  will 
recede  slowly,  but  there  is  no  early  pros¬ 
pect  of  important  changes.  The  present 
trend  is  slightly  upward. 

The  expenditure  per  student  in  our  col¬ 
leges  is  at  present  less  than  the  amount 
approved  for  the  standard  college.  The 
savings  that  may  be  made  in  operating 
costs  will  be  more  than  offset  by  the  added 
expense  due  to  educational  requirements 
fixed  by  the  standardizing  agencies.  The 
flood  of  students  also  will  continue  to 
swell.  Additional  students  require  more 
expense,  for  almost  without  exception  our 
schools  are  running  at  full  capacity  with 
their  present  faculties  and  facilities.  The 
budgets  of  our  schools  need  expansion  in¬ 
stead  of  reduction.  Greater  economy 


means  a  loss  in  prestige  and  efficiency.  It 
also  means  limiting  the  opportunities  of 
Methodist  young  people.  Many  who  want 
to  go  to  Methodist  colleges  to  fit  them¬ 
selves  for  Methodist  service  will  be  ex¬ 
cluded. 

A  real  emergency.  —  During  the  last 
eight  years  the  expenditures  of  our 
schools  have  increased  nearly  twice  as 
fast  as  the  normal  income.  Such  a  ratio 
cannot  continue,  but  it  is  obvious  that  the 
total  expenditure  cannot  be  reduced  with¬ 
out  diminishing  the  service  and  injuring 
the  prestige  of  Methodist  educational  in¬ 
stitutions. 

Students  in  multiplying  numbers  seek 
admission  to  our  schools.  Several  thou¬ 
sands  were  turned  away  in  1922.  Among 
them  may  be  hearts  “pregnant  with  celes¬ 
tial  fire,”  nobly  ambitious  youth  whom  the 
church  will  miss  its  chance  to  train  into 
the  Bashfords,  Thoburns,  and  Motts  of 
the  future. 

Restrictive  economy  in  education  is  the 
costliest  economy  the  church  can  practice. 
It  puts  too  heavy  burdens  upon  the  gal¬ 
lant  men  and  women  who  by  sacrifice  as 
real  as  in  any  field  of  church  work  have 
made  education  in  Methodist  schools  pos¬ 
sible  for  so  many  thousands  of  Methodist 
young  people.  It  also  deprives  the  church 
of  the  trained  and  consecrated  lives  that 
it  increasingly  needs  at  home  and  abroad. 


504 


WORLD  SERVICE 


helped  them.  In  some  of 
the  western  states  we 
have  a  very  sparse  church 
membership.  The  Metho¬ 
dists  in  these  frontier 
states  are  not  only  few; 
they  have  little  accumu¬ 
lated  wealth.  At  present 
they  cannot  support  prop¬ 
erly — even  modestly- — the 
educational  institutions 
essential  to  the  welfare  of 
their  families  and  the 
growth  of  the  church. 
They  need  immediate  and 
generous  help  as  mission¬ 
ary  enterprises. 

In  the  deficits  reported, 
the  frontier  schools  are 
included,  but  if  they  are  to  serve  the 
church  and  do  their  share  in  creating 
great  commonwealths,  their  work  must 
be  more  generously  sustained.  Natur¬ 
ally,  their  normal  receipts  from  the  pub¬ 
lic  educational  collection  are  small.  These 
frontier  schools  and  a  few  elsewhere  are 
proper  and  promising  home  missionary 
and  opportunity  investments.  The  money 
supplied  to  them  now  will  yield  quick  and 
multiplying  returns. 


Educational  institutions  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church 


The  annual  need.— In  the  school  year 
1921-1922,  our  colleges  and  schools  had  an 
aggregate  difference  of  $1,433,596  between 
necessary  expenditures  and  dependable  in¬ 
come  from  endowment,  student  fees,  and 
the  present  guaranteed  public  educational 
collection.  We  have  found  increased  in¬ 
come  from  endowment,  from  fees  paid  by 
students,  from  miscellaneous  contribu¬ 
tions,  and  from  special  collections,  insuffi¬ 
cient  and  in  some  cases  undesirable  or 
impossible.  How  shall 
the  required  income  be 
provided?  The  safest  way 
for  the  present  is  by  an 
increase  in  the  funds  al¬ 
lotted  to  the  Board  of  Ed¬ 
ucation. 

2.  Frontier  Schools 


Missionary  investments. 

—In  the  ’80s,  churches  in 
the  East  were  giving  lib¬ 
erally  for  the  building  of 
little  churches  and  giving 
something  for  the  build¬ 
ing  of  little  colleges  for 
Illinois  and  Iowa.  Today, 
in  Illinois  and  Iowa,  these 
churches,  once  little,  are 

giving  more  to  church  en-  >  — -  -  —  ■  " — - - - - - - 

terprises  than  the  eastern  Harwood  Boys’  School,  Albuquerque,  New  Mexico 
churches  that  formerly  Maintained  by  the  Board  of  Home  Missions  and  Church  Exten 


EDUCATION 


505 


Student  body,  John  H.  Snead  Seminary,  Boaz,  Alabama 


Urgent  needs.  —  Condi¬ 
tions  change  from  year  to 
year.  A  statement  of 
needs  in  1922  may  not  cor¬ 
respond  with  a  statement 
of  needs  of  any  subsequent 
year.  Whatever  differ¬ 
ences  may  appear  in  the 
individual  schools  the  to¬ 
tal  is  likely  to  increase.  If 
$100,000  had  been  availa¬ 
ble  in  1922  instead  of 
$40,000,  probably  there 
would  have  been  more 
and  larger  appropria¬ 
tions  to  a  few  of  the  older  schools  that 
have  real  though  temporary  emergencies. 
The  amount  for  that  purpose  might  have 
reached  $24,000.  The  remaining  $76,000 
should  have  been  distributed  among  fron¬ 
tier  schools  and  other  schools  in  mission¬ 
ary  territory  as  follows : 

Needed  for  Needed  for 


Current  Equip- 

School  Expense  merit 

East  Greenwich  Academy  . $  4,000 

East  Maine  Conference  Seminary  2,000 

Montpelier  Seminary  .  2,000 

Ozark  Wesleyan  College  .  4.000  $5,000 

Evangeline  Collegiate  Institute .  2.000  2,000 

Texas  Wesleyan  College  .  3,000  4,000 

Harwood  Boys’  School  .  3,000  5,000 

Gooding  College  .  20,000 

Montana  Wesleyan  .  20,000 


3.  Southern  Schools  for  White 
Students 

A  special  charge. — The  white  schools  in 
the  South,  most  of  them  in  the  mountains, 
were  committed  by  the  General  Confer¬ 
ence  of  1908  to  the  Board  of  Education.1 
The  University  of  Chattanooga,  which  is 
on  the  borderland,  has  developed  into  an 
excellent  college.  For  a  few  critical  years, 
the  board  made  to  it  relatively  large  con¬ 
tributions  which  have  been  fully  justified 
by  the  high  rank  the  university  now  is 
taking  and  the  service  it  is  giving  as  the 
center  of  our  educational  system  in  the 
South. 

Current  expenses. — The  white  schools  in 
the  South  now  receiving  aid  on  current  ex¬ 
penses  from  the  Board  of  Education,  are 

1  Discipline,  1920,  f  460  §  7 

33 


listed  below.  Several  local  schools  which 
formerly  were  aided  by  the  board  are  not 
included  in  this  list  because  they  now  are 
operating  as  public  schools.  For  many 
years  church  boards  thought  it  wise  to 
share  in  the  support  of  public  schools  in 
order  to  encourage  backward  communi¬ 
ties  to  have  better  schools.  The  boards 
now  are  withdrawing  from  such  work  and 
are  transferring  whatever  properties  they 
hold  to  the  public  school  authorities. 

Appropria- 

Institution  Location  lions  iy2i 

The  Athens  School. .Athens,  Tennessee  . $4,000 

Baxter  Seminary . Baxter,  Tennessee  .  5,500 

Epworth  Seminary.. Epworth,  Georgia  .  3,200 

McLemoresville 
Collegiate  In¬ 
stitute  . . McLemoresville,  Tennessee  3,700 

Mount  Zion  Semi¬ 
nary  . . Mount  Zion,  Georgia  .  4,000 

Murphy  Collegi¬ 
ate  Institute . Sevierville,  Tennessee  .  5,000 

John  H.  Snead 

Seminary  . Boaz,  Alabama  .  8,000 

Union  College  . Barbourville,  Kentucky  ....  8,500 

Washington  Col¬ 
legiate  Institute.... Washington, NorthCarolina  6,000 

The  amounts  granted  on  current  ex¬ 
penses  to  these  nine  schools  for  alternate 
years  since  1913  are  as  follows: 


1913  . . . . $  7,700 

1915  . 10,550 

1917  _ _ 9,950 

1919  .  28,500 

1921  .  42,900 


In  1921,  these  nine  schools  raised  from 
friends  and  received  from  tuition  fees  and 
other  sources,  $46,279.  The  Board  of  Ed- 


506 


WORLD  SERVICE 


ucation  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church  gave  them  $42,900,  making  a  total 
of  $89,179.  The  number  of  students  was 
3,124.  The  average  expenditure  per  stu¬ 
dent  was  $28.55.  About  half  of  the  stu¬ 
dents  were  in  the  high  school,  nearly  three 
hundred  were  of  junior  college  rank,  and 
the  remaining  with  few  exceptions  were 
in  the  upper  grades  of  the  grammar 
school. 

The  church  cannot  be  satisfied  with  a  per 
capita  expenditure  of  only  $28.55  a  year 
in  schools  that  are  objects  of  its  special 
care  as  a  denomination.  This  problem  de¬ 
serves  immediate  attention. 

New  buildings. — The  southern  schools 
need  to  create  modern  plants.  They  have 
few  buildings,  and  most  of  them  are  cheap, 
badly  arranged,  and  poorly  equipped. 
The  deficiency  in  dormitories  limits  the 
range  of  service  the  schools  can  give.  Ex¬ 
isting  dormitories  are  crowded  to  the 
doors,  almost  to  the  roofs;  often  six  oc¬ 
cupants  use  one  room.  Sometimes  more 
applicants  are  turned  away  than  are 
received.  There  is  no  reasonable  doubt 
that  twice  as  many  students  would  be  en¬ 
rolled  if  they  could  be  accommodated. 

The  additional  buildings  now  needed  in 
the  nine  southern  schools  would  cost  about 
$1,269,000.  The  total  seems  large,  but  it 
is  not  when  the  details  are  examined.  The 
average  amount  per  school  is  $141,000, 
which  is  less  than  the  cost  of  the  high 
school  building  in  many  small  towns. 

Building  needs. — A  list  of  the  additional 


buildings  now  needed  in  the  southern 
schools  appears  in  the  table  below. 

Perhaps  one-half  of  the  building  fund 
can  be  raised  by  the  trustees  and  princi¬ 
pals  of  the  schools.  Certainly  the  remain¬ 
der  must  be  given  by  the  general  church. 
One  hundred  thousand  dollars  a  year  is  a 
conservative  amount. 

If  these  schools  are  to  be  a  credit  to  the. 
church,  we  must  continue  through  many 
years  to  provide  not  only  as  much  as  we 
have  recently  been  expending  for  equip¬ 
ment  and  maintenance,  but  we  must  in¬ 
crease  the  amounts.  In  some  of  the 
schools  there  are  possibilities  of  very 
great  promise.  The  Athens  School,  John 
H.  Snead  Seminary,  Murphy  Collegiate 
Institute,  and  Washington  Collegiate  In¬ 
stitute  may  readily,  with  adequate  sup¬ 
port,  take  a  place  among  the  largest  and 
best  secondary  schools  in  Protestantism. 
Union  College  will  develop  into  an  excep¬ 
tionally  good  college  and  preparatory 
school,  a  form  of  organization  unusually 
well  adapted  to  the  Kentucky  mountain 
region. 

What  is  done  in  the  South  should  be 
well  done.  Our  church  schools  in  the 
South  should  be  thoroughly  good  schools. 
In  spite  of  serious  limitations  they  have 
done  good  work.  But  they  must  be  en¬ 
abled  to  do  better  work.  We  must  furnish 
our  membership,  and  especially  our  min¬ 
isters,  with  satisfactory  opportunities  and 
inducements  for  a  fair  education.  Our  in¬ 
stitutions  must  worthily  represent  us. 


Dnrmi- 

School 

Gymna- 

Povoer 

Refec- 

President’s 

torics 

Buildings  Chapel 

slum 

Plant 

tory 

House 

Athens  School  . 

...$80,000 

$  50,000 

$  40,000 

$  40,000 

$ 

$4,000 

Baxter  Seminary  . 

Epworth  Seminary  . 

..  20,000 

McLemoresville  Collegiate  Insti¬ 
tute  . 

..  30,000 

5,000 

2,000 

3,000’ 

Mt.  Zion  Seminary  . . 

Murphy  Collegiate  Institute  . 

Tohn  H.  Snead  Seminary  . 

.  30,000 
..  70,000 
.  80,000 

20,000 

60.000 

7S.0001 

40,000 

40,000 

40,000 

25,000 

25,000 

25,000 

25,000 

Union  College  . 

Washington  Collegiate  Institute... 

..  100.000 
..  75,000 

75,000 

tiO.OOO 

50,000 

40,000 

25,000 

25,000 

Total 

210,000 

4,000 

20,000 

37,000 

53,000 

260,000 

245.000 

150,000 

290,000 


$485,000  $235,000  $190,000  $160,000  $115,000  $75,000  $9,000  $1,269,000 


’Included  in  plans  for  1922. 

1  Partly  included  in  Board  appropriations  for  1922. 


Extensions  will  be  needed  later. 


EDUCATION 


507 


A  missionary  responsibility  .—The  Meth¬ 
odist  Episcopal  Church  would  not  leave 
these  schools  as  they  are  if  it  understood 
the  conditions.  Here  are  a  great  oppor¬ 
tunity  and  a  heavy  responsibility  for  a 
white  membership  of  114,000.  They  sel¬ 
dom  are  in  reach  of  good  public  schools. 
Unless  we  do  our  duty  they  are  obliged  to 
depend  upon  schools  poorly  equipped, 
poorly  taught,  and  operated  for  short 
terms.  They  send  to  our  schools  3,000  of 
their  sons  and  daughters  and  would  send 
twice  as  many  if  we  could  care  for  them. 
On  each  pupil  we  spend  one  dollar  a  week 
and  the  pupil  furnishes  fifty  cents  of  that 
dollar.  In  the  North,  where  the  ad¬ 
vantages  of  the  greatest  public  school  sys¬ 
tems  in  the  world  are  available,  we  are 
spending  on  each  pupil  in  our  Methodist 
secondary  schools  one  dollar  a  day.  Wo 
are  not  spending  too  much  in  the  North. 
And  we  are  not  beginning  to  spend  enough 
in  the  South.  Our  problem  is,  what  should 
we  do  in  the  South  where  we  have  a  real, 
missionary  responsibility? 

These  schools  are  in  a  proper  sense  a 
matter  of  home  missions,  a  missionary 
effort  for  a  people  isolated  by  geographi¬ 
cal  location,  a  people  of  English,  Scotch, 
and  Irish  stock  who  have  the  intellectual 
gifts  to  fill  the  highest  places  among  us 
and  who  are  intensely  loyal  to  the  best 
ideals  of  American  life. 

In  a  large  part  of  this  territory  the  av¬ 
erage  annual  salary  of  the  pastors  in  our 
churches  is  less  than  five  hundred  dollars. 
Their  school  advantages  are  very  limited. 
Increasingly  they  look  to  our  secondary 
schools  to  serve  them  and  their  children. 
In  these  secondary  schools  many  candi¬ 
dates  for  the  ministry,  among  them  men 
who  give  large  promise  of  leadership, 
have  received  the  inspiration  to  go  on  to 


Plan  of  Murphy  Collegiate  Institute,  Sevier- 
ville,  Tennessee 


Canning  Club  at  Mt.  Zion  Seminary, 
Mt.  Zion,  Georgia 


college  and  make  fuller  preparation  for 
their  work.  If  our  church  is  to  stay  in 
the  South  and  our  work  is  to  prosper,  we 
must  provide  very  much  more  liberally 
than  is  now  at  all  possible  for  the  training 
of  leaders  native  to  the  region. 

4.  Theological  Schools 
Ten  theological  schools  are  related  to 
the  Board  of  Education  of  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church.  Four  are  doing  spe¬ 
cial  work  for  foreign-language  confer¬ 
ences.  The  six  others  are  located,  two  in 
the  East,  one  in  the  Middle  West,  one 
in  the  Rocky  Mountain  region,  and  two  on 
the  Pacific  coast. 

The  list  includes: 

Institution  Location 

Boston  University  School  of 

Theology  . Boston,  Massachusetts 

Central  Wesleyan  Theologi¬ 
cal  Seminary  . Warrenton,  Missouri 

Drew  Theological  Seminary.. Madison,  New  Jersey 

Garrett  Biblical  Institute . Evanston,  Illinois 

Iliff  School  of  Theology  . Denver,  Colorado 

Kimball  School  of  Theology..Salem,  Oregon 
Maclay  School  of  Religion, 

University  of  Southern  ' 

California  . Eos  Angeles,  California 

Nast  Theological  Seminary 
(Baldwin-Wallace  Col¬ 
lege)  . . . Berea,  Ohio 

Norwegian-Danish  Theo¬ 
logical  Seminary  . Evanston,  Illinois 

Swedish  Theological  Semi¬ 
nary  . 


Evanston,  Illinois 


508 


WORLD  SERVICE 


The  new  Administration  and  Recitation  Building,  Garrett  Biblical 
Institute,  Evanston,  Illinois 


For  the  whole  church. — Three  of  these 
six  have  very  modest  equipment  and  little 
endowment.  All  of  them  have  serious  fi¬ 
nancial  needs.  They  receive  nothing  from 
tuition  fees.  As  a  rule,  Annual  Confer¬ 
ences  do  not  recognize  a  definite  duty  to 
contribute  to  their  support.  They  “exist 
for  the  benefit  of  the  whole  church,”  but 
the  church  as  a  whole  has  not  accepted  the 
responsibility  of  providing  for  them  ad¬ 
equate  buildings  and  endowment.  Nearly 
all  that  they  possess  has  been  given  by  in¬ 
dividuals  of  rare  vision  and  generosity. 

The  support  of  the  newer  theological 
schools,  Iliff,  Kimball,  and  Maclay,  is  be¬ 
yond  the  power  of  local  Annual  Confer¬ 
ences  or  local  friends.  Their  case  will  be 
a  hard  one  unless  they  are  helped  gener¬ 
ously  by  the  church  at  large.  They  are  in 
fact  missionary  enterprises  and  should  be 
so  treated.  To  do  properly  the  work  they 
now  are  undertaking  for  “the  benefit  of 
the  whole  church,”  they  need  additions  to 
their  current  income  averaging  about 
$20,000  a  year.  Even  then  they  would  be 
spending  much  less  per  student  than  ed¬ 
ucational  authorities  regard  as  necessary. 
To  do  other  work  which  they  are  not  now 
undertaking,  but  which  greatly  needs  to 
be  done,  would  add  in  its  beginnings  from 
$5,000  to  $10,000  a  year  to  the  budget  of 
each  school.  Allowance  must  be  made 
for  an  increased  number  of  students  and 


therefore  an  increased  ex¬ 
pense.  A  conservative  to¬ 
tal  needed  for  these  three 
schools  is  $70,000  a  year. 

Uncertain  supportj — The 
older  schools,  Drew,  Bos¬ 
ton,  and  Garrett,  are 
called  upon  for  services 
beyond  their  present  nor¬ 
mal  income.  They  also 
should  have  aid  from  the 
entire  church.  They  are 
obliged  to  resort  to  high 
pressure  solicitation  for 
special  gifts  in  order  to 
keep  the  work  going.  One 
of  these  schools  presents 
as  its  minimum  need  be¬ 
yond  its  assured  income, 
$38,700.  Of  this  amount  $24,850  repre¬ 
sents  annual  gifts  whose  continuance  is 
uncertain  and  therefore  the  work  is  in 
jeopardy.  The  remainder  is  for  salaries 
and  library  expenses  made  necessary  by 
the  increased  number  of  students  and  the 
wider  range  of  the  curriculum  now  re¬ 
quired  in  theological  schools.  This  $38,700 
is  not  for  expansion  but  to  guarantee  the 
continuance  of  the  present  work.  Inevitably 
there  will  be  expansion  in  response  to  the 
growing  needs  of  the  church  for  trained 
workers.  A  careful  scrutiny  of  the  re¬ 
port  from  this  school  and  a  comparison 
with  the  reports  from  other  theological 
schools  with  fewer  students  and  smaller 
constituencies  to  serve  justifies  the  con¬ 
clusion  that  the  estimate  of  needs  is  con- 


Students  at  Washington  Collegiate  Institute, 
Washington,  North  Carolina 


EDUCATION 


509 


Gateway,  University  of  Chattanooga,  Chattanooga,  Tennessee 


servative.  What  is  true 
of  this  school  is  practi¬ 
cally  true  of  the  other  two 
schools.  One  of  them  re¬ 
ports  needs  considerably 
larger  and  the  other  some¬ 
what  smaller.  The  aggre¬ 
gate  for  the  three  schools 
is  not  less  than  $115,000. 

Until  sufficient  endow¬ 
ment  can  be  secured  and 
that  may  be  far  in  the 
future,  there  is  no  way 
to  provide  for  these  ex¬ 
penditures  above  normal 
income  except  by  contri¬ 
butions  from  individuals 
or  the  church  at  large. 

Unless  the  money  is  pro¬ 
vided  the  work  must  be  restricted  and  stu¬ 
dents  excluded,  just  at  the  time  when  the 
church  most  needs  all  the  professionally 
trained  ministers  it  can  get,  and  a  multi¬ 
tude  of  consecrated  young  people  are  eager 
to  be  trained  for  service. 

A  new  southern  school  needed. — The 
South  presents  a  special  case.  Here  we 
have  214,000  white  members,  but  no  theo¬ 
logical  school,  or  special  school  for  the 
training  of  our  ministry.  The  work  of 
our  church  in  the  South  will  lack  full  ef¬ 
fectiveness  until  this  gap  in  our  educa¬ 
tional  system  is  filled.  A  school  should 
be  established,  independently  or  in  con¬ 
nection  with  one  of  the  existing  schools, 
to  train  ministers  and  other  specialized 
workers.  The  courses  and  the  methods 
should  be  adapted  to  the  southern  work. 
The  conscious  and  steady  aim  should  be  a 
product  for  home  consumption  rather 
than  export.  In  connection  with  one  of 
the  existing  schools,  a  satisfactory  begin¬ 
ning  could  be  made  for  $15,000  a  year. 

5.  Graduate  Schools 

Colleges  and  universities  of  the  Metho¬ 
dist  Episcopal  Church  usually  have  had  a 
few  advanced  students  doing  graduate 
work.  The  courses  offered  were  exten¬ 
sions  of  departmental  instruction  rather 
than  parts  of  an  organized  graduate 
curriculum. 


Need  of  graduate  schools. — In  recent 
years,  universities  have  found  it  wise  to 
organize  graduate  schools.  One  advan¬ 
tage  is  the  favorable  reaction  of  the  grad¬ 
uate  school  upon  scholarship  in  the  uni¬ 
versity  faculty.  Another  is  the  ability  to 
supply  satisfactory  teachers  to  other  ed¬ 
ucational  institutions.  In  the  old  day, 
which  has  not  fully  passed,  Methodist  col¬ 
leges  and  secondary  schools  often  were 
obliged  to  take  the  majority  of  their 
teachers  from  graduate  schools  where  the 
philosophy,  ideals,  and  spirit  of  Christian¬ 
ity  did  not  prevail.  The  results  very 
often  were  exceedingly  unfavorable  for 
the  church. 

In  response  to  pressing  demands  the 
universities  are  expanding  the  work  of 
their  graduate  schools  in  the  traditional 
courses  of  study,  and  are  establishing 
new  departments  or  schools  in  religious 
education,  missions,  comparative  reli¬ 
gions,  and  related  subjects. 

A  graduate  school  in  religious  education. 
— One  of  the  universities  submits  the  fol¬ 
lowing  outline  of  work  that  a  graduate 
school  of  religion  or  a  department  of  re¬ 
ligious  education  in  a  graduate  school 
should  afford : 

1.  Training  for  candidates  for  the  min¬ 
istry  desiring  to  secure  advanced  degrees 
in  special  fields  of  work. 


51U 


WORLD  SERVICE 


Chapel  at  Ohio  Wesleyan,  Delaware,  Ohio 


2.  Training  for  graduate  students  pre¬ 
paring  for  positions  of  leadership  in  reli¬ 
gious  education,  or  community  service, 
such  as  professors  of  religious  education  in 
our  church  colleges  and  training  schools; 
directors  of  Wesley  foundations,  of  reli¬ 
gious  education  in  communities,  rural 
churches,  institutional  churches,  and  va¬ 
cation  schools;  teachers  in  foreign  mission 
fields;  and  directors  of  community  music, 
pageantry,  and  recreational  activities. 

3.  Training  for  graduate  students  pre¬ 
paring  for  special  mission  fields. 

In  addition  to  courses  in  the  history  of 
religion  and  missions,  there  should  be 
provided  courses  in  history,  geography, 
languages,  government  of  the  particular 
missionary  fields  and  adequate  graduate 
instruction  for  teachers  in  missionary 
schools  and  colleges. 

The  cost  of  satisfactory  instruction  for 
all  of  these  courses  is  estimated  at  not 
less  than  $52,000  a  year.  Scholarships 
also  would  be  necessary  in  the  amount  of 
$5,000  to  $10,000  a  year  depending  upon 
the  enrolment.  The  total  for  a  creditable 
school  could  hardly  be  less  than  $55,000. 

The  greater  part  of  the  work  here  out¬ 
lined  is  being  undertaken  by  one  school, 
but  with  precarious  financial  support. 
Less  extensive  courses  are  offered  in  other 
places.  Much  of  the  program  as  outlined 


should  be  put  into  effect 
at  once  in  other  universi¬ 
ties.  The  cost  in  the  be¬ 
ginnings  should  vary  from 
$25,000  to  $55,000,  the 
variation  being  due  in 
large  part  to  the  size  of 
the  universities  and  the 
present  development  of 
the  work. 

The  total  need  for 
graduate  work  for  the 
present  in  the  universities 
is  not  less  than  $170,000 
a  year.  As  the  demand 
for  specialized  service  in¬ 
creases  in  the  church,  the 
current  expense  funds  of 
the  graduate  schools  will  have  to  be  en¬ 
larged. 

6.  Methodist  Schools  and  Church 
Extension 

Source  of  leadership. — The  church  natur¬ 
ally  looks  to  its  schools  for  leadership. 
Methodism  has  not  been  disappointed  in 
this  expectation.  Bishop  Warren  once 
said  that  “if  Wesleyan  University  had  not 
been  founded,  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church  would  not  have  attained  fifty  per 
cent  of  its  present  power.” 

A  chapter  from  recent  history  is  con¬ 
clusive.1  From  Methodist  Episcopal 
schools  came: 

Twenty-one  area  secretaries  out  of  twenty- 
four. 

Thirty-two  members  of  the  Committee  on 
Conservation  and  Advance  out  of  forty. 

Ten  members  of  the  Joint  Centenary  Com¬ 
mission  out  of  thirteen. 

Thirty-eight  bishops  out  of  thirty-nine. 

Forty  college  presidents  out  of  forty-three. 

Ninety-two  per  cent  of  college  trained  Meth¬ 
odist  ministers. 

Six  hundred  and  three  active  missionaries 
(on  October  22,  1921)  out  of  1,185. 

An  even  more  remarkable  statement 
from  Dr.  Kelly  is  that,  for  the  school  year 
1919-20,  the  Student  Volunteer  Move¬ 
ment  reported  in  training  2,500  mis¬ 
sionaries  of  all  denominations.  Of  these. 
471  came  from  Methodist  Episcopal 
schools.  To  be  entrusted  with  the  train- 


1  A  report  of  Dr.  R.  L.  Kelly, 


EDUCATION 


511 


ing  of  nearly  one-fifth  of  the  missionary 
volunteers  in  training  for  service  with  all 
the  denominations  should  inspire  our 
church  with  both  gladness  and  humility. 

Organized  Christianity  of  all  kinds  re¬ 
lies  for  the  greater  part  of  its  leadership 
upon  its  own  schools.  “In  the  nature  of 
things,”  says  President  W.  0.  Thompson 
of  Ohio  State  University,  “the  church  will 
continue  to  draw  the  major  part  of  her 
leaders  from  her  own  colleges.  My  con¬ 
viction  is  that  the  church  will  be  not  only 
a  traitor  to  its  own  interests  but  also  rec¬ 
reant  in  its  duty  to  the  state  if  it  shall 
relinquish  its  emphasis  upon  the  funda¬ 
mentals  of  religion  which  are  most  effec¬ 
tively  taught  in  denominational  colleges.” 

Missionary  leadership.  —  The  extension 
of  education  to  foreign  lands  has  been  due 
mainly  to  the  denominational  schools  in 
the  homeland.  They  furnished  the  pat¬ 
terns  by  which  the  foreign  schools  were 
shaped.  They  trained  the  teachers,  they 
gave  the  teachers  the  vision  of  mission¬ 
ary  service,  and  they  commissioned  them 
to  “go  and  teach”  the  nations.  What  can 
measure  the  value  to  China  of  Bishop 
Bashford,  who  clearly  saw  that  his  task 
“meant  stimulating  reform,  introducing 
modern  learning,  establishing  hospitals, 
transforming  the  system  of  industry,  set¬ 
ting  up  a  political  government  on  the 
foundation  of  intelligence  and  freedom, 
in  short,  energizing  the  whole  life  of  the 
nation  by  the  spirit  of  Christ”? 

The  church  needs  to  take  the  far  look, 
and  not  to  “draw  a  circle  premature.” 
The  investment  of  millions  in  schools  may 
seem  to  be  a  long  way  around,  but  it  is 
the  surest  way  home.  To  conserve  the 
results  of  mass  movements  and  great  re¬ 
vivals,  they  must  be  organized,  informed, 
and  directed  by  educated  men  who  think 
and  act  in  accord  with  the  Christian  ideal¬ 
ism  most  effectively  taught  in  our  own 
schools.  To  what  extent  will  the  future 
of  the  Christian  church  be  determined  by 
the  future  of  the  Christian  colleges?  The 
future  of  Christian  civilization  certainly 
will  be  determined  by  the  future  of  the 
Christian  church. 


7.  Religious  Work  Among  the  Meth¬ 
odist  Students  in  Non-Methodist 
Institutions 

The  United  States  Bureau  of  Education 
reports  in  this  country  112  tax-supported 
colleges  and  universities,  not  including 
100  normal  schools  or  teachers  colleges 
granting  the  B.A.  degree,  and  516  pri¬ 
vately  supported  colleges  and  universities, 
in  addition  to  43  directly  under  the  patron¬ 
age  of  our  own  church. 

Methodist  enrolment.  —  Nearly  one  in 
four  of  the  students  in  the  state  institu¬ 
tions  and  about  one  in  ten  at  the  independ¬ 
ent  institutions  reported  are  Methodists. 
In  1922  the  total  state  institution  enrol- 
ment  is  reported  as  250.000  and  the  inde¬ 
pendent  or  privately  supported  institu¬ 
tions,  not  including  our  own,  report 
approximately  the  same  number.  These  to¬ 
tals  indicate  that  there  are  at  least  75.000 
young  Methodists  attending  non-Metho¬ 
dist  colleges  and  universities  in  the 
United  States. 

Our  own  institutions  report  a  total  en¬ 
rolment  of  41,633,  of  whom  about  30,000 
are  Methodists,  bringing  our  total  college 
student  constituency  well  above  100,000. 
The  fifty-five  non-Methodist  institutions 
at  which  our  work  is  organized,  report 
35,546  Methodist  students  in  1922. 

In  the  state  institutions  reported,  the 
Methodist  students  lead  in  point  of  num¬ 
bers  at  forty-nine  places,  and  are  second 
at  twenty-two  places.  In  Wisconsin, 
where  only  2.5  per  cent  of  the  population 
of  the  state  are  of  our  church,  15.7  per 


Commencement  procession,  Wesleyan  University, 
Middletown,  Connecticut 


512 


WORLD  SERVICE 


cent  of  the  university  students  at  Madi¬ 
son  are  Methodists. 

At  Illinois  State  University,  Urbana, 
Illinois,  out  of  a  total  enrolment  of  8,743, 
the  Methodist  students  number  2,166.  At 
Ohio  State  University,  Columbus,  Ohio, 
there  are  2,401  Methodist  students  in  a 
total  student  body  of  8,734. 

At  Purdue  University,  Indiana,  and  at 
Manhattan,  Kansas,  the  Methodist  stu¬ 
dents  outnumber  the  next  four  denomina¬ 
tions  added  together.  Our  largest  repre¬ 
sentation  at  the  independent  institutions 
is  at  the  University  of  Chicago,  where  we 
have  at  least  1,190  students.  In  the  sev¬ 
eral  professional  and  graduate  schools  on 
the  West  Side  of  Chicago  the  number  runs 
even  higher. 

Joint  board  supervision. — The  policy  of 
the  Joint  Committee  of  the  Board  of  Ed¬ 
ucation  and  the  Board  of  Home  Missions 
and  Church  Extension  created  by  the 
General  Conference  of  1916  for  the  super¬ 
vision  of  this  work  is  to  encourage  an  all- 
the-year  program  of  religious  activities 
of,  for,  and  by  students  and  professors,  in 
and  through  existing  churches  in  order 
that  these  students  and  professors  may  re¬ 
main  or  become  active  members  of  the 
church. 

The  Wesley  Foundation.— Following  the 
precedent  established  at  Urbana,  Illinois, 
and  at  Madison,  Wisconsin,  this  type  of 
work  is  commonly  known  as  the  Wesley 
Foundation.  A  Wesley  Foundation  is  a 
group  of  representative  Methodists  organ¬ 
ized  or  incorporated  for  the  development 
of  religious  activities  and  education 
among  Methodist  students  at  a  non-Metho¬ 
dist  institution. 

A  new  source  of  leadership. — While  a 
very  large  majority  of  our  educated  min¬ 
isters  and  missionaries  have  come  from 
our  own  colleges,  it  is  evident  that  a  large 
majority  of  our  educated  laymen  are 
bound  to  come  in  increasing  numbers 
from  the  tax-supported  and  other .  non- 
Methodist  institutions.  It  is  evident, 
also,  from  the  facts  reported  to  date  that 
a  substantial  and  growing  number  of  re¬ 
cruits  for  the  ministry  and  especially  for 
the  mission  fields  may  be  expected  from  a 


more  extensive  and  thorough  development 
of  Wesley  Foundation  activities. 

The  following  figures  are  reported  from 
the  work  already  organized  at  Wesley 
Foundations : 

Enlistments  for 
Ministry  Missions 


1920  . 45  179 

1921  . 67  162 

1922  . 73  192 


The  missionaries  actually  sailing  dur¬ 
ing  the  latest  full  year  reported  in  the 
Epivorth  Herald  include  sixty  from  the 
Wesley  Foundation  field,  the  high  point 
to  date  for  any  one  year.  For  several 
years  at  least  twenty  per  cent  of  the  new 
missionaries  actually  sailing  have  come 
from  the  tax-supported  and  independent 
schools. 

Fully  10,000  Methodist  students  are 
now  voluntarily  attending  preaching  serv¬ 
ices  at  Wesley  Foundation  churches.  More 
than  5,000  are  attending  Sunday-school 
classes  and  a  similar  number  are  engaged 
in  Epworth  League  activities.  Hundreds 
of  these  students  are  engaged  as  Sunday- 
school  teachers  and  members  of  gospel 
teams  carrying  on  evangelistic  efforts  dur¬ 
ing  their  college  years. 

An  adequate  student  program. — Most  of 
these  state  institutions  are  located  in  rela¬ 
tively  small  towns  or  cities  where  the  re¬ 
sources  of  the  local  churches  are  entirely 
inadequate  for  a  constructive  student  pro¬ 
gram.  In  view  of  the  wide  varieties  of 
student  groups,  no  program  of  standard¬ 
ized  details  is  practicable.  The  funda¬ 
mental  effort  is  to  provide  for  a  given 
church  an  adequate  equipment  and  a  com- 


EDUCATION 


513 


Choir  entering  Wesley  Foundation  Chapel,  Madison,  Wisconsin 


petent  staff  of  workers, 
according  to  the  size  of 
the  student  constituency, 
that  the  students  may  find 
at  hand  a  church  provid¬ 
ing  “a  shrine  for  wor¬ 
ship,”  a  “school  of  reli¬ 
gious  education,”  a  “home 
away  from  home,”  for  so¬ 
cial  activities,  and  a  “lab¬ 
oratory”  for  training  in 
the  service  of  the  church. 

At  present  we  have 
thirty  full-time  workers, 
less  than  one-half  of  the 
number  needed  at  the 
fifty-five  centers  already 
reached. 

Three  hundred  stu¬ 
dents  is  the  number  rec¬ 
ognized  by  several  denom¬ 
inations  as  requiring  the  full-time  services 
of  an  ordained  pastor  for  students.  As  a 
matter  of  fact,  there  are  a  considerable 
number  of  institutions  enrolling  some¬ 
thing  over  two  hundred  Methodist  stu¬ 
dents  where  a  full-time  worker  could  be 
used  to  great  advantage. 

There  is  a  growing  demand  at  the 
large  centers  like  Ames,  Iowa;  Columbus, 
Ohio;  Madison,  Wisconsin,  and  Urbana, 
Illinois,  for  religious  education  courses 
worthy  of  curriculum  credit.  Such  courses 
have  been  received  with  marked  favor  at 
Ames  and  Urbana,  enrolling  a  total  of 
nearly  two  hundred  students.  An  ex¬ 
penditure  of  $25,000  a  year  for  this  spe¬ 
cific  type  of  work  would  meet  only  the 
few  most  urgent  calls  for  building,  equip¬ 
ment,  and  personnel. 

Budget  requirements. — The  budget  for 
the  aid  of  fifty-five  churches  adjacent  to 
colleges  and  universities  for  1923  is 
$105,000,  which  amount  is  administered 
by  the  joint  committee,  referred  to  above. 
An  immediate  annual  expenditure  of 
$150,000  for  maintenance  would  hardly 
be  an  adequate  minimum  for  the  places 
already  organized  and  investigated.  In 
view  of  the  unreached  places  and  the 
rapid  increase  of  students,  the  state  uni¬ 


versity  enrolment  having  doubled  during 
every  decade  since  1870,  a  modest  estimate 
for  a  ten-year  period  of  conservative  de¬ 
velopment  would  be  at  the  rate  of  $15,000 
a  year,  or  a  total  maintenance  budget  by 
1933  of  $300,000  a  year.  These  figures 
make  no  account  of  the  new  buildings 
needed  by  Wesley  Foundations  which  are 
included  in  the  study  of  the  Board  of 
Home  Missions  and  Church  Extension. 

An  urgent  appeal. — Thousands  of  Meth¬ 
odist  young  people  may  all  their  lives  be 
devoted  to  the  church  if,  during  their  stu¬ 
dent  years,  the  church  is  wisely  devoted 
to  them.  The  great  expenditures  by  the 
states  upon  these  institutions  insure  their 
growing  size  and  quality.  The  small  ex¬ 
penditures  required  from  the  churches  for 
the  religious  atmosphere  and  ideals  the 
state  cannot  provide,  yield  large  returns  in 
ministers,  missionaries,  and  educated  lay¬ 
men  so  essential  to  progress  of  the  king¬ 
dom  of  Jesus  Christ. 

8.  Religious  Training  in  Methodist 
Institutions 

The  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  builds 
and  maintains  schools  and  organizes  re¬ 
ligious  work  at  non-Methodist  schools  in 


514 


WORLD  SERVICE 


Wesley  Foundation,  Urbana,  Illinois.  A  co-operative  enterprise 
of  the  Board  of  Education  and  the  Board  of  Home  Missions 
and  Church  Extension 


order  that  our  young  people  may  be  edu¬ 
cated  under  auspices  and  influences  dis¬ 
tinctively  Christian  and  thus  fitted  for 
Christian  service.  How  enormous  is  the 
need  for  these  training  centers  is  revealed 
in  the  study  of  the  leaders  required  in  our 
church  made  by  the  Commission  on  Life 
Service.  See  statement  on  pages  619-623. 

Vocational  guidance. — The  literature  of 
the  church  has  given  little  attention  to 
vocational  guidance.  Fifty-three  uni¬ 
versities  and  colleges  of  the  country  are 
making  researches  in  this  field.  Only 
two  or  three  of  these  are  Methodist  in¬ 
stitutions.  Doubtless  the  number  will 
soon  increase. 

The  Board  of  Education  and  the  Edu¬ 
cational  Association  of  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church  now  are  making  a 
joint  study  of  the  problems  of  vocational 
guidance.  Such  a  study  finds  ready  the 
very  fortunate  provision  of  forty-four  col¬ 
leges  and  thirty-five  secondary  schools, 
besides  professional  schools.  They  af¬ 
ford  the  best  of  opportunities  to  unite 
religious  education  and  vocational  guid¬ 
ance  with  general  education.  Through 
such  a  union,  our  own  young  people  may 
be  selected  and  fitted  most  effectively  for 
service  in  the  church. 

Religious  training. — Our  schools  are  un¬ 
dergoing  many  changes  that  call  for  new 


methods  and  new  forces. 
Student  enrolments  are 
greatly  increased  and  rep¬ 
resent  a  far  wider  range 
in  the  social  order  than 
was  found  at  the  denomi¬ 
national  colleges  a  genera¬ 
ls  i  o  n  ago  Multiplying 
duties  of  executive  heads 
and  faculties  render  im¬ 
possible  the  older  methods 
of  religious  oversight  and 
direction  of  these  throng¬ 
ing  student  groups.  It  is 
necessary  to  organize  un¬ 
der  competent  specialized 
leadership  a  systematic, 
unified,  and  all-year  pro¬ 
gram  of  religious  work 
and  recruiting  in  our  colleges.  The  Board 
of  Education  in  co-operation  with  the 
Commission  on  Life  Service  recently  held 
a  number  of  state  conferences  with  refer¬ 
ence  to  such  a  program.  It  was  agreed 
that  the  board  should  make  this  kind  of 
work  an  annual  feature  and  should  organ¬ 
ize  it  so  as  to  reach  every  college  campus 
of  the  church  during  the  year. 

The  plan  for  religious  training  and  re¬ 
cruiting  will  involve:  the  general  pro¬ 
gram  of  campus  religious  activities  month 
by  month;  the  curriculum  studies  in  reli¬ 
gious  education,  including  Bible  study ; 
the  voluntary  study  classes  of  the  campus 
groups;  and,  in  some  respects  most  im¬ 
portant  of  all,  the  work  and  influence  of 
the  local  churches  at  our  college  centers. 

The  colleges  and  larger  universities 
need  a  specialized  worker  on  full  time  to 
lead  in  the  vocational  guidance  and  reli¬ 
gious  training  of  the  students.  His  work 
would  be  quite  like  that  of  a  Wesley 
Foundation  director  at  a  state  university. 

The  average  appropriation  for  Wesley 
Foundations  is  $2,000.  A  similar  amount, 
assuming  a  degree  of  local  financial  as¬ 
sistance,  would  be  required  for  such  work 
at  our  own  schools.  At  present  several 
typical  centers  are  seeking  the  co-opera¬ 
tion  of  the  board.  A  fund  of  from  $16,000 
to  $20,000  would  provide  for  these  as  a 
beginning  and  for  the  necessary  supervi- 


EDUCATION 


515 


sion.  It  is  clear  that  successful  demon¬ 
strations  of  the  plan  at  even  a  limited 
number  of  places  would  lead  to  its  ulti¬ 
mate  extension  among  all  the  institutions 
of  the  church.  The  secondary  schools,  in 
view  of  their  smaller  size  and  closer  or¬ 
ganization,  may  not  require  such  appro¬ 
priations  for  the  present.  In  the  forty- 
four  colleges  and  universities  of  the 
church  we  may  expect  a  rapid  increase  in 
the  demand  for  this  kind  of  work  and  for 
appropriations  toward  its  support. 

9.  Education  and  Christian 
Civilization 

Education  fundamental.  —  Education 
serves  the  entire  church  and  all  of  its  or¬ 
ganizations  at  home  and  abroad.  In  a 
vital  sense  it  has  first  importance.  Effec¬ 
tive  work  in  the  home  field  depends  upon 
trained  leadership.  Foreign  missions  re¬ 
quire  leaders  of  the  broadest  training  and 
most  vigorous  religious  life.  As  education 
becomes  more  general  throughout  the 
world,  college  and  university  training  will 
become  essential  in  an  increasing  degree 
to  Christian  leadership. 

The  preacher  is  greater  than  the 
pulpit.  The  missionary  is  more  important 
than  the  mission  house.  The  marvelous 
achievements  of  the  Centenary  and  the 
greater  things  which  may  be  done  after 
the  Centenary  period  will  issue  in  disap¬ 
pointment  unless  compe¬ 
tent  leaders  can  be  found 
to  spend  wisely  the  mil¬ 
lions  given  by  the  church. 

From  Methodist  colleges, 
from  Wesley  Foundations, 
and  from  other  church 
agencies  for  recruiting 
and  training  for  Christian 
service  the  youth  of  today 
will  come  the  leaders  equal 
to  the  demands  at  home 
and  abroad  in  the  great 
new  era  that  now  draws 
near.  The  process  of  con¬ 
structing  a  better  world  is 
under  way.  Thinkers  of 
every  class,  notably  men 
of  science  and  business, 


are  seeing  more  clearly  that  spiritual  ele¬ 
ments  are  essential  to  civilization.  Reli¬ 
gion  has  a  new  chance  to  serve.  The 
genius  and  spirit  of  Methodism  say,  “For¬ 
ward.” 

IV.  WHAT  SHOULD  THE  METHO¬ 
DIST  EPISCOPAL  CHURCH  DO 
FOR  CHRISTIAN  EDUCATION 
IN  THE  NEXT  TEN  YEARS? 

1.  Forecast  of  Developments 
A  significant  testimonial. — A  letter  to  the 
board  from  R.  L.  Kelly,  secretary  of  the 
Council  of  Church  Boards  of  Education, 
says:  “I  have  learned  with  a  great  deal 
of  interest  that  the  Methodist  Board  of 
Education  is  planning  another  long  step 
forward  for  the  agencies  and  institutions 
of  learning  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church. 

“These  institutions  have  already  put 
Protestantism  and  indeed  the  nation 
under  lasting  obligation  because  of  their 
marked  success  in  discovering  and  point¬ 
ing  out  permanent  elements  of  educa¬ 
tional  progress,  in  comprehending  the 
scope  and  complexity  of  the  task,  a^d  in 
formulating  machinery  for  its  accom¬ 
plishment.  You  have  been  pioneers  in 
many  fields  of  higher  education  and  have 
shown  a  remarkable  ability  to  accomplish 
what  you  undertake.  We  all  take  our 
hats  off  in  the  presence  of  the  dynamic  of 


Auditorium  Conservatory,  College  of  the  Pacific,  San  Jose,  California 


516 


WORLD  SERVICE 


Cornell  Library,  Drew  Theological  Seminary,  Madison,  New  Jersey 

Methodist  education.  May  your  board  versities  has 
and  its  affiliated  agencies  long  continue  to 
dare  and  to  do. 

“In  my  rather  intimate  studies  of 
higher  education  in  the  United  States 
during  the  past  few  years  I  have  often 
been  impressed  with  and  have  remarked 
upon  the  combination  in  Methodist  insti¬ 
tutions  of  the  traditional  New  England 
ideals  of  cultural  and  religious  education 
and  at  the  same  time  the  inclusion  of  mod¬ 
ern  subject  matter  and  methods.  Your 
institutions  have  shown  remarkable  adapt¬ 
ability  without  losing  elements  which  have 
given  stability  to  higher  education  in  the 
United  States. 

“Anyone  must  recognize,  of  course,  that 
the  carrying  forward  of  such  a  program 
as  this  in  view  of  the  uncounted  numbers 
who  must  receive  the  benefits  of  it,  calls 
for  the  expenditure  of  vast  sums  of 
money.  In  the  interest  of  Christian  edu¬ 
cation  in  the  United  States,  I  express  the 
hope  that  your  fondest  dreams  may  be 
realized.” 

Growth  of  enrolments  and  budgets. — 

High  school  and  college  enrolments  nearly 
double  every  ten  years.  From  1890  to 
1900  the  proportion  of  young  people  in 
high  school  increased  about  one  hundred 
per  cent.  There  was  a  similar  gain  from 
1900  to  1910.  The  figures  for  1918, 1  the 


1  Bureau  of  Education,  Bulletin  No.  34. 


last  available,  indicate 
another  doubling  between 
1910  and  1920.  College 
enrolments  increased  in  a 
slower  but  astonishing 
ratio.  They  advanced  from 
55,687  in  1890  to  98,906 
in  1900,  to  175,893  in 
1910,  and  to  290,106  in 
1918.  Though  full  official 
figures  are  not  obtainable 
there  are  many  evidences 
that  the  rate  of  increase 
has  risen  sharply  during 
the  last  four  years. 

The  increase  in  Meth- 
odist  colleges  and  uni- 
not  been  so  rapid.  De¬ 
pendable  figures  for  the  earlier  period  are 
not  available,  but  the  enrolment  in  six 
representative  colleges  has  advanced  from 
3,933  in  1913  to  5,997  for  the  school  year 
1922-23.  The  latter  figure  is  in  part  an 
estimate  since  complete  reports  of  the 
school  year  1922-23  cannot  be  obtained 
until  July-August,  1923.  The  gain  for 
the  ten  years  is  52.5  per  cent.  All  Metho¬ 
dist  schools  advanced  in  the  same  period 
from  39,591  to  56,912,  a  gain  of  43.75  per 
cent. 

What  may  be  expected  for  the  next 
ten  years?  During  the  last  decade  there 
has  been  a  rush  of  students  to  the  larger 
educational  institutions.  Many  of  the  uni¬ 
versities,  both  state  and  private  are  seri¬ 
ously  overcrowded  and  are  trying  to  limit 
attendance  by  direct  and  indirect  methods. 
There  is  no  doubt  that  the  number  of  stu¬ 
dents  desiring  to  go  to  college  will  in¬ 
crease  at  a  much  faster  rate  than  will  the 
facilities  and  faculties  of  the  great  uni¬ 
versities.  As  a  consequence  the  tide  will 
set  more  strongly  toward  the  denomina¬ 
tional  colleges,  unless  a  large  number  of 
junior  colleges  are  created  (and  that  is 
improbable  except  in  a  few  sections.) 

The  rate  of  increase  in  Methodist  col¬ 
leges  is  very  unlikely  to  be  less  during  the 
next  ten  years  than  it  has  been  during  the 
last  ten  years.  Accordingly,  in  1933  the 
six  representative  colleges  should  have 


EDUCATION 


517 


9,449  students.  The  total  for  all  of  our 
schools  should  be  81,811  students.  On  the 
modest  assumption  that  by  1933  the  cost 
per  capita  will  at  least  equal  $300.00,  the 
minimum  now  supported  by  any  author¬ 
ity,  the  six  representative  colleges  would 
have  a  budget  of  $2,834,700.  All  the 
schools,  excluding  frontier  and  southern 
schools  with  about  1,000  students,  would 
have  an  aggregate  budget,  exclusive  of 
buildings  and  endowments,  of  $23,043,300. 

A  budget  forecast. — The  excess  of  ex¬ 
penditures  over  assured  income  from  en¬ 
dowment  and  student  fees,  and  the  public 
educational  collection  has  steadily  in¬ 
creased  during  the  past  ten  years  both  in 
absolute  amount  and  ratio.  It  is  not 
likely  to  decrease  during  the  next  ten 
years.  The  present  ratio  is  12.8  per  cent. 
Taking  that  as  a  basis  all  the  schools  ex¬ 
clusive  of  frontier  and  southern  schools 
will  require  in  1933,  over  and  above  in¬ 
come  from  endowment,  student  fees,  and 
the  public  educational  collection  as  now 
guaranteed,  $2,949,542  instead  of  the 
present  $1,433,596.  The  difference  is 
$1,515,946.  Current  expenses  may  be  ex¬ 
pected  to  have  increased  by  1933  by  at 
least  $10,000,000,  or  at  the  rate  of  $1,000,- 
000  a  year.  The  amount  is  more  likely  to 
be  $1,200,000  a  year.  But  taking  the 
minimum  basis  of  $1,000,000  a  year,  12.8 
per  cent  would  be  $128,000,  the  annual 
increase  necessary  from  the  church  at 
large  or  other  sources  close  to  the  gap  be¬ 
tween  expenses  and  dependable  income. 

Estimates  conservative. 

— All  of  these  calculations 
concerning  the  future  rest 
upon  the  fundamental  as¬ 
sumption  that  the  church 
will  maintain  its  schools 
in  at  least  their  present 
rank.  As  rapidly  as  the 
educational  world  goes 
forward  they  too  will  ad¬ 
vance.  Even  so  the  figures 
must  be  regarded  as  pro¬ 
visional  estimates.  Too 
many  factors  are  un¬ 
known,  and  now  are  un¬ 
knowable,  to  permit  of 


mathematical  exactness.  How  much  the 
income  from  the  endowment  may  increase, 
how  many  large  gifts  may  be  received, 
how  great  may  be  the  unexpected  de¬ 
mands,  and  how  many  catastrophes  may 
occur  no  one  can  tell.  But  the  records  of 
several  years  have  been  scrutinized  for 
constant  factors  and  ratios.  The  esti¬ 
mates  throughout  are  based  upon  mini¬ 
mum  rather  than  maximum  figures  and 
expectations.  For  example,  $300  annual 
cost  per  student  in  1933  probably  is 
much  too  low  for  our  schools,  including 
colleges,  universities,  professional  schools, 
and  the  few  northern  preparatory  schools 
but  excluding  frontier  and  southern 
schools.  On  the  other  hand  it  may  be  too 
high  for  a  part  of  the  ten  year  period. 
But  revision  of  the  total  figures  in  1933 
when  complete  reports  are  available  is 
likely  to  be  upward  rather  than  down¬ 
ward. 

Higher  requirements. — More  rigid  stand¬ 
ardizing  requirements  probably  will  be 
put  into  effect.  Our  own  University  Sen¬ 
ate  has  already  led  the  way.  The  move¬ 
ment  has  become  general  among  stand¬ 
ardizing  agencies,  national,  regional,  and 
denominational.  Whatever  they  prescribe 
it  is  practically  necessary  for  our  schools 
to  do.  The  church  has  no  desire  to  oper¬ 
ate  discredited  schools.  It  purposes  that 
as  good  teaching  and  facilities  as  may  be 
found  anywhere  and  a  tonic  esprit  de 
corps  shall  prevail  in  the  schools  of  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church. 


New  Administration  Building,  John  H.  Snead  Seminary 


518 


WORLD  SERVICE 


Senior  Class,  Jennings  Seminary,  Aurora,  Illinois 


Increasing  standards.  —  General  refer¬ 
ence  lias  been  made  several  times  to 
changes  brought  about  by  the  standardiz¬ 
ing  agencies.  A  few  specific  illustrations 
may  be  useful. 

1 .  Equipment 

Required  equipment  is  increasingly  nec¬ 
essary  and  expensive.  In  the  old  day, 
before  the  reign  of  science,  the  text-book 
and  the  teacher  were  almost  sufficient. 
But  now  the  sciences  have  a  large 
place  in  the  curriculum.  They  de¬ 
mand  numerous  and  costly  apparatus.  Re¬ 
placements  made  necessary  by  breakage 
and  by  improved  patterns  are  large.  Ad¬ 
ditional  apparatus  required  by  new  dis¬ 
coveries  and  inventions  are  frequent,  in 
fact,  almost  constant.  Moreover,  the  sci¬ 
entific  method  has  extended  to  other  sub¬ 
jects.  Psychology  demands  a  laboratory, 
and  sociology  a  clinic.  All  the  recog¬ 
nized  subjects  require  large,  “live,  well- 
selected,  and  professionally  administered 
libraries.” 

2.  The  teaching  force 

The  costliest  part  of  education  is  the 
teacher,  and  that  in  spite  of  the  fact  that 
he  is  among  the  poorest  paid  of  profes¬ 
sional  men.  As  recently  as  fifteen  years 
ago  a  professor  in  a  college  doing  credita¬ 
ble  work  not  infrequently  taught  as  many 
as  thirty  semester  hours.  Now  the  maxi¬ 
mum  is  fixed  at  sixteen  hours.  On  the 
theory  of  one  hour  for  preparation,  one 
hour  in  class,  and  one  hour  for  correcting 
papers  the  professor  has  a  forty-eight 
hour  week,  not  including  the  large  amount 
of  time  spent  in  faculty  meetings,  commit¬ 


tee  work,  and  conferences  with  students. 
Formerly  a  professor  might  hold  two  or 
three  loosely  connected  chairs  as  history, 
Greek,  and  Bible.  Now  specialization  is 
required  as  a  condition  of  accrediting. 
The  ratio  of  teachers  to  students  once 
gave  little  concern.  Now  one  teacher  to 
ten  or  twelve  students  is  considered  neces¬ 
sary. 

3.  A  teacher’s  minimum  needs 

Certain  needs  of  the  teacher  himself 
have  come  to  be  more  clearly  recognized. 
He  must  frequently  attend  summer  school 
to  renew  and  enlarge  his  knowledge  of 
facts  and  methods.  He  ought  to  have  leave 
of  absence  at  least  one  year  in  seven  for 
study  and  travel  to  accumulate  resources 
for  the  coming  years.  Otherwise  his  pro¬ 
fessional  usefulness  is  almost  certain  to 
decrease.  “At  the  moment  when  wealth  of 
knowledge  is  wanted  it  cannot  be  ac¬ 
quired.”  1  He  should  attend  teachers’ 
conferences  and  educational  associations 
for  the  sake  of  kindling  contact  with  the 
best  minds  in  the  educational  world.  All 
the  time  he  should  live,  dress,  and  main¬ 
tain  his  family  on  a  scale  consistent  with 
his  rank  as  a  professional  man,  equal  in 
training  and  service  to  the  physician  and 
lawyer.  Further,  he  faces  the  probability 
of  somewhat  early  retirement  and  there¬ 
fore  should  be  able  to  make  provision  for 
old  age. 

It  is  true  that  few  teachers  have  been 
able  to  do  all  these  things.  But  the  ex- 


1“The  Ideal  Teacher,”  Palmer. 


Administration  Building,  Simpson  College 
Indianola,  Iowa 

.5 


EDUCATION 


519 


pectation  rapidly  grows  and  soon  will 
become  a  demand  that  they  shall  be  able 
to  do  them,  not  primarily  for  their  own 
sake  but  for  the  sake  of  their  students. 
Unless  teachers  are  vital,  amply  informed, 
and  devoted  to  their  work,  they  cannot  in¬ 
vigorate  life  through  knowledge.  For 
this  reason  the  time  is  near  when  only 
the  schools  that  provide  suitably  for  their 
teachers  will  be  classed  as  standard  or 
worthy  of  recognition. 

J/..  Pension  'provision 

Methodism  then  must  make  ready  to 
raise  more  money  for  education.  Mr.  John 
D.  Rockefeller’s  famous  Christmas  gift  of 
$50,000,000  for  the  relief  of  teachers  was 
an  impressive  lesson.  It  recognized  a  des¬ 
perate  need.  It  suggested  the  only  efficient 
remedy.  The  money  was  distributed  with 
rare  judgment,  a  gift  usually  carrying  the 
condition  that  three  or  four  times  as  much 
be  added  to  the  fund  for  teachers’  sal¬ 
aries.  But  the  relief  was  only  partial  and 
it  was  confined  to  a  limited  number.  What 
this  rare  benefaction  initiated  the  church 
should  now  complete  for  the  teachers  in 
its  schools.  Temporary  relief  must  pass 
over  into  just  and  permanent  provision 
for  a  suitable  standard  of  living.  Other¬ 
wise  the  church  can  expect  to  retain  only 
a  weak  and  dispirited  corps  of  teachers. 
It  were  better  not  to  have  schools  unless 
they  can  be  manned  by  teachers  of  vigor, 
scholarship,  and  high  inspiration. 

There  is  no  doubt  that  if  our  schools 
meet  the  demands  upon  them  and  do  their 
share  in  American  education  their  capac¬ 
ity  will  need  almost  to  be  doubled  and 
their  expenditures  more  than  doubled 
during  the  next  ten  years. 

2.  Conclusion 

Necessary  limitations. — The  church  has 
established  and  has  in  operation  a  large 
group  of  schools  involving  a  heavy 
expense.  Due  to  certain  present  con¬ 
ditions,  increasing  costs,  rapid  growth 
of  student  bodies,  the  introduction 
of  new  departments  of  teaching,  our 
colleges  are  finding  unusual  difficulty  in 
meeting  their  necessary  current  expenses. 


Varsity  crew,  Syracuse  University,  Syracuse,  N.  Y. 


The  situation  amounts  to  what  is  almost 
a  crisis.  These  present  needs  are  likely 
to  continue  to  be  during  three  years,  the 
most  insistent  needs  of  the  colleges. 

There  are  other  needs  almost  as  press¬ 
ing,  such  as  additional  material  equip¬ 
ment,  buildings,  libraries,  laboratories. 
No  attempt  has  been  made  to  set  forth 
these  needs  in  detail  for  the  total  cost 
would  go  beyond  the  provision  of  general 
benevolences.  It  seems  to  the  Board  of 
Education  inescapable  that  many  needs 
of  the  colleges  must  be  provided  for  en¬ 
tirely  beyond  and  outside  of  the  public 
collection  in  the  churches.  This  is  what 
has  been  done  in  the  past. 

To  make  a  scientific  showing  of  even  the 
present  needs  of  the  colleges  in  all  their 
relations  would  involve  investigations  so 
expensive  that  the  board  would  have  felt 
embarrassed  by  the  cost. 

A  primary  interest. — Education  is  not  a 
final  end,  but  a  primary  interest;  that  is, 
education  does  not  exist  for  itself  as  an 
end,  but  as  a  preparation  for  other  under¬ 
takings.  Those  who  would  prove  its 
claim  to  assistance  from  the  church,  must 
show  that  education  returns  more  than 
all  it  costs,  in  service  rendered  in  the  ac¬ 
complishment  of  all  the  great  ends  for 
which  the  church  is  striving.  Is  it  not 
true  that  all  our  agencies  and  undertak¬ 
ings,  whether  they  be  the  pastorate  or 
the  episcopacy,  whether  they  be  missions 
or  philanthropies,  depend  for  their  guid¬ 
ance,  their  administration,  their  leader- 


520 


WORLD  SERVICE 


ship,  on  men  who  a  few  years  ago  were 
making  ready  in  college  halls?  What  is 
asked  of  education  is  not  simply  the  ad¬ 
dition  of  graces  and  ornaments,  what  is 
asked  is  the  promise  of  effective  public 
and  world  service  in  all  the  causes  for 
which  the  church  does  strive. 

A  balanced  program  needed. — Wise  ad¬ 
ministration  of  our  benevolences  ought  to 
provide  for  the  largest  immediate  achieve¬ 
ments  in  our  various  fields  of  activity  on 
the  front  line,  as  it  were.  But  it  will  be 
sorry  service  to  mankind  that  prevents 


the  laying  of  foundations  for  the  greater 
missions  and  philanthropies  of  the  next 
generation.  The  foundations  must  be  laid 
down  in  our  colleges  and  the  doing  will 
not  wait.  To  find  a  proper  balance  be¬ 
tween  the  needs  of  the  service  of  the 
church  in  the  present  day  and  its  under¬ 
lying  service  in  the  schools  and  colleges 
in  its  work  of  education  which  is  to  blos¬ 
som  and  bear  fruit  as  the  greater  service 
tomorrow,  to  find  this  balance  is  a  task 
of  highest  consequence  to  the  future  of 
the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church. 


WORSHIP  SERVICE  IN  A  MODERN  PRIMARY  DEPARTMENT 

Formation ,  not  ref ormation , holds  the  vita!  secret  of  the  world' s  progress. 

J.  G.  Holland 

/  have  a  notion  that  children  are  about  the  only  people  we  can  do  much 
of  anything  for.  When  we  get  to  be  men  and  women,  we  are  either 
spoiled  or  improved.  The  work  is  done.  But  while  young,  a  great  deal 
can  be  dene  for  us. 

Benjamin  Harrison 


THE  BOARD  OF  SUNDAY  SCHOOLS 

ANALYSIS  OF  STATEMENT 


I.  The  Board  of  Sunday  Schools 

II.  Fourteen  Years  of  Board  Supervi¬ 
sion 

III.  Basis  of  Studies  and  Scope  of  Facts 

IV.  The  Task  as  it  Appears  Today 

1.  Methodist  Episcopal  responsibility 

2.  Training  an  adequate  leadership 

3.  Evangelism  in  the  church  school 

4.  Status  of  children  in  the  Sunday 
school 

5.  Distinctive  mission  to  young  people 

6.  Training  world  Christians 

7.  Service  to  adults 


8.  Week-day  and  vacation  church 
schools 

9.  The  challenge  of  the  foreign  field 

V.  What  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church  Should  do  for  Religious 
Education  in  the  Next  Ten  Years 

1.  The  educational  point  of  view 

2.  What  this  point  of  view  implies 

3.  Modern  family  life 

4.  Advance  and  expansion  in  field 

work 

5.  Curriculum  promotion 

6.  Expansion  of  missionary  education 

7.  Week-day  and  Vacation  Schools 

8.  Development  of  the  local  school 

9.  Directors  of  Religious  Education. 


34 


521 


522 


WORLD  SERVICE 


The  General  Confer¬ 
ence  has  interpreted  the 
task  of  the  Board  of  Sun¬ 
day  Schools  as  including 
the  promotion  of  men’s 
church  organizations, 
family  worship,  and  vari¬ 
ous  supplemental  forms 
of  religious  education, 
such  as  week-day  schools 
of  religious  education, 
daily  vacation  church 
schools,  and  a  definite  re¬ 
sponsibility  for  recrea¬ 
tional  leadership.  Upon 
these  main  lines,  and  in 
harmony  with  the  definite 
tasks  assigned,  the  Board 
Training  leaders  through  leading:  Senior  Department  President  0f  Sunday  Schools  has  en- 
conducing  opening  service  of  worsh.p  deavored'to  carry  out  the 

I.  THE  BOARD  OF  SUNDAY  SCHOOLS  wdl  of  the  church  since  its  organization 
OF  THE  METHODIST  EPIS-  in  May,  1908. 

COPAL  CHURCH 


The  Church  by  action  of  the  General 
Conference  established  the  Board  of  Sun¬ 
day  Schools  “for  the  moral  and  religious 
instruction  of  our  children  and  for  the 
promotion  of  Bible  knowledge  among  all 
our  people.”  To  this  board  is  assigned 
“general  oversight  of  all  the  Sunday- 
school  interests  of  the  Methodist  Episco¬ 
pal  Church.”  1 

The  constitution  of  this  board  specifies 
certain  duties,  such  as  the  following : 

1.  Founding  new  Sunday  schools  in 
needy  neighborhoods. 

2.  Contributing  help  to  Sunday  schools 
needing  assistance. 

3.  Educating  the  church  in  all  phases 
of  Sunday-school  work,  constantly  en¬ 
deavoring  to  raise  ideals  and  improve 
methods. 

4.  Determining  the  Sunday-school  cur¬ 
riculum,  including  the  courses  for  teacher 
training. 

5.  Giving  impulse  and  direction  to  the 
study  of  the  Bible  in  the  church. 

1  Discipline,  f468,  §§1-3. 


II.  FOURTEEN  YEARS  OF  BOARD 
SUPERVISION 

The  annual  reports  of  the  board  ren¬ 
dered  to  the  church  in  complete  detail  and 
recorded  in  the  year  books  give  a  compre- 


Sunday-school  total  enrolment  and  average 
attendance  1908-1921 


SUNDAY  SCHOOLS 


523 


hensive  account  of  the  growth  of  the  reli¬ 
gious  education  movement  in  the  Metho¬ 
dist  Episcopal  Church  during  the  fourteen 
years  of  the  board’s  history.1 

III.  BASIS  OF  STUDIES  AND  SCOPE 
OF  FACTS 

A  cross-section  study.— In  making  this 
study  of  the  present  status  of  religious 
education  in  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church  there  were  selected  cross  sections 
of  the  church  in  the  United  States,  com¬ 
prising  twenty-four  annual  conferences 
and  one  district. 

Three  thousand  churches  studied. — One 
hundred  and  five  districts  of  these  confer¬ 
ences  were  studied.  Written  data  were 
secured  from  more  than  three  thousand 
separate  churches  covering  the  following 
subjects:  Organization  and  administra¬ 
tion  of  the  church  school;  methods  of 
increasing  enrolment  and  attendance ; 
leadership  training;  evangelistic  results 
and  life  service  volunteers;  missionary 
education;  methods  of  finance  in  local 
schools;  recreational  provisions;  directors 
of  religious  education;  week-day  schools 
of  religion,  and  vacation  church  schools. 

Accurate  information  available. — In  ad¬ 
dition  to  this  investigation  the  board  had 
access  to  the  findings  of  the  Indiana  Sur¬ 
vey  initiated  by  the  Interchurch  World 
Movement  and  completed  by  the  Commit¬ 
tee  on  Social  and  Religious  Surveys;  the 
reports  of  the  Religious  Education  Associ¬ 
ation;  the  Sunday  School 
Council  of  Evangelical  De¬ 
nominations;  and  also 
much  accurate  informa¬ 
tion  within  its  own  office. 

In  addition  to  the  pub¬ 
lished  reports  from  the 
workers  in  the  foreign 
field,  first-hand  informa¬ 
tion  concerning  the  status 
of  religious  education  in 
the  foreign  mission  fields 
was  obtained  through  the 
personal  visitation  of  the 
Superintendent  of  the 

'Year-Books  of  Board  of  Sun¬ 
day  Schools.  1908-1921. 


Foreign  Department,  to  mission  fields 
in  South  America,  Europe,  India,  Malay¬ 
sia,  the  Philippines,  and  the  Far  East, 
and  through  the  experience  of  the  Super¬ 
intendent  of  Young  People’s  Work,  who 
conducted  a  series  of  religious  education 
conferences  in  Japan,  Korea,  and  China 
for  the  World’s  Sunday  School  Associa¬ 
tion.  Limitation  of  space  prevents  more 
than  a  summary  of  the  significant  facts 
thus  assembled  concerning  the  teaching 
task  of  the  church. 

IV.  THE  TASK  AS  IT  APPEARS 
TODAY 

1.  Methodist  Episcopal  Responsibility 
One  fourth,  our  share. — These  studies 
show  that  one-fourth  of  the  Protestant  re¬ 
sponsibility  for  religious  education  in  the 
United  States  belongs  to  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church.  Of  the  19.000,000 
persons  enrolled  in  the  Protestant  Sunday 
schools,  4,278,616  are  enrolled  in  the  Sun¬ 
day  schools  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church  in  the  United  States.  Of  the  27,- 
000,000  persons  of  school  age  not  enrolled 
in  any  church  school,  6,500,000  form  an 
equitable  responsibility  for  our  church.  To 
meet  this  opportunity  we  must  continue 
to  overcome  the  habitual  absence  from  the 
church  school  of  a  large  percentage  of  the 
enrolment.  We  must  also  increase  our 
present  enrolment  by  more  than  one  hun¬ 
dred  per  cent. 


A  teacher-training  class  in  session 


524 


WORLD  SERVICE 


A  deserted  cook  house  in  the  Northwest  where  the  field  repre¬ 
sentative  of  the  board  organized  a  Sunday  school 


2.  Training  an  Adequate  Leadership 

Lack  of  trained  leadership. — If  we  had 
our  full  constituency  of  American  chil¬ 
dren  and  youth  enrolled  in  our  church 
schools,  would  we  have  an  adequate  force 
of  trained  teachers  to  instruct  them?  The 
survey  shows  that  only  seventeen  per  cent 
of  the  officers  and  teachers  of  our  Sunday 
schools  in  the  twenty-four  conferences  re¬ 
porting  have  ever  had  any  kind  of  teacher 
training.  Less  than  five  per  cent  of  the 
present  teaching  force  is  now  enrolled 


THOUSANDS 


in  any  kind  of  training 
course;  less  than  six  per 
cent  of  the  43,627  young 
people,  in  the  schools  re¬ 
porting,  between  the  ages 
of  eighteen  and  twenty- 
four  is  enrolled  in  any 
kind  of  training  class 
which  looks  forward  to  a 
trained  usefulness  in  the 
local  church.  The  Indiana 
Survey  shows  that  while 
the  public  schools  recruit 
their  teachers  from  middle 
and  later  adolescents,  the 
recruit  teachers  from  the 
and  adults,  neglecting 
women  at  the  very  time 


church  schools 
older  children 
young  men  and 
they  are  making  life  choices,  and  should  be 
in  training  for  service. 


METHODIST  EPISCOPAL 

SUNDAY  SCHOOLS 

IN  THE  UNITED  STATES  -  1921 


378,064 

OFFICERS  and  TEACHERS 

IN  METHODIST  EPISCOPAL  SUNDAY  SCHOOLS 
IN  THE  UNITED  STATES  -  1921 


Sunday-school  teachers  enrolled  in  training 
classes  by  the  Board  of  Sunday  Schools 
since  its  organization 


The  teacher-training  task 

It  is  very  significant  that  the  schools 
reporting  teacher-training  activity  beyond 
the  average,  also  show  a  larger  percentage 
of  attendance  than  the  average,  and  a 
larger  percentage  of  accessions  to  the 
church  from  the  Sunday-school  member¬ 
ship. 

There  is  unquestionably  improvement  in 
all  phases  of  Sunday-school  work  in  pro¬ 
portion  as  officers  and  teachers  are  being 
definitely  trained. 

a.  Field  work  and  organization. — Where 
the  board  has  full  time  field  men  stimu¬ 
lating  and  promoting  Sunday-school  effi¬ 
ciency,  and  where  its  institutes  and 
schools  of  methods  have  been  held,  the 
reports  show  a  twelve  per  cent  gain  in  the 
number  of  teachers  taking  training  as  over 


SUNDAY  SCHOOLS 


525 


the  conferences  where  these  forms  of  field 
work  have  not  obtained.  Twenty-nine  per 
cent  have  organized  departments,  as 
against  twenty-one  per  cent  where  there 
are  no  extension  men.  Forty-four  per 
cent  have  graded  lessons,  as  against 
thirty-six  per  cent  where  there  are  no  ex¬ 
tension  men.  The  year  1921  was  the  ban¬ 
ner  year  in  teacher-training  activity  in 
our  church,  but  the  year  1922  exceeds  it  in 
the  number  of  teacher-training  classes,  of 
students  enrolled,  and  of  standard  diplo¬ 
mas  and  certificates  given  for  class  work. 

Since  the  success  of  the  movement  for 
religious  education  in  the  church  depends 
so  largely  upon  a  greatly  increased  force 
of  qualified  officers  and  teachers,  the  Board 
of  Sunday  Schools  feels  that  it  must 
promptly  expand  its  present  force  of 
seventeen  intensive  field  workers,  con¬ 
fined  now  to  twenty  conferences,  until  it 
shall  have  at  least  one  full-time,  thor¬ 
oughly  capable  man  in  each  annual  con¬ 
ference,  backed  by  a  Conference  Board  of 
Religious  Education.1 

b.  Institutes  and  schools. — Campus  sum¬ 
mer  schools  are  provided  for  those  who  are 
training  for  work  in  the  local  church,  and 
especially  for  those  who  will  give  them¬ 
selves  to  leadership  as  field  directors  of 
religious  education. 

The  Conference  training  schools,  for  a 
shorter  time  and  with  fewer  courses, 
bring  together  general  and  local  workers 
from  the  annual  conference  field  for  spe¬ 
cial  training. 

District  institutes  of  still  shorter  dura¬ 
tion  give  inspiration  and  specific  informa¬ 
tion  to  Sunday-school  workers,  though  no 
credits  are  offered  toward  certificates  or 
diplomas. 

Church  training  night,  one  of  the  most 
promising  features  in  the  local  church 
today,  in  which  the  local  church  has  cor¬ 
related  all  its  training  activities,  affords 
a  fine  opportunity  to  add  to  the  regular 
teacher-training  classes  a  weekly  seminar 
on  the  problems  of  the  church  school. 

The  number  of  all  these  types  of  train¬ 
ing  schools  should  be  increased  until  all 

1  Discipline.  472. 


teachers  and  prospective  teachers,  in 
either  the  Sunday  or  week-day  sessions  of 
the  church  school,  shall  find  it  possible  to 
take  special  practical  courses  of  training. 

c.  Directors  of  religious  education. — By 
the  legislation  of  the  General  Conference 
of  1920  provision  was  made  for  the  ap¬ 
pointment  by  the  Quarterly  Conference  of 
a  director  of  religious  education,  to  have 
general  supervision  of  the  entire  teaching 
program  of  the  church.  Already  this  im¬ 
portant  position  is  being  filled  in  a  number 
of  forward-looking  churches.  The  studies 
show  that  of  the  2,684  churches  reporting, 
569,  or  twenty  per  cent,  have  a  director  of 
religious  education.  It  appears,  however, 
that  only  46  of  these  are  paid  directors. 
Even  the  designation  of  volunteer  direc¬ 
tors  indicates  a  recognition  of  the  need 
and  opportunity  for  special  leadership  in 
unifying  the  teaching  and  training  pro¬ 
grams  of  the  local  church.  The  regular 
organization  of  our  church  by  districts  and 
groups  invites  most  naturally  the  appoint¬ 
ment  of  directors  for  the  stimulation  and 
supervision  of  religious  education  within 
these  units. 


THOUSANDS 


Relation  of  Sunday-school  evangelism  to  net  in¬ 
crease  in  church  membership  1908-1921 


526 


WORLD  SERVICE 


3.  Evangelism  in  the  Church  School 

Accessions  from  the  Sunday  schools. — 
The  growth  of  church  membership  depends 
very  largely  upon  evangelistic  success  in 
the  Sunday  school.  From  1908  to  1921, 
2,249,436  members  of  the  Sunday  schools 
of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  were 
received  into  church  membership.  During 
the  same  fourteen  years  the  net  gain  in 
church  membership  (full  members)  was 
1,067,793,  or  less  than  half  the  number 
of  accessions  from  the  Sunday  schools 
alone. 

The  report  for  the  single  year  1921 
shows  the  same  ratio :  accessions  from 
the  Sunday  schools,  200,668;  net  gain  in 
church  membership  (full  members), 
78,682. 

Evangelism  must  be  understood  as  con¬ 
tinuous.  The  initial  act  of  confessing 
Christ  and  uniting  with  the  church  is  not 
the  end  of  evangelism,  but  the  basis  for 
a  continuous  process  of  growth  in  grace 
through  Christian  nurture,  instruction, 
and  training  in  service. 

Religious  education  and  evangelism.— 
The  relation  of  religious  education  to 
evangelism  is  most  admirably  stated  in  a 
paper  adopted  by  the  Religious  Education 


Council  of  Canada,  from  which  the  fol¬ 
lowing  is  quoted: 

“We  seek  to  enlarge  the  content  of  the 
term  evangelism  so  that  evangelizing  shall 
be  understood  to  mean  Christianizing,  not 
limiting  the  term  to  a  single  emotional 
crisis  in  the  life  or  to  the  joining  of  the 
church,  but  including  in  it  antecedent  and 
subsequent  educational  processes. 

“We  seek,  on  the  other  hand,  to  enlarge 
the  content  of  the  term  education  so  that 
it  shall  not  be  regarded  as  a  mere  process 
of  formal  instruction,  but  rather  as  a  vital 
process  promotive  of  religious  life,  and  in¬ 
cluding  in  its  objectives  decision  for 
Christ,  church  membership,  Christian  in¬ 
telligence,  and  social  efficiency.” 

4.  Status  of  Children  in  the 
Sunday  School 

A  huge,  unfinished  task. — On  the  basis 
of  the  survey  of  twenty-four  conferences, 
there  are  Cradle  Rolls  in  73  per  cent  of 
the  Sunday  schools.  This  means  that  in 
27  per  cent  of  the  Sunday  schools  no  pro¬ 
vision  is  made  by  the  church  for  the  reli¬ 
gious  training  of  children  under  four  years 
of  age.  In  64  per  cent  of  the  churches  re¬ 
porting,  the  Stinday  school  is  the  only 
church  organization  of  any  kind  operating 
for  the  religious  training 
of  the  children  under 
twelve  years  of  age. 

The  degree  of  graded 
organization  is  gratifying, 
but  the  figures  show  that 
there  is  still  work  to  be 
done.  Thirty-three  per 
cent  of  the  Beginners’  De¬ 
partments,  thirty-six  per 
cent  of  the  Primary  De¬ 
partments,  and  thirty-two 
per  cent  of  the  Junior  De¬ 
partments  are  organized; 
while  twenty-one  per  cent 
of  the  churches  reporting 
admit  that  even  their 
youngest  children  meet 
in  the  same  room  with 
the  adults,  join  in  the 
same  worship,  and  study 
the  same  lessons. 


The  circle  talk  in  the  Beginners’  department 


SUNDAY  SCHOOLS 


527 


On  the  basis  of  the 
survey,  forty  -  eight 
per  cent  of  the  pupils 
enrolled  in  our  Sun¬ 
day  schools  are  under 
twelve  years  of  age. 

This  includes  the 
Cradle  Roll  Depart¬ 
ment. 

5.  Distinctive  Mis¬ 
sion  to  Young 
People 

The  young  people’s 
department.  —  The 
survey  reveals  that 
the  age  group  from 
twelve  to  twenty- 
four  years  represents 
thirty-three  per  cent 
of  the  entire  Sunday- 
school  enrolment. 

Thirty-two  per  cent 
of  the  churches  stud¬ 
ied  had  no  other  or¬ 
ganized  agency  for 
this  age  group  than  the  Sunday  school. 
The  Indiana  Survey  shows  that  forty-six 
per  cent  of  the  churches  studied  had  no 
other  organization  for  the  children  and 
young  people  than  the  Sunday  school. 

In  view  of  this  large  responsibility  for 
the  most  critical  period  of  life,  it  is  perti¬ 
nent  to  ask  what  the  Board  of  Sunday 
Schools  has  to  offer  pastors,  Sunday- 
school  officers  and  teachers,  and  parents, 
all  of  whom  are  involved,  in  meeting  the 
needs  and  developing  the  Christian  charac¬ 
ter  of  youth.  The  board’s  program  urges : 

1.  An  organization  by  departments  and 
by  classes  in  which  the  intermediates, 
seniors,  and  young  people  may  be  served 
according  to  their  special  needs. 

2.  This  organization,  with  its  program 
of  worship,  instruction,  expression,  and 
service  recognizes  the  tested  principle 
that  young  people  are  best  developed  by 
being  helped  to  develop  themselves.  Pro¬ 
vision,  therefore,  is  made  for  participa¬ 
tion  in  the  planning  and  the  conduct  of 
the  entire  program  of  the  church  school 
by  the  young  people. 


3.  The  other  well- 
known  but  frequently 
ignored  fact  which 
governs  standards 
for  work  with  young 
people  is  the  indi¬ 
visible  unity  of  life. 
To  serve  any  phase 
of  life  effectively  we 
must  give  considera¬ 
tion  to  the  total  in¬ 
terest.  This  calls  for 
the  varied  program 
recommended. 

Recreational  needs. 
— What  is  the  recre¬ 
ational  need  in  this 
field?  Of  the  2,249 
churches  reporting 
on  recreational  and 
social  provision, 

19%  have  playrooms, 

12%  have  playgrounds, 
5%  have  gymnasiums, 
5%  have  athletic  fields. 

With  so  few  of  our  churches  making  any 
adequate  provision  for  the  recreational 
activities  of  our  children  and  young  people, 
is  it  any  wonder  that  so  many  of  them  seek 
their  satisfaction  in  this  respect  with  non¬ 
church  and  generally  with  non-religious 
agencies?  Finding  most  of  their  exhilara¬ 
tion  far  from  the  church,  vast  numbers 
of  them  do  not  return  to  the  church  for 
their  religious  satisfaction.  The  church 
must  minister  to  the  whole  life. 

The  Bureau  of  Architecture  reports  that 
eighty  per  cent  of  the  new  church  build¬ 
ings  seeking  the  counsel  of  the  bureau  last 
year  are  providing  recreational  equipment. 

The  modern  church  must  recognize  the 
importance  of  recreational  facilities  for 
the  cultivation  of  those  social  ideas  and 
principles  which  will  guide  our  young 
people  in  the  normal  social  relationships 
of  the  community. 

Influence  of  outside  agencies. — Forty- 
seven  per  cent  of  the  recreational  pro¬ 
grams  reported  are  under  the  auspices  of 
outside  agencies.  The  Indiana  Survey 
shows  that  nine  out  of  ten  Boy  Scouts  are 


“A' 


Scouting  builds  good  men 


528 


WORLD  SERVICE 


One  thousand  one  hun¬ 
dred  sixty-three  churches 
report  a  total  of  959 
young  people  now  in 
training  for  full-time 
Christian  service,  or 
three-fourths  as  many  as 
were  reported  entering 
full-time  Christian  serv¬ 
ice  during  the  previous 
ten  years,  and  yet  this  is 
an  utterly  inadequate 
gain  in  this  field. 


The  Young  People’s  Council  plans  activities 

members  of  the  Sunday  school,  but  the 
local  churches  usually  have  only  a  remote 
relation  to  the  local  councils  of  this  move¬ 
ment. 

The  older  boys’  and  older  girls’  confer¬ 
ences  are  being  offered  as  effective  means 
for  cultivating  the  interest  of  young  peo¬ 
ple  in  Christian  leadership,  and  yet  over 
half  of  the  churches  reporting  that  they 
had  sent  boys  to  such  conferences  indi¬ 
cated  that  they  were  not  conferences 
under  church  auspices.  Excellent  as  the 
influence  of  these  extra-church  and  allied 
agencies  may  be,  a  church  that  continues 
to  farm  out  its  youth  for  training  will  con¬ 
tinue  to  be  in  dire  need  of  strong  recruits 
for  its  leadership. 

Life  service  recruits. — From  the  1,509 
churches  answering  the  question,  1,320 
young  people  entered  full-time  Christian 
service  during  the  ten  years  from  1912  to 
1921 — an  average  of  not  quite  one  from 
each  church  in  the  decade. 

406  chose  the  ministry, 

253  foreign  missions, 

76  home  missions, 

124  deaconess  work, 

127  work  as  pastor’s  assistant, 

54  directorship  of  religious  education, 

101  Y.  M.  C.  A.  work, 

42  Y.  W.  C.  A.  work,  and 
137  other  fields. 


6.  Training  World 
Christians 

Spiritual  aims,.  —  Al¬ 
though  the  review  of  mis¬ 
sionary  education  in  the 
Sunday  schools,  as  con¬ 
ducted  by  this  board,  has 
revealed  phenomenally  increased  offerings 
to  the  benevolences  by  the  members  of 
the  Sunday  schools,  still  this  financial  evi¬ 
dence  is  not  the  conscious  objective  of  mis¬ 
sionary  education.  All  sorts  of  influences 
have  wrought  together  to  do  away  with 
geographical  provincialism.  The  inter¬ 
mingling  of  the  races  by  travel,  by  quick 
communication  and  for  commercial  pur¬ 
poses  has  made  it  more  insistent 
that  the  provincial  mind  shall  give 
way  to  a  mind  of  world  sympathy 
and  a  spirit  of  world  brotherhood. 

In  achieving  this  distinctly  spirit¬ 
ual  aim  our  efforts  are  already  pro¬ 
ducing  notable  results. 

Capable  leadership. — One  of  the 
methods  of  or¬ 
ganization  $7S||S 


1908- 

19U 


1912 


1915 


1916- 

1919 


1920- 

1922 


Missionary  offerings  in  Methodist  Episcopal  Sun¬ 
day  schools  since  the  organization  of  the 
Board  of  Sunday  Schools.  Per  an¬ 
num  averages  for  quadrenniums 


SUNDAY  SCHOOLS 


529 


stimulated  by  the  Department  of  Mission¬ 
ary  Education  is  to  have  a  capable  mis¬ 
sionary  superintendent  in  every  Sunday 
school.1  Under  the  leadership  of  this  officer 


1895  1900  1905  1910  1915  1920  1925 

Sunday-school  missionary  offerings  1895-1921 


1895  1900  1905  1910  1915  1920  1925 


Annual  per  capita  Sunday-school  giving  to 
missions  1895-1921 


-Discipline,  If 428,  §5  and  If 621,  §2. 


missionary  programs  and  expressional 
service-activities  are  constantly  promoted. 
Over  20,210  Sunday  schools  have  provided 
missionary  superintendents.  The  studies  of 
1,105  schools  in  three  representative  con¬ 
ferences,  the  Kansas,  Wilmington  and 
New  England,  showed  that: 

Where  they  had  a  missionary  superin¬ 
tendent — 

Per  capita  offering  was  44  cents. 

They  had  pledged  101  per  cent  of  quota. 

They  had  paid  in  1921  83  per  cent  of 
quota. 


Budget  of  Board  of  Sunday  Schools 

Relation  of  board’s  budget  to  the  total  giving 
of  Sunday  schools 


Offerings  to 
Missions 

1908  . $  476,333.00 

1909  .  523,200.00 

1910  .  578,066.00 

1911  .  591,865.00 

1912  .  594.577.00 

1913  .  631,086.00 

1914  .  654,381.00 

1915  .  646,988.00 

1916  .  676,220.00 

1917  .  696,004.00 

1918  .  742,032.00 

1919  .  1,025,456.00 

1920  .  2,000,000.00 

1921  .  1,774,660.00 


Paid  for 
Lesson  Helps 
$1,532,521.00 
1,542,144.00 
1.551,405.00 
1,665,978.00 
1.935,545.00 
1,874,440.00 
1,842,345.00 
1,935,446.00 
1,967,213.00 
2,034.117.00 
2,064,707.00 
2,190,007.00 
2,496,786.00 
2,946,007.00 


Budget  of 
the  Board 

$  49,823.00 
63,224.00 
82,969.00 
97,480.00 
96,531.00 
134,679.00 
166,261.00 
167,374.00 
172,993.00 
181.431.00 
210,877.00 
305,433.00 
378,048.00 
365,559.00 


530 


WORLD  SERVICE 


The  Adult  Bible  Class  appeals  to  men 


Where  they  had  no  missionary  superin¬ 
tendent — 

Per  capita  offering  was  29  cents. 

They  had  pledged  71  per  cent  of  quota. 

They  had  paid  in  1921  61  per  cent  of 
quota. 

7.  This  Board’s  Service  to  Adults 

Organized  lay  forces. — Since  the  entire 
program  of  the  church  for  childhood  and 
youth  is  almost  entirely  dependent  upon 
the  good  will  and  wisdom  of  adults,  the 
board  has  an  urgent  mission  to  the  grown¬ 
ups  in  the  church  school.  The  organized 
Adult  Bible  Class  movement  is  today  the 
largest  and  most  widely  distributed  organ¬ 
ization  of  the  lay  forces  of  the  church. 

Three  thousand  churches  replying  to 
the  inquiry  reported  an  enrolment  of 
119,420  persons  over  24  years  of  age. 
These  same  schools  reported  a  total  enrol¬ 
ment  of  627,182.  It  will  be  seen  that  nine¬ 
teen  per  cent  are  adults,  nearly  one-fifth  of 
the  entire  enrolment. 

a.  Many  of  them  are  parents.  —  The 
family,  therefore,  must  be  exalted  in  their 
thinking  and  doing.  The  board  is  pro¬ 
moting  a  revival  of  worship  and  religious 
instruction  in  the  home.  As  parents  these 
adults  may  help  or  hinder  greatly  the 
efforts  of  the  teachers  of  their  children. 
The  board  promotes  mothers’  associations 
and  parents’  classes.  It  endeavors  to  es¬ 
tablish  a  more  effective  co-operation 
between  the  home  and  the  church  in  their 
common  task  for  childhood  and  youth. 


b.  These  adults  are  citizens,  voters; 
their  intelligent  Christian  convictions  re¬ 
specting  a  social  order  that  shall  be  Chris¬ 
tian  is  of  the  utmost  importance.  The 
Bible  classes  are  in  many  instances  forums 
for  the  study  of  applied  Christianity. 

c.  These  adults  are  laymen  of  the  church. 
— What  they  think,  and  how  they  feel 
toward  the  policy  and  objectives  of  the 
church  is  a  matter  of  great  concern.  The 
board  aims  to  help  the  local  churches  in 
their  efforts  to  have  a  laity,  broad  in  its 
vision,  sympathies,  and  fervent  in  its 
passion  for  righteousness. 

The  Adult  Bible  Class  has  proved  to  be 
a  most  effective  evangelistic  agency  in 
winning  men  and  women  to  Christ,  and  in 
relating  them  to  active  membership  in 
the  church. 

8.  Week-day  and  Vacation 
Church  Schools 

A  timely  challenge. — The  church  school 
is  now  clearly  recognized  as  operating  on 
Sunday,  week  days,  during  the  school 
year,  and  during  vacation. 

The  Sunday  session  of  the  church  school 
is  now  and  probably  will  be  for  some  time 
the  strongest  arm  of  the  church  in  its  re¬ 
ligious  educational  activity.  The  week-day 
church  school,  meeting  before,  after,  but 
preferably  during  school  hours,  and  the 
daily  vacation  church  school  carried  on 
during  the  summer  vacation  for  periods 
of  three  to  five  or  even  eight  weeks,  are 
supplemental  agencies. 


SUNDAY  SCHOOLS 


531 


Practically  the  entire 
public  school  world  is 
alive  to  the  challenge  of 
undergirding  the  coming 
generation  with  the 
fundamental  principles  of 
a  Christian  citizenship. 

The  vast  numbers  of 
children  in  the  United 
States  as  yet  untouched 
by  any  form  of  education 
in  religion  is  appalling. 

Practically  one-half  of 
our  total  population  is 
under  twenty-five  years  of 
age,  and  three-fifths  of 
these  have  no  religious 
education. 


Boy  leading  worship  service  in  week-day  school  of  religion 


chinery  which  can  be  depended  upon  to 
hand  on,  from  generation  to  generation, 
social  and  industrial  achievements  of  the 
race;  but  we  have  not  had  an  equally  effi¬ 
cient  piece  of  machinery  with  which  to 
hand  on  from  generation  to  generation  the 
moral  and  spiritual  achievements  of  the 
race.” 

A  church  school  system. — The  Christian 
church  is  now  in  the  process  of  organizing 
a  church  school  system  that  will  reach  the 
very  last  child.  This  system  will  have  its 
Sunday,  week-day,  and  vacation  school 
sessions. 

The  increase  in  population  of  the  United 
States  averages  1.4  per  cent  annually.  The 
annual  increase  in  the  enrolment  of  chil¬ 
dren  in  our  Sunday  schools  is  approxi¬ 
mately  three-tenths  per  cent. 

Our  own  church  was  early  in  the  field 
experimenting  to  find  a  way  to  check  this 
tragic  decline.  Through  the  work  of  this 
board  in  this  field  certain  guide  lines  have 
been  set,  certain  conclusions  reached  and 
definite  leadership  established.  Its  em¬ 
barrassment  is  the  rapidity  with  which 
the  movement  is  spreading  and  the  nature 
and  frequency  of  the  calls  for  help. 

Approximately  800  week-day  schools 
are  reported  in  the  office  of  the  Religious 
Education  Association.  Twenty-four  Meth¬ 
odist  Episcopal  conferences  report  358. 
In  these  are  enrolled  one  per  cent  of  the 


Persons  under  25  years  of  age . . . 53,197,850  1 

In  Protestant  Sunday  schools . 19,713,775  2 

In  Catholic  religious  schools .  1,870,000 3 

In  Jewish  religious  schools . .  87,000 3 

Unreached  Protestants  . 27,274,000 

Methodism’s  share  .  6,818,500 


These  figures  seem  to  justify  Professor 
Athearn’s  statement: 

“The  democratic  state  has  created,  in 
the  public  school  system,  a  piece  of  ma- 


1  Interchurch  World  Movement  Survey:  Estimate 
of  U.  S.  Census  Bureau,  1917.  Figures  include  chil¬ 
dren  too  young  for  Sunday  school  attendance. 

2  Reported  by  Sunday  School  Council  as  20,801,- 
568,  including  all  North  America.  Figures  include 
adults  above  25  years  of  age. 

3  Census  of  Religious  Bodies,  1916. 


A  class  in  daily  vacation  Bible  school 


532 


WORLD  SERVICE 


day  church  school  is  of 
outstanding  value.  If  the 
5,522  pupils  reported  in 
331  Methodist  schools  who 
had  no  church  home  are 
won  to  the  Sunday  school, 
and  their  parents  to  the 
church,  the  effort  will  be 
most  worth  while. 


Waiting  for  the  daily  vacation  Bible  school  to  open 


Protestant  school  population  of  the  com¬ 
munities  involved.  Three  hundred  and 
thirty-one  of  these  schools  meet  in  Meth¬ 
odist  Episcopal  churches. 

A  community  school. — The  movement, 
however,  is  co-operative.  Several  or  all 
of  the  churches  of  a  community  unite  to 
reach  all  the  children.  Methodism’s  op¬ 
portunity  is,  first,  to  see  that  each  of  the 
29,620  Methodist  Episcopal  churches 
makes  larger  time  provision  for  the 
3,500,000  school  children  already  enrolled 
as  Sunday-school  pupils,  and  for  her  share 
of  the  27,000,000  children  not  related  to 
any  Sunday  school  or  church.  She  must 
also  see  to  it  that  the  462  district  super¬ 
intendents  and  the  16,554  pastors  as  well 
as  other  leaders  are  pro¬ 
vided  with  necessary  in¬ 
formation  and  help. 

The  church  must  pro¬ 
vide  through  colleges 
and  theological  schools, 
trained  leaders,  both  lay 
and  clerical,  men  and 
women  who  will  head  the 
schools  and  teach  the  chil¬ 
dren.  Whole  communities 
have  already  turned  to 
this  method  of  religious 
instruction. 

As  an  Americanizing 
influence  and  a  mission¬ 
ary  enterprise,  the  week¬ 


Vacation  schools.  — 
Otherwise  idle  churches, 
idle  college  students,  idle 
boys  and  girls  are  uti¬ 
lized  by  vacation  church 
schools.  In  192  2  more 
than  5,000  such  schools 
were  held,  with  an  enrol¬ 
ment  of  over  350,000  children.  Of  these 
forty  per  cent  were  boys  and  girls  un¬ 
touched  by  any  church  or  Sunday  school. 

In  twenty-four  conferences  228  vaca¬ 
tion  church  schools  were  held  in  1922,  en¬ 
rolling  27,830  pupils.  This  is  9.5  per  cent 
of  the  2,383  churches  replying  to  this 
item  in  the  questionnaire.  There  were 
reported  338  as  held  in  co-operation 
with  other  church  or  churches  of  the  com¬ 
munity.  Of  the  pupils  enrolled  in  these 
schools  5,522  were  not  connected  with  any 
Sunday  school  or  church. 

A  missionary  harvest  field. — As  a  mis¬ 
sionary  enterprise,  especially  in  non- 
churched  and  congested  foreign-speaking 
communities,  the  daily  vacation  church 


A  Japanese  Sunday  school  out  of  doors 


SUNDAY  SCHOOLS 


533 


Feeding  German  children —  a  result  of  the  Sunday-school 
Christmas  offering 


school  is  unsurpassed. 

Also  its  rapid  introduc¬ 
tion  in  foreign  lands  is 
providing  a  means  by 
which  the  increasing  num¬ 
bers  of  Christian  college 
men  and  women  may 
carry  the  Message  to  the 
childhood  and  youth  of 
their  own  home  communi¬ 
ties. 

In  active  promotion, 
number  of  vacation 
schools,  and  interest, 

Methodism  stands  third  in 
America.  The  Presbyteri¬ 
ans  with  878  schools  in 
1922,  and  the  Baptists 
with  641  surpass  us. 

The  program,  the  methods,  and  worthy 
curricula,  are  ready  for  churches  and  com¬ 
munities.  Co-operation  with  the  Inter¬ 
national  Association  of  Daily  Vacation 
Bible  Schools  is  established.  The  field  is 
ready.  Leadership  is  available. 

The  training  of  the  teachers  for  the  va¬ 
cation  schools  is  a  problem  to  be  met  only 
by  adequate  college  courses  and  by  com- 


THOUSANDS 


Sunday-school  enrolment  in  the  foreign  field 
1895-1921 


munity  and  denominational  training 
schools.  There  were  six  such  schools  held 
by  Methodists  in  1922,  29  by  Presbyteri¬ 
ans  and  26  by  Baptists. 

No  greater  challenge  may  be  found  in 
the  entire  church  than  the  opportunity  for 
week-day  religious  education  as  it  pre¬ 
sents  itself  today. 

9.  The  Challenge  of  the 
Foreign  Field 

Needs  and  plans  in  foreign  fields. — ■ 
Making  allowance  for  differences  of 
method  due  to  differences  of  racial  charac¬ 
teristics,  religious  backgrounds  and  ex¬ 
perience,  historical  and  local  conditions, 
all  that  has  been  said  thus  far  connotes 
like  needs  and  plans  for  religious  educa¬ 
tion  in  lands  outside  America,  for  there 
we  are  carrying  on  this  same  great  task. 

Prior  to  1908,  the  type  of  Sunday-school 
work  done  on  the  foreign  field  was  vari¬ 
able.  If  a  given  missionary  happened  to 
be  interested  in  it,  it  prospered  in  his  sta¬ 
tion  to  the  extent  of  his  understanding 
and  until  he  became  submerged  beneath 
the  numerous  duties  of  the  mission  field. 
Everything  depended  upon  the  mission¬ 
aries  and  they  have  always  been  over¬ 
loaded  with  a  multiplicity  of  inescapable 
duties. 

In  1908,  however,  the  church  reorgan¬ 
ized  its  religious  educational  work  through 


534 


WORLD  SERVICE 


METHODIST 

’ 

EPISCOPAL 


the  Sunday  schools  at  home  and  abroad 
and  through  its  Board  of  Sunday  Schools 
began  to  give  intensive  cultivation  to  the 
work  in  foreign  fields.  The  general  plan 
has  been  to  place  a  specialist,  trained  in 
religious  education,  in  each  general  racial, 
or  linguistic,  or  national  field,  and 
then  build  up  about  this  secre¬ 
tary  a  staff  of  skilled  asso¬ 
ciates  to  aid  in  the  crea¬ 
tion  of  literature,  in  the 
training  of  teachers  and 
other  leaders,  in  holding 
institutes,  and  in  aid¬ 
ing  the  missionaries 
and  national  workers 
to  a  fuller  and  more 
accurate  understanding 
of  their  task. 

The  limited  funds 
available  for  this  work 
have  made  it  impossible 
thus  far  to  more  than 
make  a  beginning  upon 
this  program  putting  a 
secretary  only  into  a 
given  field,  occasionally  with  an  assist¬ 
ant,  and  initiating  efforts  toward  the  cre¬ 
ation  of  lessons  and  helps,  teacher  train¬ 
ing,  and  the  establishing  of  standards  of 
work.  Even  this  skeleton  outline  organi¬ 
zation  has  not  yet  been  completed  in  all 
our  mission  fields,  but  our  Board  of 
Sunday  Schools  has  now  thirty-five  such 
workers  in  the  different  countries  of  the 
foreign  world.  These 
workers  are  mostly 
nationals,  for  it  is  the 
policy  of  the  board  to 
use  national  leader¬ 
ship  wherever  possi¬ 
ble. 

Significant  results. 

— Already  it  is  possi¬ 
ble  to  see  results 
from  this  policy,  as  a 
few  comparisons  will 
indicate. 

1.  In  India  the 
board  did  not  put  an 
American  secretary 


BAPTIST 
DISCIPLES 
PRESBYTERIAN 
CONGREGATIONAL 


AND 


Methodist  and  other  Protestant  Sunday- 
school  enrolment  in  the  Philippine  Islands 


1895 


at  work  until  1916.  In  the  five  years 
since  then  the  number  of  Sunday  schools 
has  increased  almost  2,000  and  the  mem¬ 
bership  has  jumped  from  134,042  to 
187,126. 

2.  In  Europe,  the  general  director  of 
this  work  was  not  installed  until 
1919,  but  in  the  following  two 
years  our  Sunday-school 
membership  has  increased 
20,000  in  spite  of  all  the 
confusion  and  disruption 
of  after-war  times. 

3.  In  the  Philippines 
in  1912  our  Sunday- 
school  membership  was 
8,685;  in  1921  it  had 
increased  to  31,373, 
under  the  leadership  of 
a  secretary  trained  in 
the  Department  of  Re¬ 
ligious  Education  of 
Northwestern  Univer¬ 
sity. 

The  work  of  special¬ 
ists.  —  A  comparison 
between  the  increase  in  church  member¬ 
ship  and  that'  in  Sunday-school  member¬ 
ship  shows  the  effect  of  intensive 
specialized  leadership. 

Most  of  the  larger  of  these  Sunday- 
school  increases  have  come  in  the  last  four 
years,  so  that  the  results  have  scarcely 
had  time  to  register  heavily  in  the  church 
membership  increase  which  must  in¬ 
evitably  follow  later, 
especially  if  funds 
become  available  to 
permit  the  quality  of 
the  work  to  keep  pace 
with  the  quantity 
expansion. 

One  further  com¬ 
parison  is  illumi¬ 
nating.  The  following 
denominations  doing 
Sunday-school  work 
in  the  Philippines 
have  no  Sunday- 
school  specialist  in 
that  field:  Presbyte- 


ENR0LMENT 


53084  INCREASE 


54007  INCREASE 


2027  INCREASE 


What  supervision  has  done  for  India 


SUNDAY  SCHOOLS 


535 


rian,  Disciples,  United  Brethren,  Congre¬ 
gational  and  Baptist.  Their  total  com¬ 
bined  Sunday-school  membership  in  the 
Philippines  amounts  to  32,127.  The 
membership  of  Meth¬ 
odist  Episcopal  Sun¬ 
day  schools  is  31,370. 

Methodism  with  a 
specialist  directing 
its  work  both  quali¬ 
tatively  and  quanti¬ 
tatively  in  the  field 
comes  within  757  of 
having  as  many 

HOURS 

GENERAL  EDUCATION  750 


2.  What  This  Point  of  View  Implies 
When  the  church  is  fully  committed  to  a 
program  of  religious  instruction  certain 
obvious  provisions  must  follow. 


PROTESTANT  24 
CATHOLIC  200 
JEWISH  335 


250  HOURS  IN  WEEK  DAY  SCHOOLS 


Hours  per  year  devoted  to  religious  education 
by  children  of  Protestant,  Catholic, 
and  Jewish  families 


a.  Buildings  and 
equipment.  —  A  re¬ 
adjustment  of  build¬ 
ings  and  equipment 
to  make  possible  the 
work  of  the  school  of 
the  church. 

b.  Time  for  the 
church  school. — Pro¬ 
vision  for  an  exten- 


RELIGI0US  EDUCATION  24  | 

Comparative  time  schedule  of  a  Protestant  pupil  showing  hours  per  year  devoted 

to  general  and  to  religious  education 


pupils  in  its  Sunday  schools  as  all  the 
other  five  great  denominations  combined. 

V.  WHAT  THE  METHODIST  EPISCO¬ 
PAL  CHURCH  SHOULD  DO  FOR 
RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION  IN  THE 
NEXT  TEN  YEARS 

The  church’s  future  emphasis. — Bearing 
in  mind  the  main  achievements  in  this 
field  during  the  recent  past  and  the  rather 
careful  study  of  the  present  situation,  the 
prophets  of  religious  education  generally 
agree  upon  these  lines  of  development : 

1.  The  Educational  Point  of  View 
The  church  as  a  whole  must  be  led  to 
accept  the  educational  point  of  view  that 
religion  can  be  taught  and  must  be 
fully  committed  to  the  teaching  method  as 
a  major  concern  in  establishing  the  rule 
of  Christ  throughout  the  world.  The 
church  of  today  must  yet  be  convinced 
that  a  Christian  life  for  the  individual  and 
for  society  is  an  achievement;  that  we 
must  prepare  for  Christian  decision  by 
Christian  nurture  and  follow  such  deci¬ 
sion  by  instruction  and  training.  The 
Board  of  Sunday  Schools  believes  that 
leading  our  church  to  this  conception  is  its 
biggest  task  in  the  next  ten  years. 


sion  of  the  time  for  instruction  and 
training  far  beyond  the  limited  period 
now  available  for  the  Sunday  session 
of  the  church  school.  The  teaching 
program  of  the  local  church  properly 
correlated  will  afford  more  time.  The 
home  should  make  its  contribution  of 
time  needed  and  the  public  schools  should 
make  possible  better  week-day  schools  of 
religious  education  by  co-operating  with 
the  church  in  arranging  the  necessary 
time  schedules. 

c.  A  trained  leadership.  —  The  most 
vital  provision  is  in  the  field  of  a  trained 
leadership  for  the  local  church.  There 
must  be  officials  with  vision,  courage  and 
skill  to  organize  and  administer  the 
church  for  teaching  purposes,  a  teaching 
force  which  even  though  it  must  be  volun¬ 
teer  for  the  most  part,  will  have  such  in¬ 
telligent  understanding  of  the  spiritual 
worth  of  the  enterprise  as  to  give  both  de¬ 
votion  and  ability  to  the  work. 

No  such  trained  leadership  can  possibly 
be  furnished  the  local  churches  of  Metho¬ 
dism  without  a  large  expansion  of  the 
present  field  organization  and  of  schools 
for  the  training  and  inspiring  of  such  a 
body  of  workers.  In  the  entire  range  of  a 
trained  personnel  for  the  realization  of  a 


536 


WORLD  SERVICE 


—court  cure.”  Judge  Ben  B.  Lindsey 


church  should  be  able  to 
offer  local  churches  and 
training  schools  as  well  as 
to  the  departments  of  reli¬ 
gious  education  in  col¬ 
leges  and  seminaries,  cur¬ 
ricula  in  the  field  of 
religion  better  articulated 
and  truer  to  the  best  ed¬ 
ucational  principles  than 
obtain  in  other  fields  of 
education. 

e.  Necessary  correlation. 
— The  problem  of  corre¬ 
lation  among  all  the  agen¬ 
cies  interested  in  the 
common  task  of  religious 


“Church  prevention — 


teaching  program,  the 
next  ten  years  should  wit¬ 
ness  at  least  a  ten-fold 
advance. 

d.  An  adequate  curricu¬ 
lum. — The  teaching  ma¬ 
terial  must  be  put  into 
the  best  possible  form  for 
teaching  purposes.  We 
have  only  begun  on  this 
problem  of  providing  a 
curriculum  of  religious 
material  for  use  in  the 
various  sessions  of  the 
church  school.  During 
the  next  ten  years  our 


— is  better  than — 


education  must  be  ad¬ 
vanced  toward  solution  as 
rapidly  as  possible.  The 
home,  the  school  and  the 
church  must  find  a  way  to 
closer  affiliation.  The 
present  promiscuous  ef¬ 
forts  of  the  various  agen¬ 
cies  in  the  local  churches 
must  give  way  to  a  cor¬ 
related  and  purposeful 
plan  of  procedure.  This 
will  require  a  frank  un¬ 
derstanding  and  agree¬ 
ment  on  the  part  of  the 
connectional  agencies 


SUNDAY  SCHOOLS 


537 


which  cultivate  the  local  church.  It  also 
involves  the  question  as  to  the  degree  of 
co-operation  we  may  enter  upon  with 
other  denominations  and  agencies. 

f.  Tested  results.  —  We  must  develop 
a  practical  method  by  which  all  that  en¬ 
ters  into  the  outfit  for  religious  education 
shall  be  tested  con¬ 
stantly  in  terms  of 
the  output  of  intelli¬ 
gent  loyal  Christian 
character. 

g.  Local  financial 
provision.  —  Finally 
all  the  above  means 
that  local  churches 
must  put  into  their 
budgets  greatly  in¬ 
creased  amounts  for 
religious  education. 

We  note  from  the 
Indiana  Survey  that 
out  of  every  munici¬ 
pal  dollar,  47  cents 
are  spent  for  public 
school  purposes, 
while  out  of  every 
church  dollar  only  2.3 
cents  are  used  for 
the  church  school. 

3.  Modern  Family 
Life 

Many  discriminat¬ 
ing  students  of  this 
movement  of  religious  education  believe 
that  the  modern  family  is  the  most  im¬ 
portant  field  for  cultivation.  The  re¬ 
sponses  to  efforts  in  that  field  since  the 
General  Conference  definitely  assigned  the 
task  to  this  board  fully  justifies  this 
judgment.  Before  the  next  decade  shall 
have  passed,  the  church  school  throughout 
the  denomination  should  have  parents’  or¬ 
ganizations  working  so  effectively  that 
systematic  religious  instruction  will  be 
observed  in  all  our  church  families. 

But  behind  and  beyond  this,  family  life 
itself  is  at  stake.  Economic  pressure,  the 
demand  for  individual  freedom,  the  lure 
of  careers  for  women,  the  growth  of 
apartment  hotels,  lax  social  relationships, 
35 


and  the  breakdown  of  social  responsibil¬ 
ity  for  home-making  and  children — all  are 
tending  to  disrupt  the  home  as  a  funda¬ 
mental  social  unit.  How  to  withstand 
these  tendencies  in  modern  life  and  to 
substitute  for  them  an  enthusiastic  ac¬ 
ceptance  and  support  of  the  Christian 

home  is  a  problem 
which  the  Board  of 
Sunday  Schools  has 
got  to  face,  in  behalf 
of  the  childhood  of 
the  world. 

We  believe  that 
these  are  some  of  the 
main  lines  on  which 
the  movement  of  re¬ 
ligious  education  in 
our  church  will  ad¬ 
vance  during  the 
coming  years  and 
that  the  Board  of 
Sunday  Schools  must 
give  itself  more  vig¬ 
orously  to  these 
tasks. 

4.  Advance  and  Ex¬ 
pansion  in  Field 
Work 

a.  Field  cultivation. 

- — The  number  of  well- 
qualified  men  who 
are  to  promote  the 
total  program  of  re¬ 
ligious  education  in  the  field  must  be  in¬ 
creased.  The  board  now  has  seventeen 
such  men  covering  the  territory  of  twenty 
annual  conferences.  Fifteen  definite  and 
insistent  appeals  are  now  filed  with  the 
board  from  as  many  conferences.  In  view 
of  this  widespread  interest,  the  board 
hopes  to  provide  for  an  addition  of  an 
average  of  ten  well-trained  leaders  each 
year  for  the  next  decade,  so  that  by  1934 
each  annual  conference  in  America  will  be 
served  by  a  director  of  the  teaching  pro¬ 
gram  of  the  church  schools.  Such  a  field 
director  of  religious  education  would 
happily  bridge  the  gap  between  the  Board 
of  Sunday  Schools  and  the  local  Sunday 
schools. 


538 


WORLD  SERVICE 


MEN 

V/E  HAD 
.TO  OROP 


Along  with  this  supply  of  specially 
trained  leaders  must  go  the  continued  or¬ 
ganization  of  the  confer¬ 
ence  boards  of  religious 
education,  with  a  view  to 
securing  their  initiative, 
increasing  financial  co¬ 
operation,  and  backing  for 
the  field  program  of 
the  board. 

b.  Expansion  in 
foreign  fields. — 

We  cannot  per¬ 
mit  ourselves  to 
plan  more  largely 


APPROPRIATION 

$75,000 


APPROPRIATION 

$45,000 


SALARY 

AND  EXPENSES 
OF 

25  FIELD  MEN 

$40,925 

(AVERAGE  $1,637) 


ADMINISTRATION 

$4,075 


THIS  IS  AS  FAR 
AS  THE  REST 
OF  THE  MONEX 
WOULD  GO 


SALARY 

AND  EXPENSES 
OF 

18  FIELD  MEN 

$62,500 

(AVERAGE  $3,472) 


ADMINISTRATION 

$12,500 


1922 


study  in  Sunday-school  extension, 
costs  to  resources  in  1915  and 


Relation  of 
1922 


for  our  own  favored  land  than  we  must  for 
the  children  and  young  people  of  our 
neighbor  nations.  Happily  the  board 
faces  the  new  decade  with 
its  picket  line  placed  in  all 
the  great  mission  fields. 

There  were  three  repre¬ 
sentatives  in  the  foreign 
field,  (Germany,  Italy, 
and  Sweden),  in  1912; 
there  are  thirty-five  in 
1922,  supervising  the 
work  in  all  Europe,  in  the 
Philippines,  India,  China, 

Korea,  Japan,  and  South 
America. 

Based  upon  the  expan¬ 
sion  of  the  past  ten  years, 
and  upon  the  open  doors 
of  opportunity  now  ap¬ 


pealing,  the  normal  expansion  for  the 
next  decade  would  call  for  an  increase  of 
nine  American  field  secretaries,  138  na¬ 
tional  workers,  and  provision  for  teaching 
material  written  in  the  language  of  the 
various  peoples  and  born  of  their  type  of 
thought. 

The  program  which  the  Board  of  Sun¬ 
day  Schools  proposes  for  foreign  fields  is 
the  result  of  a  careful  survey  of  these 
fields  by  the  board’s  representatives  now 
working  there,  plus  consultation  between 
its  foreign  superintendents  and  bishops 
and  missionaries  in  most  of  the  fields,  and 
a  mass  of  data  upon  the  subject  of  reli¬ 
gious  education  in  these  fields  now  on  file 
in  the  board’s  office.  The  program  is 
broad,  comprehensive,  sound. 

The  foreign  field  program. — Involving 
on  the  one  hand  the  creation  of  lesson-sup¬ 
plies,  story-paper  materials,  materials  for 
teacher-training,  instructional  literature 
for  departmental  and  graded  work,  and 
on  the  other,  the  conducting  of  institutes, 
summer  schools  of  religious  education, 
daily  vacation  Bible  schools  and  week-day 
schools  of  religious  instruction  where 
local  conditions  make  these  desirable,  this 
program  is  in  harmony  with  the  best 
principles  of  religious  education.  More¬ 
over  it  is  to  be  carried  out  not  only  with 
reference  to  the  requirements  of  an  in¬ 
digenous  development,  but  also  in  fullest 
co-operation  with  whatever  work  of  a 


Members  of  a  frontier  Sunday  school  that  meets  once  every  three 
weeks — Stimulated  by  the  Extension  Department  representative 


SUNDAY  SCHOOLS 


539 


similar  nature  is  being  done  in  given 
fields  by  our  own  or  other  denominations. 

This  complete  and  important  program  is 
to  be  carried  out,  not  in  one  field  alone, 
but  in  every  country  in  which  our  church 
operates,  around  the  world.  The  expand¬ 
ing  force  of  trained  specialists  necessary 
to  create  the  above-mentioned  literature, 
conduct  the  institutes  and  other  training 
work,  and  aid  in  directing  the  trained 
leadership  that  the  church  must  have  if 
she  is  to  win  these  lands  to  Christ,  will, 
it  is  estimated,  ultimately  reach  140. 

An  immediate  requirements — The  Board 
of  Sunday  Schools  plans  to  complete  this 
secretarial  organization  in  the  immedi¬ 
ately  ensuing  years,  build  up  the  staffs 
in  these  fields  to  the  minimum  of  neces¬ 
sary  requirements,  create  the  needed  lit¬ 
erature,  either  by  itself  or  in  co-operation 
with  others  where  this  latter  can  be  done 
consistently  with  a  right  quality  of  work, 
and  aggressively  develop  religious  educa¬ 
tion  in  accordance  with  the  genius  of  the 
peoples  among  whom  we  work.  This 
will  inevitably  mean,  also,  that  while 
America  will  aid  in  the  finances  and  in 
placing  the  rich  results  of  her  fifty  years 
of  experimentation  in  Sunday-school 
work  at  the  disposal  of  these  different 
peoples,  her  main  aid  will  come  through 
the  training  up  of  well  equipped  indige¬ 
nous  leaders  who  will  at  the  earliest  pos¬ 
sible  date  assume  full  control  and  carry 
the  work  on  in  terms  and  forms  that 
they  know  will  best  meet  the  field’s  need. 

The  literature  will  have  to  be  created 
for  each  country  or  racial  or  linguistic 
group,  as  the  case  may  be.  It  will  not  do 
simply  to  translate  good  graded  materials 
from  America.  The  whole  range  of  lit¬ 
erary  forms,  literary  allusions,  and  even 
historical  characters  that  are  native  to 
us  as  Anglo-Saxons,  is  quite  foreign  to 
the  Latins,  the  Slavs,  the  Orientals,  and 
the  others.  We  must  find  or  ti’ain  up 
leaders,  with  Anglo-Saxon  assistance 
for  the  present,  who  will  create  an  in¬ 
creasingly  indigenous  literature.  And  it 
will  cost  money  to  print  as  well  as  to  cre¬ 
ate  this  literature.  But  the  money  must 
be  forthcoming  if  our  church  is  to  take 


Primary  children  making  scrapbooks  for  their 
foreign  friends 


her  religious-educational  task  seriously 
in  foreign  fields. 

Grants  in  aid. — Further,  in  the  sterile 
portions  of  South  America,  in  many  of 
the  islands,  in  three-fourths  of  India  and 
in  many  sections  of  China,  the  people 
who  wait  for  help  are  so  poor  that  they 
cannot  purchase  the  supplies  for  their 
Sunday  schools  when  produced.  They  can 
and  do  pay  a  little;  but  their  poverty  is 
so  beyond  the  imagination  of  North 
America  that  it  cannot  be  described. 
Literature  grants  are  at  present  keeping 
open  scores  of  schools  in  all  the  foreign 
fields  which  but  for  such  help  would  have 
to  close.  Eventually  they  will  become 
strong;  but  today  they  must  be  carried. 
Such  grants  are  not  optional;  they  are 
imperative  if  we  wish  the  work  inau¬ 
gurated  to  live. 

A  world-wide  responsibility. — We  are 
only  beginning  as  a  denomination  to  re¬ 
alize  how  our  church  has  been  but  toying 
with  its  supreme  obligation  to  undergird 
its  total  evangelism  with  the  evangelism 
of  religious  education.  In  her  comprehen¬ 
sive  program  of  a  world  ministry  of  re¬ 
ligious  education,  the  church  for  the  first 
time  seriously  faces  her  total  task.  It  will 
cost  money,  as  any  worth-while  task  on  a 
world-scale  inevitably  must.  Than  this 
our  church  has  no  more  fundamental  duty. 


540 


WORLD  SERVICE 


Christian  stewards  in  training— The  missionary  offering  in  the 
Primary  department 


c.  Additional  summer  schools.  —  We 
must  establish  more  campus  schools  at 
strategic  points,  until  we  have  them  avail¬ 
able  for  the  choice  young  people  through¬ 
out  the  church  who  are  willing  to  qualify 
for  large  leadership.  There  are  now  six 
such  schools.  Ten  more  of  these  are 
needed. 

The  conference  schools  should  keep 
pace  with  the  expansion  of  the  field  men 
and  conference  board  organizations. 

5.  Curriculum  Promo¬ 
tion 

Complete  teaching  ma¬ 
terial.— The  closely  graded 
system  of  lessons,  now  so 
widely  used  in  our  Sunday 
schools,  must  be  supple¬ 
mented  by  introducing 
whatever  material  is 
found  to  be  necessary  for 
a  fuller  education  of  the 
(church-school  pupils  in 
intelligent  Christian  liv¬ 
ing. 

The  principles  and 
methods  of  Christian 
stewardship,  the  Chris¬ 
tian  duties  of  citizenship 


and  the  obligations  of 
church  membership 
should  be  embodied  in  the 
material  used  in  teach¬ 
ing  the  children  and 
young  people  in  the  Sun¬ 
day  school. 

6.  Expansion  of  Mis¬ 
sionary  Education 
Missions  at  the  center. 
— Missionary  education  in 
the  Sunday  school  pro¬ 
ceeds  upon  the  principle 
that  practically  all  teach¬ 
ing  of  religion  by  the 
project  method  creates 
missionary  habits  of 
thinking,  missionary  hab¬ 
its  of  feeling,  and  mission¬ 
ary  habits  of  doing.  For 
whenever  you  lead  a  pupil 
to  put  Christianity  to 
work  in  his  sector  of  the  social  order,  you 
are  at  once  in  the  field  of  Christian  serv¬ 
ice.  And  that  is  the  field  of  missionary 
education. 

So  far,  missionary  education  in  our 
Sunday  schools  has  been  largely  con¬ 
fined  to  the  raising  of  a  huge  sum  of 
money,  and  to  undergirding  that  finan¬ 
cial  appeal  with  the  necessary  informa¬ 
tion,  generally  by  some  form  of  the 
monthly  missionary  program. 


Institutes 

Summer  Schools  ot 
Religious  Education 


Schools  of  Sunday-school  methods,  1922 


SUNDAY  SCHOOLS 


541 


But  in  the  next  decade 
most  vigorous  steps 
should  be  taken  to  put 
missions  at  the  heart  of 
all  religious  education 
done  by  the  church 
schools,  and  to  provide 
training  in  and  commit¬ 
ment  to  the  principles  of 
Christian  stewardship. 
Only  thus  can  Metho¬ 
dism’s  world  service  pro¬ 
gram  be  undergirded  for 
the  future. 

7.  Week-day  Vacation 
Schools 


A  missionary  dramatization,  “Chundra  Lelah,”  by  pupils  in  a 
week-day  school  of  religion 


Extension  of  week-day 
schools. — The  next  decade  will  probably 
see  the  extension  of  the  week-day  and  va¬ 
cation  church  school  movement  through¬ 
out  Christendom.  The  provision  of 
adequate  curricula  and  standards  of  or¬ 
ganization  and  administration  are  an 
outstanding  obligation.  It  is  necessary 
that  the  publicity  and  promotional  activi¬ 
ties  shall  steady  the  movement  lest  it 

become  a  superfi¬ 
cial  activity  rather 
than  a  substantial 
advance.  Materials 
and  methods  must 
be  standardized, 
teachers  and  lead¬ 
ers  trained  and  the 
whole  movement 
must  be  kept  on  a 
worthy  plane  in  or¬ 
der  that  the  co-op¬ 
eration  of  the  pub¬ 
lic  schools  may  be 
justified  and  unem¬ 
barrassed.  It  is  es¬ 
sential  that  the 
church  shall  be 
kept  intimately  ac¬ 
quainted  with  the 
facts  as  the  move¬ 
ment  grows,  that 
its  direction  may 
be  along  desirable 
lines. 


The  lad  who  played  the 
part  of  the  priest  in 
“Chundra  Lelah.”  He 
plans  to  be  a  medical 
missionary 


8.  Development  of  the  Local  School 

a.  Church-school  buildings. — The  inter¬ 
est  of  the  Board  of  Sunday  Schools  in 
architecture  is  primarily  educational. 
Pastors  and  building  committees  con¬ 
templating  new  buildings  or  improve¬ 
ments  on  old  buildings  will  desire  the 
educational  reasons  for  the  type  of 
buildings  urged  for  their  approval.  They 
will  quickly  see  the  advantage,  not  to  say 
the  necessity  of  a  church  building  that 
shall  make  provision  for  a  teaching 
program  and  for  the  social  and  recrea¬ 
tional  features  of  such  a  program  of  edu¬ 
cation.  We  are  unquestionably  entering 
upon  the  greatest  decade  of  church  build¬ 
ing  at  home  and  abroad  that  the  church 
has  ever  known,  and  the  Board  of  Sun¬ 
day  Schools  must  see  to  it  that  the  entire 
church  appreciates  both  the  artistic  and 
educational  elements  in  church  building 
plans. 

b.  The  graded  Sunday  school.  —  The 
survey  shows  that  graded  organiza¬ 
tion  for  teaching  purposes  has  brought 
increased  results  in  all  phases  of  Sunday- 
school  work.  The  average  attendance  in 
such  schools  and  the  number  of  acces¬ 
sions  to  the  church  are  far  above  the 
average.  The  Indiana  Survey  shows  that 
70  per  cent  of  the  schools  studied  have 
made  no  successful  attempt  to  grade 
their  organization.  Here  is  a  field  for 
marked  advance  during  the  next  decade. 


542 


WORLD  SERVICE 


The  touch  and  go  method  will  not  effect 
the  result.  We  must  have  workers  who 
will  stay  by  a  situation  until  the  new 
order  is  established.  This  will  call  for  an 
increase  of  special  workers  to  meet  the 
calls  for  help  in  this  particular. 

9.  Directors  of  Religious  Education 

A  need  in  the  local  school. — All  we 
propose  in  the  way  of  field  expansion 
and  training  schools  serves  to  accentuate 
the  need  of  the  local  church  for  a  highly 
trained  director  of  religious  education. 

One  of  the  findings  of  the  Indiana  Sur¬ 
vey  is  expressed  as  follows:  “The  local 
Sunday  schools  of  Indiana  are  suffering 
from  the  effects  of  long  distance  super¬ 
vision,  and  from  their  failure  to  recognize 
that  voluntary  local  workers  need  imme¬ 
diate  contact  and  personal  supervision  by 
highly  trained  specialists.” 

What  is  true  of  Indiana  is  true  of  the 
whole  church. 

In  the  years  immediately  before  us 
local  churches  must  be  helped  to  see  that 
next  in  importance  to  a  qualified  pastor 
and  preacher  is  the  director  of  the  teach¬ 
ing  activities  of  the  whole  church.  Pro¬ 
vision  in  local  budgets  must  be  made  for 
such  a  full  time  worker.  The  demand 


from  the  local  churches  for  such  a  form 
of  life  service  must  stimulate  the  col¬ 
leges  to  provide  adequate  training  for  an 
increasing  number  of  the  choicest  young 
people  to  meet  the  demand.  The  stand¬ 
ing  of  such  an  office  must  be  defined  by 
the  authority  of  the  church. 

A  new  field  for  higher  education. — If 
the  church  is  a  teaching  institution,  it 
should  have  a  worthy  body  of  teaching 
material,  a  faculty  or  force  of  trained 
and  supervised  teachers,  and  a  group  of 
pupils  organized  and  equipped  for  teach¬ 
ing  purposes. 

To  this  end,  we  appeal  for  adequate 
provision,  in  the  colleges,  universities, 
and  theological  schools  of  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church,  for  professors  and 
for  courses  of  study  in  order  to  train  pro¬ 
fessional  and  volunteer  leaders  and 
teachers. 

No  more  insistent  opportunity  has 
ever  appealed  to  our  educational  institu¬ 
tions  than  this  demand  for  a  trained  and 
forceful  body  of  college  graduates  to  put 
this  popular  movement  of  religious  edu¬ 
cation  above  educational  reproach  and  to 
furnish  it  with  a  curriculum  of  practical 
excellency. 


WORKERS  THE  CHURCH  MUST  NOT  FORGET 


It  seems  to  rue  that  no  higher  duty  rests  upon  the  lay¬ 
men  in  connection  with  their  support  of  the  church  than 
that  of  helping  to  create  a  fund  out  of  which  we  may 
guarantee  to  our  ministers  in  their  declining  years  peace 
and  security  for  themselves  and  their  families. 

Henry  J.  Allen 


I.  General  Statement 

1.  Historical 

a.  The  situation  prior  to  1908 

b.  An  obligation  of  the  entire 
church 

c.  Objectives  of  the  board 

2.  Present  and  future  needs 

a.  The  number  of  claimants 

b.  Necessitous  cases 

c.  Present  and  future  needs 

II.  The  Equalization  Fund 

1.  Reasons  for  its  creation 

a.  The  need  and  the  remedy 

b.  The  basis  of  calculation 

2.  Disciplinary  provisions 

3.  Total  apportionment 


Support  of  Aged  and  Disabled 
Supply  Pastors 

1.  Connectional  provisions 

a.  Just  recognition 

b.  General  Conference  action 

c.  Board  recommendations 

d.  Council  of  Boards 

2.  Survey 

a.  Further  investigation 

b.  Significant  disclosures 

IV.  Sustentation 

1.  General  Conference  action 

2.  A  thorough-going  survey 

V.  The  Basis  of  the  Askings 


THE  BOARD  OF  CONFERENCE  CLAIMANTS 

ANALYSIS  OF  STATEMENT 
III. 


543 


544 


WORLD  SERVICE 


I.  GENERAL  STATEMENT 
1.  Historical 

a.  The  situation  prior  to  1908. — Until 
1908  there  was  no  board  or  administrative 
officer  responsible  for  the  cause  of  confer¬ 
ence  claimants ;  the  distribution  was  based 
solely  on  need ;  the  amount  of  money  avail¬ 
able  for  distribution  was  small,  viz.: 

1870,  $129,898. 

1880,  $130,944.  Increase  during  the 

decade,  $1,046. 

1890,  $137,093.  Increase  during  the 

decade,  $6,149. 

1900,  $260,402.  Increase  during  the 

decade,  $123,309. 

1908,  $606,000.  Increase  during  eight 

years,  $345,598. 

1915,  $1,225,226.  Increase  during  seven 
years,  $619,226. 

1922,  $2,586,396.  Increase  during  seven 
years,  $1,361,120. 

The  increase  in  1908  resulted  from 
agitation  growing  out  of  the  appointment 
of  the  Commission  in  1904,  and  the  in¬ 
crease  of  the  Book  Concern  dividends. 
Since  that  time  the  church  has  traveled 
fast  along  the  new  legislative  highway, 
and  will  reach  the  goal  of  a  three  and  a 
half  million  dollar  annual  distribution 
when  once  again  the  attention  and  inter¬ 
est  of  the  church  shall  be  devoted  to  this 
holy  task. 

b.  An  obligation  of  the  entire  church.-— 
The  motive  back  of  the  new  legislation 
was  the  obligation  of  the  entire  church 
to  assist  in  caring  for  the  claimants  of 
the  poorer  and  weaker  conferences.  In 
their  report  the  commissioners  said :  “The 
fact  that  none  but  the  strong  conferences 
can  create  funds  cannot  be  overlooked. 
Some  of  the  weaker  conferences  have 
small  funds,  but  the  increase  has  been  so 
slow  that  it  emphasizes  the  statement  that 
this  class  of  conferences  can  make  but 
little  provision  for  conference  claimants 
by  this  form  of  relief.  Hence  the  connec- 
tional  fund. 

“While  the  annual  collection  is  a  most 
constant  and  helpful  source  of  income,  it 
is  plain  that  it  cannot  possibly  meet  the 


needs  of  the  conference  claimants  in  the 
small  conferences,  and  it  is  equally  plain 
that  the  increase  from  any  permanent 
funds  which  they  are  able  to  create  will 
be  limited.  These  facts  and  conditions  im¬ 
peratively  demand  the  creation  of  a  con- 
nectional  permanent  fund.” 

Influenced  by  such  considerations,  the 
General  Conference  accepted  connectional 
responsibility  for  the  support  of  confer¬ 
ence  claimants  and  organized  the  Board 
of  Conference  Claimants  to  carry  out  its 
will.  Deficits  in  the  larger  and  stronger 
conferences  will  be  provided  for  without 
denominational  assistance,  but  the  weaker 
conferences  will  never  be  able  to  provide 
adequately  for  their  retired  ministers 
without  denominational  help,  and  the 
board  is  the  agent  of  the  whole  church  to 
help  them  in  old  age  and  disability  “ac¬ 
cording  to  need.” 

c.  Objectives  of  the  board. — Two  tasks 
were  given  to  the  board :  1 

1.  “To  build  up  and  administer  a  con¬ 
nectional  permanent  fund,  in  order  that 
a  more  equitable  and  general  support 
might  be  secured  for  conference  claim¬ 
ants,  especially  for  those  in  the  more 
needy  conferences,  by  a  distribution  ‘ac¬ 
cording  to  need.’  ” 

2.  “To  increase  revenues  for  the  bene¬ 
fit  of  conference  claimants.” 

2.  Present  and  Future  Needs 

a.  The  number  of  claimants. — In  1921, 
there  were: 


Retired  Ministers  . 3,400 

Widows  . . 3,857 

Dependent  Orphans . .  861 


Total  . 8,118 


In  1921,  the  sum  of  $2,586,396  was  paid 
to  them.  They  constitute  two-fifths  of  the 
pension  beneficiaries  of  American  Prot¬ 
estantism. 

b.  Necessitous  cases. — The  demands  for 
necessitous  cases  will  increase  in  the 
weaker  conferences;  for  it  is  only  by  a 

1  Discipline,  if  478,  §  3. 


CONFERENCE  CLAIMANTS 


545 


larger  necessitous  distribution  that  the 
lack  of  equity  between  the  pitiably  small 
amounts  paid  by  the  poorer  and  weaker 
conferences  and  the 
liberal  amounts  paid 
by  prosperous  con¬ 
ferences  can  be  cor¬ 
rected.  The  board 
requires  not  only  a 
larger  current  in¬ 
come,  but  also  a  spe¬ 
cial  endowment  held 
in  trust  for  the 
weaker  conferences. 

c.  Present  and  fu¬ 
ture  needs. — A  care¬ 
ful  study  of  the  situ¬ 
ation  shows  the  need, 
immediately  and  con¬ 
stantly  during  the 
next  decade,  of  in¬ 
creasing  greatly  the 
income  for  immedi¬ 
ate  distribution,  and 
of  large  additions  to  the  connectional  per¬ 
manent  fund  and  to  the  endowments  of 
the  annual  conferences. 

II.  THE  EQUALIZATION  FUND 
1.  Reasons  for  its  Creation 

Serious  difficulties  in  the  administra¬ 
tion  of  ministerial  pensions  because  the 
conference  by  which  a  preacher  is  retired 
is  held  responsible  for  his  entire  service 
annuity,  even  though  he  had  served  only  a 
few  years  in  the  conference,  led  to  the 
investigation  by  the  board  and  the  pres¬ 
entation  of  its  findings  to  the  General 
Conference  of  1920,  which  referred  the 
suggestions  to  the  Committee  on  Itiner¬ 
ancy.  Its  recommendations  were  referred 
to  the  Council  of  Boards  of  Benevolence 
with  authority,  and  the  equalization  fund 
became  the  law  of  the  church. 

a.  The  need  and  the  remedy.. — When 
ministers  who  had  served  in  several  con¬ 
ferences  became  a  liability  on  the  confer¬ 
ence  which  retired  them  there  was  an  evi¬ 
dent  lack  of  equity,  especially  after  the 
conferences  began  to  pay  high  annuity 


rates;  and  some  conferences  set  up  bar¬ 
riers  against  the  transfer  of  ministers 
who  had  any  considerable  length  of  serv¬ 
ice,  or  limited  the 
distribution  of  the 
income  of  confer¬ 
ence  endowments 
and  preachers’  aid 
societies. 

The  income  of  the 
equalization  fund, 
which  is  a  part  of 
the  connectional  ap¬ 
portionment  for  the 
Board  of  Conference 
Claimants,  will  be 
distributed  among 
the  several  confer¬ 
ences  “in  proportion 
to  their  liability  for 
the  years  of  service 
of  their  retired  min¬ 
isters  which  have 
been  rendered  in  con¬ 
ferences  other  than  their  own.  It  is  the 
duty  of  the  Board  of  Conference  Claim¬ 
ants  to  determine  the  processes  by  which 
the  legislation  shall  be  put  into  operation, 
and  the  duty  of  the  Council  of  Boards  ‘to 
add  to  the  apportionment  made  for  the 
support  and  maintenance  of  the  Board  of 
Conference  Claimants  an  adequate  amount 
for  the  equalization  fund’.” 

b.  The  basis  of  calculation. — The  new 
survey  made  by  the  board  covers  the 
records  of  service  of  all  the  retired  min¬ 
isters  and,  by  a  double  entry  system  of 
accounting,  shows  exactly  the  obligations 
of  the  several  conferences.  Each  annual 
conference  is  credited  with  the  number 
of  years  its  retired  ministers  have  served 
outside  its  boundaries,  for  which  it  is 
paying  an  annuity,  and  is  debited  with 
the  years  served  within  its  boundaries  for 
which  other  conferences  pay ;  the  total 
years  thus  charged  against  a  conference 
being  the  same  as  those  credited  to  the 
conference  which  pays  the  annuity. 

In  setting  up  the  equalization  fund  the 
obligations  to  the  creditor  conferences  are 
made  on  the  basis  of  the  calculation  at 


The  Knight  of  the  Saddlebags  lives  over  again, 
in  memory,  the  days  of  battle 


546 


WORLD  SERVICE 


n 


i  in 

I.  The  pre-war  dollar. 

II.  The  dollar  to-day — reduced  40  per  cent 
in  buying  power. 

III.  Section  of  reduced  dollar  representing 
40  cents  unpaid  to  conference  claimants. 

the  rate  actually  paid.  The  total  claims 
are  figured  on  the  basis  of  the  net  credit 
years,  that  is,  the  difference  between  the 
years  of  service  rendered  in  other  confer¬ 
ences  for  which  the  creditor  conferences 
have  paid,  and  the  years  of  service  ren¬ 
dered  in  the  debtor  conferences  which 
were  paid  by  the  other  conferences.  The 
excess  in  the  number  of  years  paid  for  by 
the  creditor  conferences,  multiplied  by  the 
annuity  rate  paid  by  them,  gives  the  total 
credit  in  dollars.  The  total  aggregate  of 
such  excess  claims  paid  by  the  creditor 
conferences  is  the  amount  to  be  appor¬ 
tioned  to  the  pastoral  charges  for  the 
equalization  fund.  In  this  way  the  en¬ 
tire  connection  shares  in  the  burdens  and 
benefits,  because  the  equalization  fund 
both  discharges  the  debts  of  the  debtor 
conferences,  and  reimburses  the  creditor 
conferences  for  the  excess  payments  made 
by  them. 

The  diagram  at  the  foot  of  this  page 
shows  the  actual  working  of  the  Equali¬ 
zation  Fund. 

2.  Disciplinary  Provisions  for  the 
Equalization  Fund 

“In  order  to  equalize  among  the  sev¬ 
eral  annual  conferences  the  claims  for 
annuities  paid  by  them  for  years  of 
service  rendered  in  other  conferences  than 
their  own,  there  shall  be  created  an  equali¬ 
zation  fund,  the  receipts  from  which  shall 
be  distributed  among  the  several  annual 
conferences  in  proportion  to  the  liability 


for  the  years  of  service  of  their  retired 
ministers  which  have  been  rendered  in 
other  conferences  than  their  own.  Such 
equalization  fund  shall  become  a  part  of 
the  connectional  apportionment  for  the 
Board  of  Conference  Claimants  and  be 
distributed  directly  to  the  annual  confer¬ 
ence  in  proportion  to  their  several  liabili¬ 
ties  for  such  years  of  service,  provided 
that  the  rate  paid  to  an  annual  conference 
shall  not  exceed  the  rate  paid  by  such  con¬ 
ference  to  its  conference  claimants. 

The  board  shall  determine  the  processes 
by  which  this  legislation  shall  be  put  into 
operation  and  the  Council  of  Boards  of 
Benevolence  shall  add  to  the  apportion¬ 
ment  made  for  the  support  and  mainte¬ 
nance  of  the  board,  the  securing  of  en¬ 
dowments  for  annual  conferences  and  the 
Board,  and  increasing  its  annual  dividend 
to  the  poorer  and  weaker  conferences,  an 
adequate  amount  for  the  equalization 
fund.”  1 

3.  Total  Apportionment 

The  tabulations,  carefully  prepared  and 
worked  out,  and  determined  show  that 
the  total  claims  on  the  equalization  fund 
for  the  retired  ministers  alone  are 
$79,078. 

The  task,  now  under  way,  of  examining 
the  records  of  the  3,828  widows  and  816 
dependent  orphans  is  one  of  great  diffi¬ 
culty,  and  it  is  not  practicable  at  this  time 


Sources  of  income  in  forty  of  the  weaker 
conferences. 


1  Discipline,  f  584. 


SECTION  II  /  /  SECTION  I 


Why  an  Equalization  Fund  is  needed.  (Note:  Only  white  English-speaking  conferences  have  been  included  in  the  above  chart) 


548 


WORLD  SERVICE 


to  give  the  figures.  But  an  estimate  can 
be  made  by  comparing  the  total  annuity 
claims  of  the  ministers  with  those  of  the 
widows  and  orphans  and  establishing  a 
ratio  to  be  used  in  estimating  the  re¬ 
quirements  of  the  equalization  fund. 

In  the  Advance  Program,  $20,000  has 
been  allotted  to  the  Equalization  Fund. 

III.  SUPPORT  OF  AGED  AND  DIS¬ 
ABLED  SUPPLY  PASTORS 

1.  CONNECTIONAL  PROVISIONS 
That  financial  recognition  should  be 
given  to  the  old  age  or  disability  of  faith¬ 
ful  supply  pastors  is  a  natural  reaction  to 
the  enlarged  pension  plans  of  Methodism. 
Their  invaluable  services,  rendered  often 
on  meagre  support  and  under  difficult 
conditions,  has  resulted  in  a  widespread 
conviction  that  they  ought  not  to  be 
neglected  in  old  age. 

a.  Just  recognition.  —  At  first,  the 
supply  was  a  local  preacher,  tentatively 
and  temporarily  appointed  to  preach  un¬ 
der  the  direction  of  the  pastor.  But  later 
he  was  regularly  assigned  to  supply  a 
pulpit  under  the  direction  of  the  district 
superintendent,  and,  for  all  practical  pur¬ 
poses,  became  a  pastor,  frequently  being 
continued  from  year  to  year,  until  finally 
supply  pastors  were  given  a  recognized 
place  in  the  ministerial  ranks  and  per¬ 
formed  an  indispensable  service  in  the 
church.  During  the  missionary  period, 
when  weak,  scattered  churches  were 
grouped  into  pastoral  charges,  they  were 
in  continual  demand  as  pioneer  preach¬ 
ers.  As  the  work  expanded  the  call  con¬ 
tinued,  and  the  supply  pastor,  an  essen¬ 
tial  factor  in  the  founding  of  Methodism, 
became  an  increasing  factor  in  its  devel¬ 
opment.  Whenever  economic  conditions 
produced  a  considerable  gap  between  the 
standard  of  living  and  ministerial  sala¬ 
ries,  both  the  actual  and  the  proportionate 
number  of  supply  pastors  steadily  in¬ 
creased.  The  advancing  standards  of  min¬ 
isterial  preparation,  involving  a  more 
thorough  education,  resulted  in  the  fail¬ 
ure  of  some  useful  men  to  gain  admission 


into  an  annual  conference,  or  in  so  dis¬ 
couraging  them  that  they  gave  up  the 
attempt,  leaving  to  them  the  alternative 
either  of  relinquishing  ministerial  work 
entirely  or  of  entering  into  the  ranks  of 
supply  pastors, 

b.  General  Conference  action.  —  The 
General  Conference  in  1916  and  1920 
made  annual  conference  provisions  for 
the  care  of  aged  or  disabled  local  preach¬ 
ers.  During  the  discussion  many  dele¬ 
gates  were  convinced  that  the  support 
should  be  furnished  by  the  church  at  large, 
rather  than  by  annual  conferences,  and 
the  Board  of  Conference  Claimants  was 
authorized  to  consider  the  subject  and  to 
“present  the  results  of  its  deliberations 
to  the  Council  of  Boards  of  Benevolence, 
with  suitable  recommendations.” 

The  disciplinary  statement  is  as  fol¬ 
lows  : 

1.  By  annual  conferences' 

“Authority  is  hereby  given  to  the  an¬ 
nual  conferences  to  take  such  measures 
as  they  may  deem  wise  to  create  a  per¬ 
manent  endowment  fund,  or  to  raise 
money  for  annual  distribution  for  retired 
local  preachers  who  may  have  given  fif¬ 
teen  consecutive  years  or  more  (giving 
their  entire  time  as  pastors  to  the  work 
of  the  church)  and  for  the  widows  and 
minor  children  of  such  deceased  local 
preachers.  The  annual  conference  shall 
administer  the  funds  and  distribute  the 
income  through  its  Board  of  Stewards,  as 
the  annual  conference  may  determine.” 

2.  By  the  Board  of  Conference  Claimants'1 2 

“Whereas,  there  is  need  of  immediate 

consideration  of  providing  for  the  old  age 
of  faithful  supply  pastors,  therefore  be  it 

“Resolved,  That  the  Board  of  Confer¬ 
ence  Claimants  be  authorized  to  consider 
these  matters,  in  order  to  accomplish  the 
purpose  stated  in  the  preamble,  and  to 
present  the  results  of  its  deliberations  to 
the  Council  of  Boards  of  Benevolence, 
with  suitable  recommendations. 


1  Discipline,  fl226. 

2  Discipline,  jj585. 


CONFERENCE  CLAIMANTS 


549 


“And  further,  that  all  reports  and  data 
bearing  upon  these  interests  be  placed  at 
the  disposal  of  said  board.” 

Board  recommendations. — The  board 


aged  and  disabled  supply  pastors,  the 
Board  of  Conference  Claimants  be  author¬ 
ized  : 

“1.  To  complete  the  survey  already  un¬ 
dertaken,  in  order  to  understand  more 


gave  immediate  consideration  to  the  sub¬ 
ject  and  recommended  to  the  Council  of  perfectly  and  to  define  more  equitably  the 


Boards,  as  follows : 

“The  question  of  pen¬ 
sions  for  supply  pas¬ 
tors,  referred  by  the 
General  Conference 
to  the  Board  of  Con¬ 
ference  Claimants 
for  study  and  recom¬ 
mendation,  has  been 
carefully  considered, 
also  memorials  on 
this  subject  from 
churches,  confer¬ 
ences,  laymen’s  meet¬ 
ings,  local  preachers’ 
associations,  etc.; 
also  the  provisions  of 
the  Discipline  for  an¬ 
nual  conference  help 
01226)  and  the  prob¬ 
lems  involved  in  the  development  of  a 
connectional  or  general  plan.” 

We  are  convinced  of  the  justice  of  doing 
something  for  those  needy  supply  pastors 
who  have  served  for  many  years  without 
being  admitted  to  an  annual  conference. 
One  out  of  every  four  churches  of  Meth¬ 
odism  is  served  by  a  supply  pastor.  The 
limitations  in  the  legislation  for  annual 
conferences,  which  should  be  followed  in 
a  connectional  plan,  do  not  provide  pen¬ 
sions  for  temporary  supplies,  or  for  local 
preachers  who  are  engaged  in  secular  oc¬ 
cupations,  or  for  students  during  their 
school  years,  or  for  supernumerary  or  re¬ 
tired  ministers  temporarily  acting  as  sup¬ 
plies;  but  only  for  those  who  for  fifteen 
consecutive  years  have  faithfully  devoted 
their  entire  time  to  ministerial  work. 

d.  Action  of  the  Council  of  Boards. — 
After  consideration  by  a  special  commit¬ 
tee,  the  Council  of  Boards  of  Benevolence 
voted  that: 

“In  carrying  out  the  will  of  the  General 
Conference  to  provide  for  the  relief  of 


Seventy-eight,  one  hundred  and  two,  and  eighty 
— two  hundred  and  sixty  years  of  service! 


problem  as  it  actu¬ 
ally  exists  in  the 
church,  and  to  per¬ 
fect  a  plan,  based  on 
the  obligations  of  the 
church  to  make  pro¬ 
vision  for  the  relief 
of  aged  and  disabled 
supply  pastors. 

“2.  To  develop  such 
unity  in  the  plans  for 
the  relief  of  aged  or 
disabled  supply  pas¬ 
tors  as  shall  be  in 
harmony  with  the 
general  principles 
already  operative  in 
the  church  for  the 
pensioning  and  relief 
of  retired  ministers, 
and  to  cultivate  such  a  common  interest 
between  the  supply  pastors  and  the  regu¬ 
lar  ministry  as  shall  give  the  highest 
unity,  accord  and  stability  to  the  minis¬ 
terial  forces  of  the  church. 

“3.  To  make  the  first  distribution  to 
aged  and  disabled  supply  pastors  in  1923, 
on  the  basis  of  the  amount  available  in 
1922.” 

For  setting  up  the  system  and  making 
a  beginning  for  pressing  necessities,  the 
council  provided  a  budget  of  $10,000,  to 
be  distributed  in  1923. 

2.  Survey 

a.  Further  investigation.  —  The  board 
immediately  began  a  thorough-going  in¬ 
vestigation  of  the  supply  appointments  as 
printed  in  the  General  Minutes,  in  order 
to  ascertain  the  actual  number  of  supply 
charges  and  the  salaries  paid  by  them,  and 
sent  requests  for  information  to  2,659 
supply  pastors,  whose  names  and  ad¬ 
dresses  were  given  in  the  annual  confer¬ 
ence  minutes.  For  intelligent  classifica- 


550 


WORLD  SERVICE 


tion  and  study  the  conferences  were 
divided  into  six  groups:  (1)  Colored  Con¬ 
ferences;  (2)  Foreign-Speaking  Confer¬ 
ences;  (3)  Northeastern  Conferences; 
(4)  Prairie  Conferences;  (5)  Southern 
and  Border  Conferences;  (6)  Rocky 
Mountain  and  Pacific  Conferences. 

Tabulations. — The  tabulations  show  the 
number  of  supply  pastors,  the  ratio  of 
supply  pastors  to  the  total  number  of  pas¬ 
tors,  the  average  salary  paid  to  supply 
pastors  in  the  several  groups  and  in  the 
entire  church. 

b.  Significant  disclosures — 

i.  The  number  of  supply  pastors  has 
increased  greatly  during  the  last  twenty 
years.  There  were : 

In  1900,  2,782  supply  pastors. 

In  1910,  3,749  “  “  Increase  967 

In  1920,  4,321  “  “  “  572 


Total  Increase,  1900-1920,  ....1,539 

The  increase  from  1900  to  1910  was 
thirty-five  per  cent;  from  1910  to  1920, 
fifteen  per  cent;  from  1900  to  1920,  fifty- 
five  per  cent. 

2.  Not  only  was  there  a  large  increase 
in  the  number  and  percentage  of  supply 
pastors,  but  also  a  large  increase  in  the 
ratio  of  the  supply  pastors.  In  1900,  nine¬ 
teen  per  cent  of  the  total  pastoral  charges 
were  served  by  supply  pastors ;  but  in 
1920,  twenty-six  per  cent  were  so  served. 

3.  The  average  salary  of  the  supply 
pastors,  $720,  is  larger  than  has  generally 
been  supposed.  In  four  conferences  it 
was  more  than  $1,000. 

4.  The  increase  of  both  the  number 
and  the  percentage  of  supply  pastors  in 
the  prosperous  groups  is  large,  contrary 
to  the  general  opinion  that  supply  pastors 


Conference  Group 

1900 

Colored  . 

266 

supplies — 15% 

319 

Foreign  Speaking  — 

105 

supplies — 13% 

147 

Northeastern  . 

904 

supplies — 20% 

1055 

Prairie  . 

1033 

supplies — 17% 

1510 

Southern  and  Border.. 

215 

supplies — 32% 

263 

Rocky  Mountain 

and  Pacific  . 

259 

supplies — 19% 

475 

Total  . 

2782 

supplies — 19% 

3749 

are  used  mostly  in  small  and  weak  confer¬ 
ences. 

5.  While  the  total  number  of  supply 
pastors  is  large,  4,321,  most  of  them  re¬ 
gard  their  work  as  temporary.  Among 
them  are  college  students,  or  supernumer¬ 
ary  or  retired  ministers,  who  will  be  pro¬ 
vided  for  in  old  age  as  conference  claim¬ 
ants,  or  men  engaged  in  secular  pursuits, 
to  whom  the  supply  ministry  offers  an 
opportunity  for  service. 

6.  The  facts  and  conditions  disclosed 
after  the  first  payment  has  been  made  will 
suggest  the  legislation  which  should  be  rec¬ 
ommended  to  the  next  General  Confer¬ 
ence.  The  records  of  all  supplies  are  now 
under  scrutiny,  and  the  facts  concerning 
their  ministry  are  being  secured  and  tabu¬ 
lated  for  future  use,  but  to  secure  a  com¬ 
plete  roster  and  comprehensive  data  of 
permanent  value  will  require  time  and 
patience. 

For  distribution  during  1923,  $9,000  is 
now  on  hand ;  and  $20,000  has  been  placed 
in  the  Advance  Program  for  this  purpose. 

IV.  SUSTENTATION 
1.  General  Conference  Action 

The  General  Conference  of  1920  took 
the  following  action; 

“The  need  of  special  sustentation  work 
for  the  emergencies  of  ministerial  life,  es¬ 
pecially  in  the  weaker  conferences,  was 
referred  to  the  Board  of  Conference 
Claimants,  and  the  board  was  directed  to 
present  the  results  of  its  deliberations  to 
the  Council  of  Boards  with  suitable  rec¬ 
ommendations.” 

a.  Legislation  for  Sustentation  by  Annual 
Conferences. 

“It  shall  be  the  duty  of  each  annual  con- 


ference,  whenever  practicable, 

to  organize 

1910 

1920 

Average 
Salary  1920 

supplies — 19% 

367 

supplies — 18% 

$318 

supplies — 17% 

142 

supplies — 19% 

$394 

supplies — 22% 

1257 

supplies — 26% 

$700 

supplies — 23% 

1770 

supplies — 27% 

$822 

supplies — 35% 

301 

supplies — 38% 

$503 

supplies — 23% 

484 

supplies — 33% 

$759 

supplies — 23% 

4321 

supplies— 26% 

$712 

CONFERENCE  CLAIMANTS 


551 


conference  sustentation  fund  societies  to 
supplement  the  inadequate  ministerial 
support  in  those  pastoral  charges  which 
are  unable  to  furnish  a  sufficient  sup¬ 
port.”  1 

b.  Action  on  Sustentation  by  the  Gen¬ 
eral  Conference  1920. 

“Whereas,  there  is  need  of  special  sus¬ 
tentation  work  for  the  emergencies  of 
ministerial  life,  especially  in  the  weaker 
places, 

“Resolved,  that  the  Board  of  Conference 
Claimants  be  authorized  to  consider  these 
matters,  in  order  to  accomplish  the  pur¬ 
pose  stated  in  the  preamble,  and  to  present 
the  results  of  their  deliberations  to  the 
Council  of  Boards  of  Benevolence  with 
suitable  recommendations.”  2 

2.  A  Thorough-going  Survey 

During  1923  a  thorough-going  survey  of 
the  entire  situation  as  to  sustentation  will 
be  completed  and,  as  directed  by  the  Gen¬ 
eral  Conference,  “the  board  will  present 
the  results  of  its  deliberations  to  the  Coun¬ 
cil  of  Boards  of  Benevolence  with  suitable 
recommendations.”  2 

In  the  Advance  Program,  there  has 
been  placed  $25,000  for  sustentation. 

V.  THE  BASIS  OF  THE  ASKINGS 

General  Conference  action,  1920. — “Most 
of  the  campaign  work  for  endowment 
funds  during  the  last  quadrennium  was 
co-operative,  in  some  cases  under  the  im¬ 
mediate  leadership  of  the  board.  The 
principal  effort  was  directed  toward  se¬ 
curing  and  increasing  endowments  for 
annual  conferences. 

“In  the  program  of  the  coming  quadren¬ 
nium  these  endowments  in  annual  confer¬ 
ences  should  be  provided  for  and  should 
be  completed,  if  possible.  To  do  this  the 
Board  of  Conference  Claimants  should  be 
adequately  financed  in  order  to  lend  aid 
to  the  annual  conferences  for  this  pur¬ 
pose  and  to  furnish  requisite  literature 

1  Discipline,  1920,  f  324. 

2  Discipline,  1920,  ff  585. 


and  immediate  assistance  through  its  rep¬ 
resentatives,  so  that  the  $5,000,000  that 
is  still  needed  by  annual  conference  or¬ 
ganizations  should  be  secured.  The  board 
ought  also  to  be  enabled  to  secure  an  ad¬ 
dition  of  ten  million  dollars  to  its  perma¬ 
nent  fund,  the  income  of  which  shall 
perpetually  help  the  poorer  and  weaker 
conferences  in  the  remote  and  difficult 
fields,  and  all  necessitous  cases  in  every 
conference. 

A  major  interest. — “The  ideal  for  the 
quadrennium  should  be  the  securing  of 
sufficient  funds  to  complete  the  major 
program  for  all  conference  claimants 
throughout  the  church.  In  any  general 
church-wide  financial  program  or  cam¬ 
paign  undertaken  during  the  coming 
quadrennium,  an  adequate  amount  for  re¬ 
tired  ministers,  widows  and  orphans  of 
ministers  shall  be  included  so  that  the  un¬ 
fortunate  situation  developed  in  the  Cen¬ 
tenary  activities  shall  not  be  repeated,  and 
in  the  future  the  cause  of  the  minister, 
active  and  retired,  shall  be  included  in  the 
major  programs  of  the  church  and  the 
interests  of  conference  claimants  be  care¬ 
fully  safeguarded;  therefore,  be  it 

“Resolved,  That,  should  there  be  any 
general  or  connectional  financial  program 
in  the  church  during  the  coming  quadren¬ 
nium,  there  shall  be  included  such  an 
amount  as  will  make  it  possible  for  an¬ 
nual  conferences  to  meet  all  their  obliga¬ 
tions  to  their  ministers,  and  as  will  enable 
the  Board  of  Conference  Claimants  to  ex¬ 
tend  adequate  and  needed  help  to  all  those 
retired  ministers,  widows  and  orphans  of 
ministers  at  home  and  abroad  who,  on  ac¬ 
count  of  the  conditions  under  which  they 
work  or  their  immediate  necessities,  should 
receive  the  helping  hand  of  the  entire 
church. 

“In  this  manner  the  major  purposes  for 
which  the  Board  of  Conference  Claimants 
was  organized,  as  stated  in  the  Discipline, 
^[485,  may  be  speedily  accomplished. 

“In  the  Advance  Program,  $60,000  has 
been  allowed  for  administrative  purposes, 
and  $20,000  for  general  work.” 


AT  AN  EP WORTH  LEAGUE  INSTITUTE 

The  church  that  is  wise  toward  youth  will  shine  as  the  stars  ....  Our 
problem  today  is  fashioning  that  new  generation  of  human  life,  in  its 
thoughts,  its  ideals,its  spirit,its  character ,  its  attitudes  to  life,  its  relation 
to  Jesus  Christ,  its  place  in  the  world.  It  is  rapidly  being  made  and  the 

world  of  to-morrow  is  being  made  with  it . W e  must  make  the 

makers  of  tomorrow. 

From  the  Episcopal  Address  to  the 

General  Conference  of  1920 


THE  BOARD  OF  THE  EP  WORTH  LEAGUE 

ANALYSIS  OF  STATEMENT 


I.  Historical  Statement 

II.  The  Epworth  League  in  the 
United  States 

1.  Epworth  League  organization 

2.  Department  activities  and  needs 

a.  First  Department 

b.  Second  Department 

c.  Third  Department 

d.  Fourth  Department 

3.  Epworth  League  Institutes 

4.  The  Junior  Epworth  League 

5.  Negro  Epworth  Leagues 

6.  Special  Epworth  League  groups 

7.  Hawaiian  Epworth  Leagues 

8.  The  Twentv-four-Hour-Day  plan 


III.  The  Epworth  League  in  Foreign 
Fields 

1.  Japan 

2.  Korea 

3.  China 

4.  Malaysia 

5.  Philippine  Islands 

6.  India 

7.  Mexico 

8.  South  America 

9.  Europe  as  a  whole 

10.  Italy 

11.  France 

12.  Scandinavia 

13.  Austria  and  Hungary 

14.  Switzerland 

15.  Germany 

16.  Tunis 


36 


553 


554 


WORLD  SERVICE 


I.  HISTORICAL  STATEMENT 

The  General  Conference  of  1892  recog¬ 
nized  and  officially  adopted  the  Epworth 
League,  which  three  years  before,  at 
Cleveland,  Ohio,  had  been  formed  by  the 
merging  of  five  young  people’s  societies 
operating  within  the  church. 

The  organization  was  given  a  form  of 
constitution  and  its  general  aim  as  ex¬ 
pressed  in  the  legislation  was  “to  promote 
intelligent  and  vital  piety  in  the  young 
members  and  friends  of  the  Church,  to  aid 
them  in  the  attainment  of  purity  of  heart 
and  constant  growth  in  grace,  and  to  train 
them  in  works  of  mercy  and  help.”1 

Each  Grneral  Conference  since  1892  has 
scrutinized  thp  record  and  relationship  of 
its  young  people’s  organization  and  after 
improvements,  from  time  to  time,  aimed 
at  more  perfect  adaptation  of  the  society 
to  its  task,  has  given  it  official  ap¬ 
proval.  At  Des  Moines  in  1920  the  Gen¬ 
eral  Conference  gave  it  for  the  first  time 
the  standing  of  one  of  the  regular  benevo¬ 
lent  Boards  of  the  church.2 

The  thirty-three  years  of  the  Epworth 
League’s  activity  have  seen  the  accom- 

1  Discipline  1892,  T|325,  §82. 

2  Discipline,  1920,  11*407. 

WICHITA 

NEW  YORK 

WASHINGTON 

SAN  FRANCISCO 

PITTSBURGH 

PHILADELPHIA 

CHICAGO 

OE-TROI I 

OMAHA 

INDIANAPOLIS 

ST.  LOUIS 

CINCINNATI 

BUFFALO 

PORTLAND 

ST.  PAUL 

NEW  ORLEANS 

DENVER 

BOSTON 

HELENA  rges 

ATLANTA  Chapters 

CHATTANOOGA 

o  so  2o  jo  4°  5°  6o  jo  So  yo 

Percentage  of  charges  in  the  United  States  having 
Senior  Epworth  League  Chapters 


plishment  of  great  results,  far  beyond  the 
dreams  of  the  devoted  and  courageous 
founders.  As  the  official  young  people’s  so¬ 
ciety  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church, 
the  Epworth  League  has  made  for  itself  a 
large  place  in  the  hearts  and  life  of  Meth¬ 
odist  youth.  Through  it  they  have  accepted, 
gladly,  their  share  of  the  church’s  task  and 
their  share  of  its  responsibility.  The 
League’s  training  in  leadership  has  pro¬ 
duced  hundreds  of  our  church  leaders  and 
its  emphasis  on  a  well-informed  member¬ 
ship  has  produced  an  intelligent  laity.  Its 
study  classes,  its  institutes,  its  training 
conferences,  have  been  of  great  value  in 
acquainting  young  people  with  the  various 
phases  of  need  and  activity  related  directly 
and  indirectly  to  the  church’s  program. 
Coupled  with  this  educational  program,  the 
opportunity  for  expressional  activities  has 
been  tremendously  valuable. 

The  League  in  its  whole  program  seeks 
to  stress  on  behalf  of  boys  and  girls  of 
probationers’  age,  carefully  directed 
courses  of  training  in  intelligent  member¬ 
ship  in  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church, 
and,  for  the  young  people  of  the  Senior 
Chapters,  training  and  direction  for  in¬ 
telligent  service  within  their  own  church 
and  as  Christian  citizens  in  their  own 
communities. 

It  should  be  remembered  in  studying 
this  statement  that  the  actual  membership 
of  the  League  is  limited  to  those  who  join 
by  voluntary  act  and  that  the  number  re¬ 
corded  as  members  does  not  indicate  the 
actual  strength  of  the  League.  There  is  a 
large  percentage  of  loyal  constituents  who 
contribute  to  and  are  helped  by  the  League 
program  who  are  not  represented  by  its 
reported  statistics. 

“Young  People’s  Work  for  Young  Peo¬ 
ple”  means  that,  in  co-operation  with  the 
pastor,  the  young  people  themselves,  from 
their  own  initiative,  plan  and  direct  their 
work  in  accordance  with  the  general  con¬ 
stitution  of  the  Epworth  League.  This 
involves  the  building  of  Christian  charac¬ 
ter,  co-operation  with  other  Christian 
forces,  the  Christian  conquest  of  the  evils 
of  the  social  and  economic  order,  and 


EPWORTH  LEAGUES 


555 


Christian  comradeship  in  the  community. 
The  work  of  the  Epworth  League  is  di¬ 
vided  into  four  departments. 

The  First  Department  concerns  the 
building  of  Christian  character,  for  which 
there  are  weekly  devotional  meetings, 
Bible  study  classes,  “Win  My  Chum”  cam¬ 
paigns,  co-operation  with  junior  work,  the 
Morning  Watch,  and  life  work. 

The  Second  Department  concerns  Chris¬ 
tian  stewardship  and  mission  study;  there 
are  study  classes,  reading  courses,  and  the 
enrolment  of  tithing  stewards. 

The  Third  Department  concerns  vital 
social  and  moral  questions  in  the  com¬ 
munity.  It  promotes  good  citizenship, 
the  enrolment  and  aid  of  first  voters,  law 
enforcement,  Sabbath  observance,  mercy 
and  help,  visits  to  civic  institutions,  em¬ 
ployment  bureaus,  and  the  Booth  Festival. 

The  Fourth  Department  concerns  Chris¬ 
tian  comradeship  in  the  use  of  leisure  time 
and  the  general  promotion  of  culture.  Here 
the  membership  of  the  League  is  recruited, 
Epworth  Herald  interests  are  advanced, 
institute  delegations  are  secured,  and  liter¬ 
ary,  musical,  social,  and  outing  programs 
arranged. 

II.  THE  EPWORTH  LEAGUE  IN  THE 
UNITED  STATES 

1.  Epworth  League  Organization 

The  present  Epworth  League  organiza¬ 
tion  in  the  United  States 
consists  of  18,471  local 
chapters,  both  Senior  and 
Junior,  with  638,865 
members.  Of  462  dis¬ 
tricts,  335  have  standard¬ 
ized  League  organizations, 
leaving  127  unorganized. 

Sixty-three  per  cent  of 
all  charges  have  Epworth 
League  Chapters;  but  the 
average  in  typical  organ¬ 
ized  districts  is  seventy- 
three  per  cent,  and  in 
unorganized,  twenty-four 
per  cent.  This  would 
seem  to  indicate  that  the 
district  as  a  working  unit 


must  be  developed.  This  can  be  done  most 
effectively  by  an  Epworth  League  worker 
for  the  area,  whose  duty  it  is  to  organize 
districts  and  local  chapters,  and  to  co-ordi¬ 
nate  the  activities  of  the  young  people 
with  those  of  the  general  church.  Calls 
are  multiplying  from  the  field  asking 
that  such  help  be  sent.  In  practically  all 
cases  the  young  people  themselves  are  will¬ 
ing  and  eager  to  undertake  a  share  of  the 
responsibility,  but  provision  must  be  made 
for  a  constantly  expanding  program,  so 
that  when  the  young  people  desire  a 
worker  and  are  willing  to  undertake  his 
support,  it  may  be  provided  for  through 
the  general  League  budget. 

There  are  at  present  four  field  Secre¬ 
taries  at  work  in  various  sections  of  the 
country,  in  the  Wichita  Area,  the  Califor¬ 
nia  Conference,  the  Blue-Ridge  Atlantic 
and  Holston  Conferences,  and  the  Portland 
District  of  the  Maine  Conference. 

2.  Department  Activities  and  Needs 

Departmental  secretaries. — If  the  Board 
of  the  Epworth  League  is  to  provide  a  bal¬ 
anced  program  an  equally  important  pro¬ 
vision  must  be  made  for  more  departmen¬ 
tal  secretaries  in  the  Central  Office. 

The  program  for  each  department 
should  be  under  the  special  direction  of  a 
worker  selected  for  that  form  of  activ¬ 
ity,  who  will  promote  its  interests. 


556 


WORLD  SERVICE 


The  Second  Department  has  demonstrated 
what  results  can  be  obtained  when  this  is 
done.  In  no  work  has  the  Epworth  League 
shown  greater  advance  than  in  its  Mission 
Study  and  Stewardship  Department,  as  is 
indicated  in  the  report  of  that  Depart¬ 
ment. 

a.  First  Department 

Win-My-Chum.—  The  growth  of  the 
Win-My-Chum  idea,  the  Epworth  League’s 
program  of  personal  evangelism,  might 
easily  be  doubled  both  in  the  number  of 
campaigns  and  in  results  if  district  and 
local  First  Vice-Presidents  were  given  op¬ 
portunity  to  study  the  Win-My-Chum 
plans,  especially  the  preparation  for  and 
the  method  of  the  campaign. 

Morning  Watch  Movement. —  The  Morn¬ 
ing  Watch  movement  enrolled  during  the 
two  years,  1920  and  1921,  about  3,000 
Epworthians,  while  in  the  year  of  1922 
when  some  special  attention  was  given  to 
its  promotion  the  enrolment  increased  to 
4,298.  The  cultivation  of  the  prayer  habit 
is  absolutely  essential  for  a  vital  Chris¬ 
tianity  in  the  church.  It  is  seen  that  by 
interesting  the  youth  of  today,  the  leader 
of  tomorrow  will  be  equipped  with  the  nec¬ 
essary  tools  for  Kingdom  building. 

Bible  Study. — Bible  study  classes  occupy 
no  small  place  in  the  Epworth  League  pro¬ 
gram.  Our  courses  have  been  broadening 
in  every  way,  for  the  text-books  adopted 
on  the  recommendation  of  the  Central  Of¬ 
fice  are  comprehensive  in  their  treatment 
of  the  leading  movements  and  characters 
of  both  Old  and  New  Testaments. 

Needs  of  the  First  Department. — The 
needs  of  the  First  Department  include: 

1.  A  secretary  to  plan  and  promote  the 
interests  of  the  First  Department. 

2.  Development  of  training  conferences 
for  district  and  local  First  Vice-Presidents. 
The  ideal  would  be  to  hold  each  year  at 
least  one  conference  on  First  Department 
methods  in  every  district  under  the  leader¬ 
ship  of  an  experienced  worker. 

3.  The  distribution  of  free  literature. 

If  provision  can  be  made  for  these  needs, 

the  spiritual  value  of  the  League  and  its 


1917-18  1918-19  1919-20  1920-21  1921-22 

Reported  mission-study  classes 


contribution  to  the  church  will  be  greatly 
increased  and  the  development  of  the 
spiritual  life  of  our  young  people  will  go 
forward  in  a  splendid  way. 

b.  Second  Department 

Growth  of  mission  study. — In  1917  the 
number  of  mission  study  classes  was  850 ; 
in  1918,  2,005;  in  1919,  2,508;  in  1920, 
3,002;  in  1921,  5,026. 

During  this  period  of  four  years,  there 
has  probably  been  a  total  enrolment  in 
mission  study  classes  of  one-half  million 
young  people. 

Mission  study  in  the  institutes. — Mission 
study  forms  a  part  of  institute  programs, 
both  summer  and  mid-year.  The  leaders 
for  local  classes  gather  at  the  institutes  to 
learn  how  best  to  present  the  mission- 
study  books  to  their  groups  in  the  local 
chapters. 

The  period  of  emphasis. — In  January  and 
February,  when  the  devotional  meeting 
topics  are  based  upon  a  mission-study 
textbook,  the  whole  Epworth  League  turns 
its  attention  for  six  weeks  to  the  church’s 
kingdom  program.  Mission  study  is  also 
promoted  during  the  fall  through  classes 
outside  of  the  devotional  meeting. 

Constant  emphasis  is  placed  upon  the 
value  of  and  the  necessity  for  real  study. 
The  purpose  is  to  educate  our  young  peo¬ 
ple  in  kingdom  geography,  kingdom  bi¬ 
ography,  and  modern  kingdom  history. 

Missionary  readers. — As  a  supplement  to 
the  mission-study  class,  there  is  individual 


EPWORTH  LEAGUES 


557 


MICHIGAN 

NEW  YORK 

PENNSYLVANIA 

ILLINOIS 

OHIO 

INDIANA 

KANSAS 

IOWA 

CALIFORNIA 

NEW  JERSEY 

NEBSASKA 

MASSACHUSETTS 

WISCONSIN 

MISSOURI 

WASHINGTON 

MINNESOTA 

UKLAHOMA 

MARYLANO 

WEST  VIRGINIA 

OREGON 

MAINE 

CONNECTICUT 

COLORADO 

DIST.  ol  COLUMBIA 

NORTH  DAKOTA 

MONTANA 

SOUTH  DAKOTA 

IOAHO 

TENNESSEE 

VERMONT 

DELAWARE 

FLORIOA 

ARIZONA 

TEXAS 

GEORGIA 

RHOOE  ISLANO 

VIRGINIA 

WYOMING 

ARKANSAS 

ALABAMA 

KENTUCKY 

NEVADA 

LOUISIANA 

NEW  HAMPSHIRE 

NEW  MEXICO 

UTAH 

MISSISSIPPI 
NORTH  CAROLINA 
SOUTH  CAROLINA 
HAWAII 
PORTO  RICO 
ENGLAND 


946 

499 

471 

376 

373 

306 

273 

255 

146 

143 

104 

102 

92 


Distribution  of  mission-study  classes  by  states,  1922 


57 

56 

54 

51  ■ 
50  ■ 
49  ■ 
43  ■ 
32  ■ 
27  ■ 
26  ■ 
22  ■ 
2\  U 
19  ■ 
lb  ■ 
14  ■ 
12  ■ 
II  ■ 
7  ■ 
7  ■ 
7  ■ 
7  I 
6  ■ 
5  ■ 
5  N 
3  I 
2  1 
2  I 
2  I 
2  I 


reading  of  mission¬ 
ary  books  under  what 
is  known  as  the  Meth- 
_  odist  Million  Readers 
™  plan.  Many  thousands 
7  of  young  people  have 
pledged  to  read  at  least 
one  missionary  book  during 
1922-23. 

With  all  of  these  splendid 
accomplishments,  the  possi¬ 
bilities  of  increased  effi¬ 
ciency  are  not  exhausted. 
There  are  yet  several  thou¬ 
sand  chapters  whose  mem¬ 
bers  should  be  enrolled  in 
the  definite  study  of  mis¬ 
sions. 

The  department  ideal.  — 
The  desire  and  ideal  of  the 
Second  Department  is  expressed  in  its 
motto,  “That  They  May  Know.”  If  this 
ideal  is  to  be  realized,  three  methods  of 
promotion  must  be  followed : 

1.  Normal  training  courses  for  all 
teachers  of  institute  classes. 

2.  Area  Conferences 
for  the  Second  Vice-Pres¬ 
idents  of  the  districts. 

3.  District  Confer¬ 
ences  for  local  Second 
Vice-Presidents. 

Stewardship. — Another 
activity  of  the  Second 
Department  is  the  pro¬ 
motion  of  Christian  stew¬ 
ardship.  Epworthians 
are  acquainted  with 
all  phases  of  steward¬ 
ship,  including  that  of 
time,  talents,  and  serv¬ 
ice,  as  well  as  of  posses¬ 
sions  through  considera¬ 
tion  of  the  subject  in 


study  classes  and  devotional  meetings. 

As  a  result  of  this  program,  not  less 
than  fifty  thousand  tithers  have  been  en¬ 
rolled  during  the  past  three  years,  as  fol¬ 
lows:  1920—40,000;  1921—5,000;  1922— 
5,000.  The  importance  of  this  enrolment 
to  the  church  cannot  be  over-estimated. 

The  goal  which  is  set  for  the  enrolment 
of  Christian  Stewards  within  the  next  ten 
years  is  500,000.  This  will  be  accomplished 
through  an  educational  program  pro¬ 
moted  largely  through  literature  covering 
the  whole  field  of  Christian  stewardship, 
especially  adapted  to  the  needs  of  young 
people. 

Year  round  promotion  is  emphasized. 
Through  study  classes  in  both  summer  and 
mid-year  institutes,  and  through  the  study 
of  approved  texts,  through  reading  con¬ 
tests  and  other  educational  features  in 
local  chapters,  Epworthians  are  learning 
to  “Crown  Him  Lord  of  All.” 

c.  The  Third  Department 

Social  Service.— The  advance  which  the 
Second  Department  has  made  is  but  an 


EACH  DOT  (.)  REPRESENTS 
ONE  MISSION  STUDY  ENROLMENT  DURING  1 92 1 -22 
TOTAL  5026 


Mission-study  classes — 1921-1922 


558 


WORLD  SERVICE 


indication  of  the  possibilities  for  strength¬ 
ening  and  expanding  each  department,  if 
adequate  leadership  is  provided.  Our  Ep- 
worthians  should  have  careful  training  in 
the  principles  and  methods  of  real  Christ- 
like  service.  The  Epworth  League  is  as 
greatly  interested  in  the  securing  of  Chris¬ 
tian  business  men  and  consecrated  Chris¬ 
tian  citizens  for  America,  as  it  is  in  send¬ 
ing  teachers  to  China. 


EP  TORCH  COGUE 

cut  mcwtiisc  juiccics 

“AcknoioJedgnienl  and  Purpose 

as  Christian  $tcu'ard$~> 

IS1'  losing  lo,valtv  to  their  lord  and 
09  on  aclinoiflcdgmcnt  of  His  oton.rship  the 
fallowing  number  of  Epworth  Ccoguors  in  the 

yeeir  li)22  have  covenanted  ti-  poy  th,  Cjthc 

’heir  inc  ouk  for  the  purpose  of  main  - 
taining  and  extending  the  Kingdom  of  God 


1 

Atlanta  Area 

16  BaAen  Area 

100 

1 

Buffalo  Area 

116  Chat  Ian ooga  Area 

2 

s 

Clticaejc  Area 

•152  |CijKinnati  Area 

4  ISO 

% 

Denver  Area 

25  iDetrc tt Area 

322 

£ 

Helena  Area 

DO  llndianai'clis  Area 

tro 

Item  Orleans -Area  2  Hcu-TorJ.  Rrca 
Omoba  Area  3>6  Philadelphia  Jtreo 
Pittsburgh  Area  50C' Portland  Urea 
SI.  Corns  itrfa  St.  Foul  Area 

Sa»  Francisco Art  o  3 70  U)a  sblnqt oh  Arc© 
ll'rehito  Area  -J2l. 

-Cctal  *984- 


The  present  program.—  For  many  years 
the  Third  Department  was  exceedingly 
weak  but  recently  there  has  been  a  new 
expanding  motive  and  obligation  for  serv¬ 
ice.  The  present  program  for  the  Third 
Department  includes: 

1.  The  stressing  of  the  service  motive 
during  the  year  in  the  devotional  meeting. 

2.  The  study  and  practice  of  Christian 
citizenship  through  study  classes  and  the 
devotional  meeting,  in  campaigns  of  law 
enforcement  and  an  active  interest  in 
legislation. 


3.  This  distribution  of  litera¬ 
ture.  Material  is  now  available 
for  only  a  few  phases  of  social 
service  work. 

4.  Co-operation  with  our 

Methodist  benevolent  institu¬ 
tions  through  the  Booth  Festi¬ 
val,  a  program  of  recreation  j 

and  service,  which,  in  1922, 

was  carried  out  by  twenty-one 
districts.  The  total  amount 
of  supplies  and  money  thus 
donated  was  more  than  i 

$16,000.  Probably  other 
festivals  were  held  which 
have  not  been  reported. 

5.  The  promotion  of  : 

service  activities.  The 

service  work  now  being  ; 

carried  on  by  Epwor- 
thians  is  both  surpris¬ 
ing  and  commendable. 

The  activities  reported 

include  Fresh  Air  ! 

Farms  supported  by 

more  than  one  dis-  j 

trict  or  conference, 

outings  for  slum 

children  and  for 

aged  folks  during 

the  summer 

months,  a  year-  ; 

around  Kinder¬ 
garten  financed  ! 

by  one  district, 


Signed  Stewardship  cards  in  the  Central  Office 
files,  if  stacked,  would  make  a  pile 
nearly  fifty  feet  high 


run 


EPWORTH  LEAGUES 


559 


and  a  Traveler’s  Aid  Deaconess  in  one  of 
our  large  cities,  entirely  supported  by  Ep- 
worthians.  Fourteen  scholarships  in  train¬ 
ing  schools  and  colleges  are  provided 
through  the  liberality  of  Epworthians. 
Three  chapters  have  equipped  and  are 
directing  community  play  grounds. 

In  addition  to  these  outstanding  accom¬ 
plishments,  Epworthians  are  actively  en¬ 
gaged  in  giving  personal  service  to  scores 
of  orphanages,  missions,  hospitals,  alms¬ 
houses,  jails,  old  people’s  homes,  and  to 
churches  in  foreign-speaking  communities. 

Needs  of  the  Third  Department. —  If  the 
Third  Department  program  is  to  keep 
abreast  of  the  new  and  vital  needs  of 
Christian  service — there  must  be: 

1.  Adequate  and  efficient  leadership. 
The  time  is  now  ripe  to  add  a  specialist  in 
Social  Service  activity. 

2.  A  service  program  big  enough  to 
challenge  the  interest  of  our  thinking 
young  people. 

3.  Some  method  by  which  social  and 
economic  problems  may  be  placed  before 
Epworthians.  Probably  the  best  begin¬ 
ning  would  be  through  the  preparation  of 
informational  literature. 

d.  The  Fourth  Department 

Recreation  and  culture. — The  Epworth 
League  was  the  pioneer  in  Methodism  in 
recognizing  the  need  for,  and  developing 
the  program  of,  recreation.  For  several 
years  it  has  provided  an  increasing  num¬ 
ber  of  text-books  with  suggested  programs 
and  outlines  for  recreational  activities. 

When  the  General  Conference  in  1920 
opened  the  way  for  new  responsibilities 
and  opportunities  for  leadership  in  recre¬ 
ation,  the  response  of  the  Fourth  Depart¬ 
ment  was  immediate  and  gratifying.  Since 
that  time  a  large  number  (estimated 
roughly  at  about  one  in  twenty-five)  of 
Fourth  Vice-Presidents  have  undertaken 
the  task  of  recreational  direction  in  the 
local  churches. 

According  to  estimates  based  on  reports 
of  district  officers,  the  Epworth  League 
touches  over  2,200,000  young  people  each 
year  through  its  recreational  program. 
The  importance  of  this  is  found  in  the  fact 


that  when  young  people  play  together  it 
is  easier  for  them  to  pray  together. 

The  ideal  of  the  Fourth  Department,  as 
it  is  expressed  in  the  words,  “The  best 
life  must  lead  and  not  trail,”  has  the  sug¬ 
gestion  of  the  great  possibilities  for  con¬ 
stant  service  if  the  Fourth  Department  in 
the  local  chapter  can  be  given  the  aid 
which  it  so  greatly  needs. 

Each  year  brings  a  larger  number  of 
commercialized  amusements  that  urge 
their  attention  upon  young  life.  It  be¬ 
comes  increasingly  important,  therefore, 
that  there  shall  be  provision  for  clean, 
wholesome  recreation  especially  for  young 
people. 

Epworthians  have  a  large  opportunity 
to  influence  the  recreational  life  of  their 
communities.  In  a  multitude  of  cases  they 
are  accomplishing  results,  but  there  are 
tremendous  possibilities  in  large  numbers 
of  untouched  fields. 

There  should  be  a  director  of  Fourth  De¬ 
partment  activities  to  aid  in  planning  pro¬ 
grams  for  various  types  of  chapters  that 
will  challenge  the  attention  of  the  young 
people  of  the  whole  community ;  to  prepare 
literature  that  will  give  adequate  informa¬ 
tion  concerning  methods  of  play;  to  adapt 
the  recreational  program  so  that  it  will 
successfully  care  for  the  college  group, 
the  intermediate  group  and  the  rural 
chapters. 

In  no  phase  of  young  people’s  activity 
is  the  masterhood  of  Jesus  Christ  more 
greatly  needed  than  in  recreation.  The 
church  through  the  Epworth  League  can 
make  a  contribution  to  young  life  that 
will  mean  not  only  stronger  bodies,  but 
more  alert  minds,  more  helpful  social  con¬ 
tacts  and  better  developed  Christian  char¬ 
acters. 

3.  Epworth  League  Institutes 

Rapid  growth. — The  Epworth  League  In¬ 
stitute  traces  an  unbroken  history  back 
to  the  year  1906. 

In  1910,  there  were  seven  institutes  un¬ 
der  the  direction  of  the  Central  Office. 
They  were  at  Mount  Hermon,  California ; 
Bonner  Springs,  Kansas ;  Lake  Minne¬ 
tonka,  Minnesota;  Byron  Camp  Grounds, 


One  hundred  and  seven  Epworth  League  Institutes  in  the  United  States  in  1922 


EPWORTH  LEAGUES 


561 


Wisconsin;  Cazenovia,  New  York;  Sea 
Cliff,  New  York;  Mountain  Lake  Park, 
Maryland. 

In  1911,  there  were  six  Institutes;  in 
1912,  eight;  in  1913,  twelve;  in  1914,  eigh- 

NUMBE*  or 
myrnuTts 


How  the  institute  movement  has  grown 


teen;  in  1915,  nineteen;  in  1916,  thirty; 
in  1917,  thirty-three;  in  1918,  forty-four; 
in  1919,  fifty-eight;  in  1920,  seventy-five; 
in  1921,  eighty-seven;  and  in  1922,  one 
hundred  seven.  Seventeen  new  Institutes 
have  been  registered  so  that  for  1923,  we 
have  at  least  one  hundred  twenty-four 
planned,  some  of  which  minister  to  the 
young  people  of  the  foreign  speaking  and 
colored  conferences. 

Certain  institutes  are  under  the  direc¬ 
tion  of  district  organizations  while  others 
minister  to  annual  conferences. 

Widely  distributed.  —  These  institutes 
are  distributed  over  the  whole  of  the 
United  States  and  nearly  every  state  is 
represented. 

The  institute  idea  is  spreading  to  for¬ 
eign  lands  wherever  Epworth  League  work 


is  found.  India,  the  Philippine  Islands, 
Malaysia,  South  America  and  Mexico  have 
reported  splendid  results  while  other  coun¬ 
tries  are  planning  for  these  gatherings. 

Institute  objectives. — The  institute  ob¬ 
jectives  are: 

A  better  knowledge  of  the  Bible. 

A  better  knowledge  of  the  needs  of  the 
world  in  the  light  of  God’s  Word  through 
Mission  Study. 

A  better  understanding  of  the  signifi¬ 
cance  of  Christ’s  great  commission  and  our 
relation  thereto  through  the  study  of 
Christian  stewardship. 

Better  methods  of  work  in  Junior  and 
Senior  Epworth  Leagues,  the  Sunday 
school,  and  the  church. 

A  better  understanding  of  the  work  of 
our  church  at  home  and  abroad  and  the 


Chart  showing  yearly  summer  institute 
attendance 


needs  in  men  and  money  to  do  the  work 
The  promotion  of  evangelism  among 
young  people  through  study  classes  and 
Win-My-Chum  campaigns. 

The  development  of  wholesome,  con¬ 
structive  recreation. 

The  enlistment  of 
those  who  feel  a  call  to 
Christian  life  service 
under  the  direction  of 
the  church. 

In  order  to  reach  these 
objectives  the  program 
includes  four  major  divi¬ 
sions:  devotional  hours, 
class  study  periods,  rec¬ 
reation,  and  inspira- 


Lunch  time  at  institute 


£62 


WORLD  SERVICE 


tional  meetings  and  wor¬ 
ship. 

Daily  schedules.  —  The 
study  schedules  are  ar¬ 
ranged  in  a  four-year 
cycle,  during  which  the 
interests  of  each  depart¬ 
ment  receive  special  em¬ 
phasis  and  cumulative 
development. 

The  afternoons  are 
given  to  directed  recrea¬ 
tion  and  the  evenings  to 
social  clinics  and  inspira¬ 
tional  meetings. 

The  climax  of  the  week 


comes  on  Sunday  when 
the  call  to  life  service  is 
presented. 

Life  service. — Out  of  the  institutes  of 
the  last  five  years  have  come  the  names  of 
12,569  young  people  who  have  signed  cards 
indicating  it  to  be  their  purpose  to  give 
their  lives  to  some  form  of  Christian  serv¬ 
ice.  Not  all  of  these  are  full  time  service 
but  the  Commission  on  Life  Service  is  at 
present  in  correspondence  with  more  than 
half  of  these. 

Most  of  them  are  in  high  school,  col¬ 
lege,  university,  seminary  or  training 
school  preparing  themselves  for  some  defi¬ 
nite  form  of  service  under  the  direction 
of  the  church,  for  one  of  the  matters  that 
is  stressed  at  the  institute  is  the  impor¬ 
tance  of  careful  preparation.  Every  sum¬ 
mer  hundreds  are  inspired  to  go  to  col¬ 
lege.  One  of  our  educational  leaders  has 

A  A  A  A  A  A 

In  1918  there  were  some  12,000  Epworthians 
registered  at  the  summer  institutes 


Mission-study  class  at  summer  institute 


publicly  declared  that  the  Epworth  League 
Institute  has  no  small  part  in  crowding 
the  colleges  of  our  church  as  well  as  our 
state  institutions. 

Already  in  the  ministry  and  in  various 
forms  of  service  in  the  home  and  foreign 
work  of  the  church  there  is  a  splendid 
company  who  point  to  the  Epworth  League 
Institute  as  the  place  where  they  received 
either  the  initial  or  the  determining  im¬ 
pulse  to  find  in  Christian  service  their  life 
vocation. 

One  out  of  twenty  of  the  youth  of  our 
church  has  been  in  such  a  training  camp 
during  the  past  summer  and  is  at  home 
again  diffusing  the  leaven  of  holy  zeal  and 
consecration. 

Mid-year  institutes.-— The  newest  devel¬ 
opment  of  the  institute  idea  is  the  Mid¬ 
year  or  Indoor  Institute.  The  young  peo¬ 
ple  themselves  have  been  asking  how  they 
might  take  the  institute  inspiration,  pro¬ 
gram,  and  method  to  their  local  chapters. 

Provision  has  been  made  to  adapt  the 
summer  program  to  the  district,  sub-dis¬ 
trict,  city  union,  or  local  church  group. 


AAAAAAAAAAAAAAA 

In  1922  the  registration  total  was  well  over  30,000.  In  the  span  of  five  years  the  number  has 

been  multiplied  two  and  one-half  times 

Each  figure  represents  2,000  Leaguers 


EPWORTH  LEAGUES 


563 


Pastors’  class  at  summer  institute 


Every  precaution  is  taken  to  keep  the 
standard  of  work  up  to  that  of  the  larger 
summer  institute. 

The  Mid-year  Institute  puts  within  the 
reach  of  all  the  members  the  training  that 
the  summer  institutes  have  planned  for  the 
district  and  chapter  officers  of  the  Leagues. 

This  new  and  intensive  form  of  training 
is  meeting  with  enthusiastic  response.  In 
1922,  more  than  two  hundred  Mid-year 
Institutes  were  reported.  This  new  door 
for  training  stands  wide  open  and  unites 
the  Institute  Department  to  a  service  it 
is  eager  to  render. 

Institute  goals. — The  goals  toward  which 
the  Epworth  League  is  working  in  its  in¬ 
stitutes  are  in  part  as  follows : 

1.  A  summer  institute  within  reach  of 
every  chapter. 

2.  A  mid-year  institute  available  for 
every  Epworthian. 

3.  Every  cabinet  officer  attending  an 
institute. 

4.  The  Junior  Epworth  League 

Purpose  and  program. — T  he  Junior 
League  through  its  program  adapted  to 
boys  and  girls  between  the  ages  of  nine 
and  fifteen,  seeks  to  train  them  in  and  pre¬ 
pare  them  for  church  membership. 

The  Junior  League  holds  a  unique  place 
in  the  church.  It  affords  the  pastor  oppor¬ 
tunity  for  fulfilling  his  obligation  for  the 
religious  instruction  of  the  children  by 
preparing  them  for  and  supplementing 
the  work  of  the  pastor’s  class. 

It  prepares  for  this  class  by  helping  boys 
and  girls  to  find  themselves  in  the  church 


through  acquaintance  with  its  history, 
doctrines,  government,  and  activities. 

It  prepares  for  church  membership  by 
laying  the  foundation  for  an  intelligent 
and  well-grounded  decision  for  Christ. 

It  trains  in  church  membership  through 
the  formation  of  groups  in  which  the  boys 
and  girls  become  members  of  a  quarterly 
conference,  directors  of  a  new  church,  sec¬ 
retaries  of  the  various  boards  of  benevo¬ 
lence,  and  members  of  the  Council  of 
Boards  of  Benevolence. 

It  educates  the  Juniors  as  world  citizens 
through  the  activity  of  the  Neighborhood 
Club — a  band  of  American  Junior  Leag¬ 
uers  adopting  an  “Amigo  Intimo”  or  “Best 
Friend”  in  some  foreign  field,  thereby  ef¬ 
fecting  a  direct  friendly  intercourse  be¬ 
tween  the  home  and  foreign  field. 

It  lays  foundation  for  a  life  of  steward¬ 
ship  through  its  emphasis  on  every  phase 
of  stewardship  principles. 

It  trains  in  church  membership  by  ac¬ 
quainting  the  boys  and  girls  with  the  work 
of  the  kingdom  today  in  its  classes  in  mis¬ 
sion  study. 

It  lays  enduring  basis  for  the  spirit  of 
service  through  its  training  in  various 
forms  of  service  activities.  Several  thou¬ 
sand  dollars  have  been  subscribed  to  the 
various  home  and  foreign  mission  projects 
through  the  Junior  chapters  outside  of  the 
suggested  activities. 

It  trains  in  church  membership  by  pro¬ 
moting  wholesome  recreation  under  the 
auspices  of  the  church. 

It  provides  through  its  devotional  meet¬ 
ings  the  cultivation  of  devotional  expres¬ 
sion. 


S64 


WORLD  SERVICE 


Needs. — It  seems  incredible  that  a  pro¬ 
gram  so  inclusive  and  making  such  splen¬ 
did  provision  for  the  adequate  vital  re¬ 
ligious  training  of  boys  and  girls  and  their 
preparation  for  church  membership  is  not 
more  eagerly  seized  by  a  greater  number 
of  churches  as  an  important  part  of  their 
program. 

There  is  a  serious  lack  in  the  number 
of  Junior  chapters  in  various  areas.  This 
lack  should  be  corrected  and  can  be  if  a 
few  but  tremendously  important  needs 
can  be  supplied : 

1.  More  training  conferences  for 
workers. 

2.  Additions  to  the  Junior  League 
staff  by  the  provision  of  field  workers. 

3.  Some  organizers  in  particular  ter¬ 
ritories  who  will  give  at  least  part  of  their 
time  to  distinct  promotion  of  Junior 
League  work. 

Looking  forward. — The  projected  pro¬ 
gram  of  the  Junior  League  as  planned  for 
1923  shows  clearly  how  imperative  are  the 
above  needs  if  the  ideals  of  this  great  or¬ 
ganization  are  to  be  realized. 

Carrying  out  the  general  theme,  Evan¬ 
gelism,  the  Junior  League  subject  for  the 
year  is  “Saving  the  World  Through  the 
Boys  and  Girls.” 

The  method  of  presenting  this  topic  will 
be  by  the  study  of 

1.  Wholesome  Living  —  The  Immi¬ 
grant. 

2.  Christian  Education — American  In¬ 
dians  and  Southern  Highlanders. 

3.  Christian  Homes  —  Latin-Ameri- 
cans. 

4.  Christian  Ideals — Children’s  Homes, 

5.  God’s  Own  Word — Bible  Boys  and 
Girls. 

6.  Our  Influence — Playground,  School., 
and  Church. 

Junior  League  Statistics. — The  Juniors 
are  enthusiastic  supporters  of  the  Twenty- 
four-Hour-Day  Plan.  There  are  690 
Twenty-four-Hour-Day  Junior  chapters 
enrolled  representing  16,591  Junior  Leag¬ 
uers. 

Ten  countries  are  represented  in  the 
Neighborhood  Club. 


The  registration  in  the  Junior  Methods 
class  during  the  1922  institute  season  was 
3,189;  923  of  these  young  people  prom¬ 
ised  definitely  to  organize  local  Junior 
Leagues. 

During  1921  and  1922,  a  Junior  League 
extension  program  for  boys  and  girls  was 
conducted  in  twenty-six  camp  meetings. 
In  1921,  1,411  new  chapters  of  the  Junior 
League  were  organized. 

5.  Negro  Epworth  Leagues 

An  encouraging  program. — T  h  e  League 
program  in  our  Negro  Conferences  is  con¬ 
stantly  developing. 

The  growth  of  the  institutes  is  an  index 
to  the  life  of  the  entire  program.  In  1922, 
at  Claflin  University  the  whole  school  was 
given  over  to  the  institute  program  for  a 
week  with  very  encouraging  success.  It  is 
expected  that  the  educational  centers  will 
be  utilized  in  a  like  manner  in  increasing 
numbers. 

Great  emphasis  is  being  placed  upon 
Third  Department  activities.  Negro  Ep- 
worthians  learn  the  relation  of  a  young 
Christian  to  his  community  and  practice 
Christian  ideals  of  citizenship  by  under¬ 
taking  “Clean-Up  Weeks”  and  similar 
campaigns.  Recreation  is  in  great  need  of 
careful  attention.  Booth  Festivals  are 
rapidly  increasing  in  number  and  scope 
and  make  the  young  people  happy  in  con¬ 
sciousness  of  service  rendered. 

6.  Special  Epworth  League  Groups 

Intermediates. — The  young  people  in¬ 
cluded  in  the  Intermediate  group  are 
receiving  the  attention  of  a  special  com¬ 
mittee  appointed  by  the  Board  of  the 
Epworth  League  so  that  the  problem  of 
the  adaptation  of  the  whole  program  to 
their  needs  will  be  solved. 

College  groups. — The  college  young  peo¬ 
ple  constitute  a  group  offering  a  large  op¬ 
portunity  for  real  service.  Programs  and 
suggestions  especially  adapted  to  their 
needs  are  being  introduced  and  tried  with 
success.  The  next  few  years  should  show 
marked  results  and  a  real  contribution  to 
the  church. 


EPWORTH  LEAGUES 


565 


Foreign-speaking  groups.  —  An  almost 
untouched  field  of  opportunity  lies  in  the 
Southwest  among  the  Spanish-speaking 
young  people.  Many  urgent  calls  have  come 
asking  for  translation  of  both  Senior  and 
Junior  chapter  literature  into  Spanish. 
While  some  of  the  literature  prepared  for 
Mexico  will  serve,  other  material  will  be 
necessary.  Special  programs  for  activi¬ 
ties  will  also  be  required. 

The  young  people  of  Europe  who  come 
to  America  as  the  land  of  opportunity 
should  have  attention  through  especially 
prepared  suggestions  for  service  activities 
and  study  classes.  The  Epworth  Leagues 
of  our  German  Conferences  have  a  secre¬ 
tary  whose  work  it  will  be  to  standardize 
their  program  and  their  support.  The  need, 
as  a  League  leader  in  Europe  states,  is 
that  our  young  people  come  to  know  and 
work  with  their  European  comrades  who 
have  come  to  America. 

Work  has  begun  in  many  centers  for 
Chinese  and  Japanese  Epworthians  who 
appreciate  greatly  the  interest  of  the 
League.  Recently  a  Chinese  chapter  on 
the  Pacific  Coast  sent  a  contribution  to 
provide  food  for  a  Fellowship  Hour  for  a 
chapter  in  Vienna. 

7.  Hawaiian  Epworth  Leagues 

The  Epworth  League  in  Hawaii  con¬ 
sists  of  twenty-four  chapters,  fourteen 
Senior  and  ten  Junior,  with  a  member¬ 
ship  of  468  Seniors  and  198  Juniors, 
making  a  total  of  666.  This  number 
seems  small,  but  it  is  a  nucleus  from 
which  great  things  may  be  expected 
if  adequate  support  is  forthcoming.  The 
young  people  of  Hawaii  need  young  peo¬ 
ple’s  work  as  much  as  do  the  young  people 
of  other  lands  and  they  rightly  look  to  the 
United  States  for  the  satisfaction  of  their 
desires. 

Present  program. — The  present  program 
is  carried  on  in  four  languages,  English, 
Filipino,  Korean,  and  Japanese.  Classes 
in  mission  study,  Bible  study,  steward¬ 
ship  and  social  service  have  been  reported. 

Needs. —  (1)  A  trained  secretary  who 
can  give  at  least  part  time  to  the  develop¬ 
ment  of  Epworth  League  activities. 


(2)  An  adequate  supply  of  League  lit¬ 
erature  translated  into  various  languages. 
At  present  there  is  none  available  except 
in  English. 


8.  The  Twenty-four-Hour-Day  Plan 

The  financial  plan  adopted  by  the 
Epworth  League  operates  in  a  most  satis¬ 
factory  manner.  It  is  called  the  Twenty- 
four-Hour-Day  Plan  because  the  funds 
secured  through  it  make  possible  a  large 
share  of  the  forward  program  of  the 
League  which  is  operating  twenty-four 
hours  in  every  day.  Its  scope  includes  all 
of  the  countries  where  the  Epworth 
League  is  organized. 

Minimum  expectations. — Local  chapters 
are  expected  under  the  ruling  of  the  Board 
of  the  Epworth  League  to  pledge  at  least 
one-fourth  of  their  membership  under  the 
Twenty-four-Hour-Day  Plan.  This  means 
for  the  Senior  member,  besides  his  contri¬ 
bution  to  the  local  budget,  the  payment  of 
two  cents  a  week  for  general  work  through 
the  Central  Office.  Junior  members  are 
asked  for  one  cent  a  week.  Upon  the 


DETROIT 

59 

WICHITA 

45 

HELENA 

42 

ST.  PAUL 

29 

INDIANAPOLIS 

29 

WASHINGTON 

28 

NEW  YORK 

28 

SAN  FRANCISCO 

26 

CHICAGO 

26 

PITTSBURGH 

24 

PORTLAND 

24 

CINCINNATI 

21 

BUFFALO 

2! 

ST.  LOUIS 

19 

BOSTON 

18 

DENVER 

13 

PHILADELPHIA 

11 

CHATTANOOGA 

10 

OMAHA 

9 

ATLANTA 

5 

NEW  ORLEANS 

0 

D 


] 


j 

3 


] 


] 


] 

] 


SO  SO  70  60  90  lOO^, 


Chart  showing  percentage  of  Senior  chapters, 
by  areas,  which  have  adopted  the 
24-hour-day  plan 


566 


WORLD  SERVICE 


adoption  of  this  plan  by  one  fourth  of  the 
membership  all  other  Central  Office  obli¬ 
gations  are  cancelled. 

Above  the  minimum. — W  hen  chapters 
enlist  more  than  one  fourth  of  their  mem¬ 
bership,  they  are  permitted  to  assign  a 
fair  proportion  of  their  contribution  to  in¬ 
tensive  work  within  the  area,  conference, 
or  district,  and  to  some  foreign  field  for 
League  work.  Under  this  plan,  the  sup¬ 
port  of  Mexico  is  being  undertaken  by  the 
Leaguers  of  the  Pittsburgh  Annual  Con¬ 
ference.  The  Wichita  Area  provides  for 
the  support  of  the  Epworth  League  Secre¬ 
tary  and  his  work  in  India.  The  Detroit 
Area  is  caring  for  the  League  budget  in 
China.  The  Epworthians  of  the  Fort 
Wayne  District  contribute  largely  to  Dr. 
Hauser’s  work  in  South  America.  Other 
groups  “pull  their  share  of  the  load”  by 
giving  some  assistance  to  other  fields. 
Among  these  should  be  mentioned  Ep¬ 
worthians  of  the  Central  New  York  Con¬ 
ference  and  the  Nebraska  Conference  who 
are  assisting  splendidly  in  the  support  of 
League  work  in  South  America. 


Results  of  the  plan.— The  official  finan¬ 
cial  plan  of  the  League  provides  for; 

1.  The  work  of  the  general  organiza¬ 
tion, 

2.  The  foreign  program  and  its  ex¬ 
pansion, 

3.  Intensive  work  within  the  bounds 
of  the  local  area,  conference,  and  district. 

That  the  plan  is  popular  and  effective  is 
evidenced  by  the  steadily  increasing  pay¬ 
ments  reported  for  the  years,  1919-1922. 

1919—  $10,795.85 

1920—  16,543.46 

1921—  17,466.89 

1922—  26,435.63 

The  total  number  of  chapters  which 
have  adopted  the  plan  is  2,574,  represent¬ 
ing  an  enrolment  of  64,373.  The  increase 
since  1917  has  been  phenomenal.  During 
that  year  sixty-four  chapters  enlisted, 
while  this  year  434  have  officially  adopted 
it.  Of  the  total  number,  sixty-five  are  en¬ 
listed  as  100  per  cent  honor  chapters,  243 
have  at  least  seventy-five  per  cent  of  their 
members  enrolled. 

District  progress. — At  present  there  are 
158  districts  with  less  than  twenty-five 


EPWORTH  LEAGUES 


567 


districts  having  between  twenty-five  and 
fifty  per  cent  of  their  chapters  enlisted. 
Thirty-four  districts  have  between  fifty 
and  seventy-five  per  cent  of  their  chapters 
enrolled  and  in  fifteen  districts,  between 
seventy-five  and  one  hundred  per  cent  of 
the  chapters  have  adopted  the  Twenty- 
four-Hour-Day  Plan. 

III.  THE  EPWORTH  LEAGUE  IN 
FOREIGN  FIELDS1 
1.  Japan 


the  call  of  the  millions  of  youth  in  Japan 
must  be  heard  with  other  calls  in  careful 
fairness. 

There  are  about  3,970  Senior  Leaguers 
in  Japan  belonging  to  159  different  chap¬ 
ters,  while  the  Juniors  number  1,123  in 
fifty-two  chapters.  In  1918,  there  was  no 
Epworth  League  organization  whatever. 
Seven  of  the  fourteen  districts  are  loosely 
organized,  but  with  development,  the  dis¬ 
trict  will  be  the  most  effective  administra¬ 
tive  unit. 


Present  status.—  The  situation  in  Japan 
differs  from  that  in  the  other  oriental 
countries,  because  of  the  fact  that  our 
work,  like  that  of  the  rest  of  the  church, 
is  so  closely  linked  with  the  work  of  the 
Canadian  and  Southern  Methodists. 

These  denominations  excel  us  in  their 
young  people’s  work,  and  we  should,  at  the 
earliest  possible  moment,  add  our  co- 

’The  statistics  in  these  surveys  of  foreign  countries 
have  been  obtained  from  reports  sent  to  the  Central 
Office  from  workers  on  the  field. 


Needs. — The  first  and  special  field  to 
which  the  Epworth  League  should  turn 
its  attention  is  that  of  the  student  class, 
one  of  the  outstanding  groups  in  Japan. 

The  chief  criticism  of  Japanese  educa¬ 
tion  is  its  materialism.  Educationalists 
are  saying  that  the  need  is  for  more  effec¬ 
tive  moral  and  religious  teaching.  Most 
of  the  missions  are  giving  special  atten¬ 
tion  to  student  work,  but  the  field  is  prac¬ 
tically  untouched.  The  Epworth  League 
must  add  its  bit. 


568 


WORLD  SERVICE 


There  should  be  some  provision  for  at 
least  the  part-time  services  of  a  secretary 
to  lead  the  Epworthians  of  Japan,  and  ac¬ 
tively  assist  in  arranging  a  program  that 
will  adequately  represent  the  young  peo¬ 
ple’s  work  for  the  church.  The  secre¬ 
tary  for  Korea  and  this  worker  for  Japan 
could  co-operate  in  many  joint  enterprises. 

For  printed  Ep worth  League  helps,  only 
one  manual  is  available.  The  first  and 
fourth  departments  should  have  special 
and  immediate  provision  of  manuals  and 
programs,  while  an  adequate  supply  of 
suggestions  for  other  activities  should  not 
long  be  delayed. 

2.  Korea 

Unguided  youth. —  In  Korea,  the  young 
people  are  flocking  to  the  church  in  num¬ 
bers.  They  are  coming  unguided  without 
the  advice  and  help  that  they  have  a  right 
to  expect.  In  practically  every  community 
the  young  people  are  forming  groups. 
Many  of  these  groups  were  organized  at 
first  in  churches,  but  because  nothing  was 
offered  to  them  in  the  way  of  a  program  cr 
help  they  are  going  elsewhere,  away  from 
the  church  for  their  meetings.  It  is  only 
within  the  last  three  years  that  the  young 
people  of  Korea  have  been  getting  together 
in  their  organizations.  It  is  a  new  Korea 
and  the  young  people  are  moving  forward. 

Needs. — Because  of  this  marked  and  sud¬ 
den  change,  the  need  is  not  only  great  in 
Korea,  it  is  also  urgent.  The  demands  for 
various  forms  of  assistance  are  frequent 
and  insistent. 

1.  The  need  for  a  secretary 

There  has  been,  during  1922,  a  marked 
change  of  attitude  on  the  part  of  mission¬ 
ary  leaders  and  Korean  pastors.  In  1921, 
when  the  problem  of  the  young  people  was 
discussed,  everyone  agreed  that  something 
should  be  done  by  the  church,  but  there 
was  little  direct  enthusiasm. 

In  1922,  at  the  Annual  Conference,  the 
Epworth  League  was  urged  to  appoint  a 
secretary  immediately  for  Korea.  There 
are  many  reasons  why  this  need  is  so  ur¬ 
gent: 

1.  The  young  people  are  leaving  the 


church  to  conduct  their  activities  else¬ 
where. 

2.  The  Sunday  school  is  not  reaching 
the  adolescent  youth. 

3.  There  is  tremendous  difficulty  in 
holding  the  young  people  in  balanced  lines 
of  church  activities.  Bishop  Welch  has 
stated  that  this  is  one  of  the  greatest  prob¬ 
lems  in  our  work  in  Korea  today. 

4.  There  is  taking  place  now  a  most 
critical  change  in  the  social  order,  a  break¬ 
ing  down  of  old  standards  of  separation  of 
the  sexes  in  social  meetings.  The  influx 
of  foreign  ideas  and  ideals  will  not  permit 
the  isolation  of  men  and  women  much 
longer,  so  that  the  church,  if  it  is  to  lead 
the  thought  of  the  country,  must  build  a 
sane  basis  for  society.  The  logical  place  to 
begin  is  with  the  young  people. 

5.  The  young  people  are  inflamed  with 
the  desire  to  do  something.  They  are 
waiting  for  the  message,  eager  to  be 
taught.  In  the  gripping  statement  of  the 
Epworth  League  Committee  for  Korea, 
“With  a  secretary  to  prepare  and  explain 
a  program  for  young  people,  the  League 
would  enrol  ten  thousand  members  within 
a  year.”  Some  of  the  members  insisted 
that  ten  thousand  was  too  low  a  figure. 

Such  a  challenging  opportunity  must 
not  be  neglected,  for  it  is  impossible  to 
state  how  long  it  will  last.  It  must  be 
seized  immediately. 

The  Annual  Conference  of  the  Metho¬ 
dist  missionaries  of  both  the  Board  of  For¬ 
eign  Missions  and  of  the  Woman’s  Foreign 
Missionary  Society,  passed  resolutions  in 
June,  1922,  asking  the  Central  Office  for  a 
secretary  for  Korea.  The  Policy  Commit¬ 
tee  of  the  Korea  Conference,  composed  of 
representatives  from  the  district,  the 
Board  of  Foreign  Missions,  the  Woman’s 
Foreign  Missionary  Society,  both  men  and 
women,  foreign  and  Korean,  asked  that  the 
Central  Office  of  the  Epworth  League  send 
out  a  specialist  in  young  people’s  work  as 
soon  as  possible. 

It  is  agreed,  even  by  the  Koreans  them¬ 
selves,  that  the  Epworth  League  must  be 
put  under  strong  foreign  leadership  if  it 
is  to  do  the  work  which  it  should. 


EPWORTH  LEAGUES 


569 


However,  a  Korean  secretary  should 
also  be  appointed  to  co-operate  with  the 
foreign  secretary  and  assist  in  adapting 
the  general  program  of  the  Epworth 
League  to  the  specific  needs  of  the  country. 

2.  Literature 

A  manual  of  Epworth  League  work, 
which  has  been  translated,  is  waiting  pub¬ 
lication  only  for  lack  of  funds.  Depart¬ 
mental  literature  particularly  adapted  to 
the  needs  of  Korea  and  standardized  helps 
for  devotional  meetings  should  be  pre¬ 
pared. 

The  First  and  Fourth  departments  need 
special  emphasis,  helps  for  which  are  ab¬ 
solutely  necessary  if  the  young  people  are 
to  be  held  after  they  have  been  organized. 

3.  Institutes 

As  in  other  countries,  training  the 
workers  by  means  of  institutes  is  highly 
necessary.  While  the  movement  is  new, 
some  faculty  members  will  have  to  be  pro¬ 
vided  from  outside  the  country. 

3.  China 

A  secretary  in  China. — With  the  appoint¬ 
ment  of  an  Epworth  League  Secretary  for 
China,  it  was  found  that  most  of  the  so¬ 
cieties  known  as  Epworth  Leagues  were 
in  reality  simply  groups  of  folks  old  and 
young  who  knew  very  little  of  the  League’s 
program  and  ideals. 

The  task  therefore  has  been  primarily 
to  standardize  the  existing  work  and  not 
to  do  extensive  organization. 

There  are  now  forty-three  Epworth 
League  chapters  in  China,  thirty-five 
Senior  and  eight  Junior,  with  a  total  mem¬ 
bership  of  5,235  of  which  4,805  are  Senior 
and  430  Junior. 

Present  program. — The  Epworth  League 
program  in  China  includes  a  weekly  devo¬ 
tional  meeting,  probably  the  strongest 
feature;  a  six  weeks’  mission-study  class 
which  is  usually  held  in  connection  with 
the  regular  devotional  service;  assistance 
in  the  evangelistic  campaigns  of  the 
church  and  sometimes  a  League  Win-My- 
Chum  campaign ;  the  organization  of  gos¬ 
pel  teams  for  definite  work;  the  enrolling 
of  Christian  stewards;  and  an  occasional 
37 


recreational  program.  League  work  is  be¬ 
ing  carried  on  both  in  North  and  South 
Mandarin  and  in  three  or  four  dialects, 
as  well.  A  few  pieces  of  literature  have 
been  published  in  Chinese.  The  Year  Book 
contains  suggestions  for  the  devotional 
meetings  and  the  Epworth  League  Manual 
has  been  made  available  in  both  English 
and  Chinese. 

Needs. — The  needs  of  the  Epworth 
League  in  China  are  very  extensive  and 
urgent.  It  is  true  of  the  whole  world,  but 
of  China  especially,  that  the  young  people 
must  be  won  immediately  if  the  nation  is 
to  be  Christian.  There  never  has  been  a 
nation  which  has  exhibited  such  remarka¬ 
ble  activity  in  politics,  in  business,  in  so¬ 
cial  changes  and,  in  the  last  few  years,  in 
spiritual  matters. 

The  Young  China  movement  is  sweep¬ 
ing  every  phase  of  Chinese  life,  its 
influence  will  not  be  denied.  What  these 
energetic  orientals  most  need  and  desire  is 
education  and  they  are  taking  advantage 
of  every  opportunity  to  satisfy  this  need. 
With  the  promising  beginning  which  has 
already  been  made  and  the  interest  that 
has  been  awakened,  the  Epworth  League 
holds  a  prominent  strategic  position  in 
winning  China  for  Christ.  Valuable  helps 
which  should  be  supplied  are  unlimited  in 
number  but  there  are  many  needs  which 
are  indispensable  if  the  Chinese  Epworth 
League  shall  continue  to  function  as  it 
ought. 

1.  Literature 

It  is  absolutely  necessary  that  the 
workers  have  social  service  sugges¬ 
tions  for  their  young  people,  as  well 
as  recreational  and  social  suggestions  and 
biographies  for  study  classes. 

Very  nearly  as  important  are  libraries 
for  general  reading  and  a  long  list  of 
Junior  League  books. 

Reliable  material  upon  such  subjects  as 
the  relation  of  science  to  religion  and  the 
inadequacy  of  moral  philosophy  must  be 
provided  for  the  inquiring  student  class 
which  is  increasing  rapidly  every  day  and 
whose  needs  can  be  met  only  by  Chris¬ 
tianity. 


570 


WORLD  SERVICE 


2.  Additional  workers 

There  should  be  added  to  the  staff  of 
workers  a  stenographer,  who  is  urgently 
needed  to  care  for  the  routine  work  and 
to  enable  the  secretary  to  give  more  time 
to  the  expansion  of  League  activities;  a 
translator;  four  Chinese  field  secretaries 
for  the  supervision  and  extension  of  the 
work  in  all  parts  of  China. 

3.  Institutes 

The  organization  of  institutes  is  under 
way  and  must  be  pushed  vigorously  be¬ 
cause  of  the  great  importance  attached  to 
the  training  of  the  young  Chinese. 

4.  Malaysia 

A  good  start. — While  we  have  no  paid 
secretary  for  Malaysia,  some  organiza¬ 
tion  work  has  been  done  with  the  result 
that  the  number  of  Leagues  has  increased 
from  thirteen  in  1920  to  twenty-two  in 
1921,  and  from  832  members  to  1,623. 
This  increase  is  an  indication  of  what  may 
be  expected  if  the  League  program  can  be 
carried  forward.  The  Junior  Chapters 
show  even  a  more  marked  increase.  From 
a  membership  in  1911  of  211  they  have 
nearly  tripled  that  number. 

A  standard  institute. — The  Penang  Insti¬ 
tute  was  highly  successful.  It  is  conducted 
on  a  three  year  course  basis  with  a  certi¬ 
ficate  of  graduation.  Some  idea  of  the 
value  of  the  Institute  may  be  gained  when 
one  sees  that  among  the  text  books  used 
were  “The  Church  of  the  First  Apostles” 
by  C.  H.  Morgan,  “New  Life  Currents  in 
China”  by  Mary  Ninde  Gamewell,  and 
“Stewardship  Starting  Points”  by  Calkins. 

Literature  available. — A  thousand  copies 
of  the  English  translation  of  the  Topics 
Book  prepared  by  Miss  Geraldine  Town¬ 
send,  the  League  Secretary  for  China, 
have  been  printed  for  use  in  Malaysia.  It 
is  the  plan  to  co-ordinate  and  correlate 
work  of  the  Epworth  Leagues  in  China 
and  Malaysia  by  strong  co-operation  in 
every  way.  There  are  also  some  leaflets 
and  booklets  on  “Tithing”,  but  other  than 
these  the  supply  is  very  meager. 

A  projected  program. — The  aims  of  the 
Epworth  League  in  Malaysia  are  in  part : 


1.  A  Senior  and  Junior  chapter  at 
every  day  school. 

2.  The  Epworth  League  enlisting  the 
young  people  of  every  church  community. 

3.  A  membership  goal  of  3,000  Sen¬ 
iors  and  1,220  Juniors. 

4.  Institute  expansion. 

5.  Christian  literature  in  homes  of 
young  people  through  League  libraries  and 
tracts. 

6.  Promotion  of  stewardship  in  every 
chapter. 

7.  A  workable  program  for  each  de¬ 
partment. 

Needs.— The  high  rates  of  exchange 
make  greater  financial  aid  imperative. 
There  should  be  supplied  a  budget  for  at 
least  a  part  time  secretary,  with  provision 
for  his  traveling  expenses.  There  must 
also  be  literature  for  all  the  departments. 
Since  about  half  of  the  Leagues  conduct 
their  services  in  the  vernacular,  a  pro¬ 
portionate  amount  for  translation  should 
be  added. 

5.  Philippine  Islands 

Growth  since  1918.— There  is  no  field  of 
Epworth  League  work  which  has  exhibited 
such  remarkable  growth  in  the  past  four 
years  as  the  Philippine  Islands.  On  the 
other  hand,  there  are  few  places  which  of¬ 
fer  such  unlimited  opportunities  for  ex¬ 
pansion.  The  intellectual  advance  of  these 
people  is  familiar  to  America.  The  League 
has  the  potential  power  to  keep  pace  with 
the  many  forward  movements.  The  young 
Filipinos  depend  upon  America  for  sup¬ 
port  and  guidance. 

There  are  now  122  League  chapters  or¬ 
ganized  in  the  Islands,  thirty-nine  Senior 
and  eighty-three  Junior,  with  a  member¬ 
ship  of  1,685  Seniors,  and  5,416  Juniors, 
totaling  7,101.  Practically  all  of  this  or¬ 
ganization  has  taken  place  since  1918, 
only  eight  chapters  having  been  reported 
before  that  time. 

A  successful  institute.— The  outstanding 
feature  was  a  very  successful  Institute 
with  splendid  results  both  as  a  training 
school  and  in  the  consecration  of  young 
lives.  Institute  activity  must  be  greatly 


EPWORTH  LEAGUES 


571 


enlarged  if  the  League  is  to  function  in 
the  way  we  all  wish. 

League  work  is  carried  on  chiefly  in  the 
English  language,  though  some  is  in 
Tagalog. 

There  is  very  little  literature  available, 
only  a  few  Central  Office  leaflets,  for  many 
of  them  are  not  adapted  to  the  peculiar 
needs  of  the  Filipinos.  A  very  small 
amount  is  spent  on  publications. 

Needs. —  It  is  absolutely  necessary,  if 
League  work  is  to  be  carried  on  as  a  for¬ 
ward  movement,  that  one  thousand  dol¬ 
lars  be  secured  for  the  purpose  of  printing 
promotion  literature  and  for  increasing 
the  influence  of  the  institute  which  has 
accomplished  so  much  in  the  past.  The 
returns  in  Christian  leadership  are  sure 
to  more  than  compensate  for  any  expen¬ 
diture,  however  great. 

6.  India 

Three  decades  of  history. —  On  May  22, 
1888,  Dr.  E.  W.  Parker,  later  bishop,  or¬ 
ganized  the  Oxford  League  for  his  station 
and  district  at  Moradabad.  This  was  the 
first  society  for  the  young  people  of  our 
church  in  India  and  speedily  proved  that 
it  had  come  to  the  Kingdom  at  the  right 
time.  The  year  following,  when  the  Ep- 
worth  League  was  organized  in  America 
at  Cleveland,  Ohio,  the  Oxford  League  of 
India  swung  into  line  and  became  the  first 
foreign  branch  of  the  Epworth  League. 

The  need  for  a  Christian  young  people’s 
society  was  strongly  felt  and  very  soon  the 
League  idea  spread  all  over  India.  In 
1894,  the  Central  Conference  inaugurated 
the  first  Epworth  League  Board  of  Con¬ 
trol  for  Southern  Asia  with  Dr.  Parker  as 
its  president,  and  Homer  C.  Stuntz,  now 
bishop,  as  its  secretary. 

In  1896  there  were  139  chapters  with 
6,555  members.  In  1921,  911  chapters 
have  24,839  members. 

At  the  present  rate  of  growth  there 
should  be  1,000  chapters  and  40,000  mem¬ 
bers  in  the  near  future.  This  is  the  ob¬ 
jective  of  the  board  for  Southern  Asia. 

Present  work.—  Sixty-eight  of  the  dis¬ 
tricts  are  organized.  Epworth  League 
work  is  being  carried  on  in  nine  languages, 


chiefly  through  the  weekly  devotional 
meetings.  Twelve  institutes  were  held  in 
1921.  The  Year  Book  for  India  contains 
material  for  the  devotional  meetings  and 
some  departmental  suggestions.  An  Indian 
translation  of  John  Wesley,  Jr.,  an  intro¬ 
duction  to  the  benevolences  of  the  Metho¬ 
dist  Episcopal  Church,  is  being  prepared. 
Other  literature  is  published  but  the  sup¬ 
ply  is  very  meager. 

An  extensive  social  survey  has  been 
conducted  in  Jubbulpore  by  Epworthians, 
with  plans  under  way  to  promote  similar 
studies  in  other  cities. 


Needs. — This  present  program  needs  to 
be  strengthened  and  expanded.  Forty 
per  cent  of  the  church  membership  of  In¬ 
dia  is  of  League  age.  That  there  is  op¬ 
portunity  and  need  for  great  expansion 
is  shown  by  the  following  tables: 


Percentage  of  Church  Membership  actually  belong¬ 
ing  to  the  Epworth  League. 

Conference  Percentage 

Central  Provinces  22 

Burma  20 

Bombay  18 

Bengal  15 

Lucknow  08 

North  India  05 

South  India  03 

Northwest  India  03 


Some  of  the  outstanding  needs  are : 

1.  Institutes. —  The  first  need  of  the  Ep¬ 
worth  League  in  India  is  the  training  of 
its  young  people.  This  can  be  accom¬ 
plished  most  effectively  by  Institutes. 
These  should  be  held  at  least  in  every  dis¬ 
trict  and  in  co-operation  with  the  larger 
schools.  Through  institutes,  the  program 
of  the  Epworth  League  would  be  promoted 
more  effectively  than  in  any  other  way. 

2.  The  Village  League. — T  here  is  a 
great  field  for  the  Village  League  in  mass 
movement  areas  where  there  is  need  of  a 
program  to  hold  the  young  people.  The 
Village  League  must  offer  activities  cover¬ 
ing  more  than  the  weekly  devotional  meet¬ 
ing.  India  is  well  supplied  with  meetings 
of  that  type  and  the  Indian  is  all  too  well 
trained  in  the  art  of  “sitting  in  meeting’’ 
and  giving  outward  attention.  The  pro¬ 
gram  must  include  provision  for  adequate 
social  and  recreational  life,  and  it  must 
help  in  the  solution  of  the  problem  of  il- 


5  72 


WORLD  SERVICE 


literacy  which  influences  all  departments 
of  church  work  and  which  church  leaders 
feel  should  be  solved  by  the  Epworth 
League. 

The  Junior  League  must  be  built  up  in 
the  villages  for  its  splendid  graded  pro¬ 
gram  is  adapted  to  the  development  of  the 
boys  and  girls  and  will  insure  a  trained, 
informed  church  membership  for  the 
future. 

This  village  program  should  be  under¬ 
taken  by  someone  who  knows  the  problems 
of  the  village  and  has  ability  to  carry  on 
the  recreational  and  social  phases  of  the 
work. 

3.  Literature. —  Through  the  use  of  lit¬ 
erature,  the  Epworth  League  in  India 
will  lind  its  greatest  opportunity.  To 
meet  adequately  this  situation,  the  League 
will  have  to  enter  several  fields  which  may 
seem  strange  to  young  people’s  leaders  in 
the  United  States,  where  we  have  a  back¬ 
ground  of  religious  publications,  public 
libraries,  a  progressive  school  system, 
magazines  written  especially  for  young 
people,  text  books,  educational  motion  pic¬ 
tures  and  a  wide-spread  and  varied  edu¬ 
cational  work  on  the  part  of  the  Govern¬ 
ment  in  connection  with  wireless,  corn 
contests,  bird  study,  etc.  All  of  these  pro¬ 
duce  a  more  vital  type  of  boy  and  girl  on 
which  foundation  more  distinctive  League 
work  can  be  done.  In  India  there  is  prac¬ 
tically  nothing.  They  have  none  of  these 
conditions  and  privileges  with  which  to 
work. 

A  report  of  the  League  Secretary  for 
Southern  Asia  says,  in  part,  that  the  young 
people  of  India  are  satiated  with  things 
religious.  In  dealing  with  them  too  much 
reliance  has  been  placed  upon  the  natural 
religiousness  of  the  East.  The  East  is  re¬ 
ligious  in  the  sense  that  it  is  easy  to  get 
up  a  religious  discussion  and  that  religion 
plays  a  greater  part  in  every-day  life  than 
it  does  with  us,  but  there  is  very  little 
evidence  that  religion  controls  active  life 
and  service.  It  is  the  dynamic,  the  active- 
service  type  of  Christianity  that  we  need 
to  develop,  for  there  is  already  too  much 
of  the  passive,  formal  kind. 


Ways  must  be  found  to  put  young  In¬ 
dia’s  religious  tendencies  to  work.  Hence, 
some  of  the  needs,  in  the  field  of  literature 
are  as  follows: 

1.  Text  books 

Out  of  the  urgent  needs,  the  most  im¬ 
perative  ones  are  at  least  one  text  book 
each  in  Bible  study,  life  service,  missions, 
Methodism,  social  service,  temperance,  the 
Indian  church,  health,  recreation. 

It  is  important  to  remember  that  every 
book  that  is  issued  means  eight  other 
books,  because  of  different  languages,  if 
we  are  to  cover  the  whole  field.  To  get 
the  material  of  one  hundred  pages  into 
circulation,  nine  hundred  pages  must  be 
issued.  Only  very  small  editions  are 
practicable  which  means  that  there  can 
be  no  financial  gain  in  publishing  them  for 
there  will  be  the  full  original  cost  in  each 
instance.  Thus  the  literature  problem, 
great  enough  already  because  of  the  dearth 
of  books,  is  further  complicated  by  the 
nine-fold  cost  of  supplying  even  one  item 
of  the  need. 

2.  Leaflets 

A  series  of  brief  vocational  pam¬ 
phlets  would  fill  a  much  neglected  need. 
There  should  be  prepared  also,  a 
series  of  leaflets  on  “hobbies.”  The  young 
person  of  India  is  very  inadequately  sup¬ 
plied  with  outside  interests.  Something 
must  be  put  into  mind  and  heart  to  occupy 
leisure  moments. 

3.  Other  'publications 

Some  means  of  direct  contact  with  the 
members  themselves  is  necessary.  The 
Indian  Witness,  the  only  means  available 
at  present,  despite  the  fact  that  its  co¬ 
operation  is  greatly  appreciated,  reaches 
practically  none  of  the  League  clientele. 
Even  with  missionaries,  the  League  gets 
overshadowed  by  other  duties,  so  that  its 
special  interests  are  not  served  satisfacto¬ 
rily.  It  needs  a  periodical  publication  of 
its  own  for  its  own  crowd. 

A  plan  which  would  be  productive  of 
great  results  would  be  to  buy  space  regu¬ 
larly  in  the  vernacular  papers  in  which 
would  be  printed  evangelistic  messages, 


EPWORTH  LEAGUES 


573 


An  Epworth  League  institute  in  Mexico 


social  service  suggestions, 
and  other  League  mate¬ 
rial. 

J.  Stereopticon  lectures 

At  least  two  sets  of 
slides  on  Methodism 
would  be  of  great  and 
needed  service  for  the  in¬ 
stitute  and  convention 
programs.  Other  lectures 
on  temperance,  health, 
and  social  service  are  ur¬ 
gently  requested. 

5.  Additional  workers  for  India 

The  carrying  out  of  this  program  will 
necessitate  additions  to  the  Epworth 
League  staff  of  India  of  a  secretary  for 
the  Junior  League,  a  director  for  the  vil¬ 
lage  programs  and  Indian  field  secreta¬ 
ries. 

7.  Mexico 

The  Epworth  League  work  and  program 
in  Mexico  has  made  rapid  progress  under 
the  leadership  of  the  Epworth  League 
Secretary  for  that  country. 

Needs. —  A  survey  shows  that  the  chief 
needs  are  those  of  organization  and  stand¬ 
ardization.  A  great  deal  of  League  lit¬ 
erature  is  available  in  Spanish,  organiza¬ 
tion  material,  the  departmental  literature, 
and  helps  of  various  kinds. 

The  present  program.— T  w  o  institutes 
have  been  held,  each  with  an  enrolment 
of  about  one  hundred. 

The  Junior  work  in  Mexico  is  one  of 
the  strongest  phases  of  the  League  pro¬ 
gram.  Five  books  from  the  Junior  Course 
of  Study  have  been  translated  into  Span¬ 
ish.  “Stories  of  Bible  Victories”,  which 
is  the  last  book  to  be  translated,  is  await¬ 
ing  funds  for  publication.  It  is  hoped 
that  the  Junior  League  work  may  grad¬ 
ually  develop  the  proper  type  of  native 
leadership.  In  fact,  because  of  local  con¬ 
ditions,  the  Junior  course  of  study  is  bet¬ 
ter  adapted  to  the  beginnings  of  the  Senior 
League  program  in  New  Mexico. 

In  the  near  future,  the  translation  of 
the  Senior  and  Junior  Workers’  Quarter¬ 


lies  may  be  undertaken  in  order  that  the 
Epworthians  may  have  adequate  material 
for  the  preparation  of  their  devotional 
meetings. 

The  work  in  Mexico  is  exceedingly  en¬ 
couraging  because  Mexican  Epworthians 
are  undertaking  to  pull  their  share  of  the 
load  by  the  adoption  of  the  Twenty-four- 
Hour-Day  plan,  thus  providing  not  only 
for  their  own  support,  but  giving  their 
aid  to  the  work  of  the  general  organiza¬ 
tion. 

While  the  field  in  Mexico  is  great  and 
the  needs  are  many,  it  is  believed  that  the 
present  assistance  from  outside  sources 
will  be  sufficient  when  the  Mexican  chap¬ 
ters  are  awake  to  their  full  responsibility. 

8.  South  America 

The  present  program.  —  The  center  of 
Epworth  League  work  in  South  America 
is  Concepcion,  Chile,  where  the  secretary, 
Scott  P.  Hauser,  has  offices.  There  are 
thriving  chapters  in  Panama,  Peru,  Chile, 
Argentina,  Uruguay  and  Bolivia. 

One  institute  at  Angol,  Chile,  has  been 
held  three  years  and  is  remarkable  for  the 
success  achieved  in  spite  of  the  lack  of 
equipment. 

Bible  study  is  being  introduced  through 
the  first  department.  Through  gospel 
teams,  chapters  conduct  evangelistic  serv¬ 
ices  which  are  productive  of  great  results. 

Junior  chapters  make  an  important 
contribution  to  the  work. 

Needs. — The  first  item  is  the  salary  of 
a  secretary.  Instead  of  the  present  pro- 


574 


WORLD  SERVICE 


vision  for  only  part  time  service,  there 
must  be  funds  for  full  time  work.  Amounts 
are  needed  for  the  printing  of  the  Quar¬ 
terly  and  other  helps,  for  the  service  of  at 
least  one  Spanish  pastor,  and  for  estab¬ 
lishing  and  conducting  four  institutes. 

If  we  had  the  needed  help,  we  could  have 
an  active  useful  League  in  every  church, 
make  the  League  a  power,  and  train  a 
more  intelligent  leadership  for  the  church 
of  to-morrow,  which  would  eventually 
make  the  church  in  South  America  self- 
propagating,  self-supporting  and  self¬ 
directing. 

The  challenge  of  the  future. — South 
America  is  the  land  of  the  future.  With 
its  vast  resources,  waiting  to  be  utilized, 
its  huge  expanses  waiting  to  be  settled, 
and  above  all,  its  hordes  of  peoples,  an¬ 
cient  and  new,  waiting  to  be  led  up  into 
civilization,  it  offers  a  challenge  which 
cannot  go  unanswered. 

9.  Europe  as  a  Whole 

A  study  of  the  fields  of  Europe  indicates 
that  there  are  three  types  of  fields  needing 
our  attention; 

1.  Countries  requiring  cultivation, 
where  no  League  work  has  been  done  and 
where  the  need  is  urgent. 

2.  Countries  requiring  organization 
where  there  are  many  isolated  chapters  at 
work  without  any  co-ordinating  program. 

3.  Countries  requiring  adaptation, 
where  the  League  is  at  work  in  an  organ¬ 
ized  way  but  where  the  program  should  be 
related  more  specifically  to  that  of  the 
general  organization. 

10.  Italy 

A  ripe  field. —  There  is  very  little  League 
work  in  Italy.  It  is  one  of  the  fields  need¬ 
ing  cultivation;  and  because  of  the  recent 
significant  political  upheaval,  the  time  is 
undoubtedly  right  for  the  launching  of  a 
young  people’s  program. 

Those  conversant  with  the  situation  say 
that  no  country  will  respond  more  heartily 
than  Italy  if  the  opportunity  is  offered. 

The  leaders  are  asking  for  translation 
of  helps  and  text-books  and  for  assistance 
in  leadership. 


Moises  Garcia  as  he  came  out  of  the  hills  of 
Mexico  to  attend  the  Epworth 
League  institute 


11.  France 

A  national  need.— -At  present  there  is  al¬ 
most  no  Epworth  League  work  in  France, 
due  to  the  old  rigid  social  customs  that 
did  not  permit  the  mingling  of  young  peo¬ 
ple.  Gradually,  these  customs  are  begin¬ 
ning  to  change  so  that  there  is  well- 
founded  hope  for  a  new  social  regime. 

A  national  need  of  France  is  for  self- 
governing,  self-expressing  groups  of 
young  people  who  will  undertake  to  de¬ 
velop  initiative. 

The  Epworth  League  has  proved  its 
power  to  fill  such  a  need  and  is  waiting 
for  the  opportunity  to  help  the  youth  of 
France  discover  what  possibilities  lie  be- 


EPWORTH  LEAGUES 


575 


Moises  Garcia  one  year  later,  after  a  year  in  a 
mission  school 

fore  them.  Those  familiar  with  the  situa¬ 
tion  say  that  not  only  would  the  Methodist 
Church  be  served,  but  that  one  of  the 
weak  spots  of  France  would  be  strength¬ 
ened  if  “Young  People’s  Work  for  Young 
People”  could  be  made  a  reality  through 
the  Epworth  League’s  program  in  France. 

The  immediate  appointment  of  a  secre¬ 
tary  is  urged  by  Bishop  Blake,  and  a  sec¬ 
ond  worker  will  be  needed  in  the  very 
near  future,  if  the  program  develops  as 
rapidly  as  there  is  every  indication  it  will 
do. 

Some  literature,  revised  to  meet  the 
need  of  the  country,  has  been  translated, 
but  more  will  be  needed  if  the  work  is  to 
go  forward  as  it  should. 


12.  Scandinavia 

The  League  program  is  already  well 
developed  in  Sweden,  Finland,  Norway, 
and  Denmark.  The  results  which  have 
already  been  achieved  in  departmental 
activities  prove  that  Scandinavian  Ep- 
worthians  are  a  group  of  interested  and 
industrious  Christian  workers.  Norway 
Leagues  established  summer  camps  for 
orphan  children  of  Austria  after  the  World 
War.  Leagues  of  Denmark  support  a 
business  college  for  their  share  of  public 
improvement.  Other  activities  engage 
the  attention  of  these  wdde-awake  alert 
young  people. 

Needs. —  The  assistance  that  we  are 
asked  to  give  is  an  adequate  supply  of  our 
League  literature  which  they  will  then 
translate  and  adapt  to  the  needs  of  their 
young  people.  There  is  an  urgent  request 
for  the  help  of  a  secretary,  since  the  work 
should  be  correlated  and  standardized  to 
a  greater  extent  than  has  been  possible 
heretofore. 

An  adequate  supply  of  books  and  pam¬ 
phlets  must  be  secured  for  these  fields 
if  the  aspirations  and  the  initial  impulse 
are  to  be  effectively  utilized  for  the  evan¬ 
gelization  of  the  world. 

13.  Austria  and  Hungary 

A  most  needy  field. — From  a  material 
standpoint,  the  young  people  of  Austria 
and  Hungary  are  very  unfortunate.  The 
aftermath  of  the  World  War  is  character¬ 
ized  by  severe  suffering  and  privation.  In 
spite  of  all  the  hardships  they  have  had  to 
undergo,  the  young  people  of  these  coun¬ 
tries  are  not  discouraged,  and  are  only 
awaiting  the  help  in  the  way  of  equipment 
and  leadership,  which  is  so  sadly  needed. 
Already  the  cause  of  temperance  is  en¬ 
thusiastically  supported  and  evangelism 
shows  signs  of  great  promise. 

It  must  be  remembered  that  religious 
freedom  is  only  two  years  old  in  Austria. 
Until  1920,  such  advances  as  are  now  being 
made  in  the  Protestant  Church  were  ab¬ 
solutely  impossible  because  of  the  intoler¬ 
ance  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church. 

The  feeling  of  international  fellowship 


576 


WORLD  SERVICE 


between  the  young  people  of  the  United 
States  and  Austria,  has  been  materially 
strengthened  in  the  last  year  by  reason  of 
the  Sunday  Fellowship  Hours  which  have 
been  provided  by  Epworthians  of  America 
for  their  comrades  in  Vienna  who  during 
the  past  few  years  have  been  too  poverty 
stricken  to  provide  even  for  their  own 
necessities. 

14.  Switzerland 

The  work  in  Switzerland  is  character¬ 
ized  by  high  enthusiasm.  A  conference¬ 
wide  organization  makes  possible  some¬ 
thing  of  a  standard  program. 

In  1921,  a  supply  of  the  material  most 
adapted  to  their  needs  was  sent  and  the 
reports  indicated  that  it  was  exceedingly 
useful,  but  that  in  planning  their  activi¬ 
ties  some  assistance  should  be  given  them 
in  the  preparation  of  books,  methods,  and 
outlines.  A  secretary  is  urgently  requested. 

15.  Germany 

The  critical  aspect  of  Germany’s  situa¬ 
tion  can  hardly  be  over-emphasized.  The 
young  people  are  exhibiting  a  willingness 
to  accept  the  broad  principles  of  the  teach¬ 
ings  of  Jesus  Christ. 

The  denial  of  their  needs  would  be  dis¬ 
astrous  to  the  new  League  life  which  has 
come  into  being.  There  is  a  great  demand 
for  all  kinds  of  free  literature,  books,  helps 
for  every  department,  and  institute  pro¬ 
grams. 

German  young  people  have  signified 
their  desire  to  work  more  and  more  toward 
a  standardized  program.  They  tell  us 
that  religious  work  for  young  people  has 
been  a  long-standing  need.  The  young 
people  themselves  desire  to  advance  the 
spiritual  life,  to  awaken  missionary  inter¬ 
est,  to  practice  welfare  work,  and  to  foster 
ennobling  social  life. 

The  Junior  League,  which  would  fill  a 
great  place  in  the  program  of  the  Church, 
is  being  started  with  enthusiasm. 

One  Epworth  League  institute  has  al¬ 
ready  been  held  and  the  plans  call  for  an 
extension  of  the  institute  program.  The 
appointing  of  a  German  secretary  for  the 
Epworth  League  is  sure  to  mean  that  for 


young  people’s  work,  so  long  neglected, 
new  ideals  are  not  far  distant. 

16.  Tunis 

One  of  the  most  unusual  chapters  of 
the  Epworth  League  is  to  be  found  in 
Tunis.  It  is  three  years  of  age  and  con¬ 
sists  of  110  members,  active  and  asso¬ 
ciate.  The  work  carried  out  by  each  of 
the  departments  shows  something  of  the 
spirit  of  the  Epworthians. 

First  Department— T  h e  First  Depart¬ 
ment  conducted  studies  on  The  Life  of 
Christ  and  is  planning  in  1923  to  observe 
Win-My-Chum  week. 

Second  Department.— T  h  e  Second  De¬ 
partment  offers  a  program  on  the  second 
Tuesday  of  each  month,  presenting  the 
work  in  other  foreign  lands,  or  a  series 
of  studies  on  church  projects  in  Africa. 

Third  Department.— -The  Third  Depart¬ 
ment  interests  the  chapter  through  mov¬ 
ing  pictures  and  illustrated  lectures,  in 
the  “Anti-Alcohol  Ligue.”  It  is  co-oper¬ 
ating  in  community  life  in  a  splendid  way. 
Part  of  the  money  raised  by  the  Russian 
Branch  of  the  American  Red  Cross  was 
distributed  by  the  Epworth  League.  Other 
assistance  has  been  given  the  Russian 
refugees.  The  Social  Service  Department 
visits  hospitals  and  American  ships  in 
port,  often  with  a  phonograph  and  records 
in  four  languages.  It  is  undoubtedly 
through  the  department  of  recreational 
culture  that  the  League  first  attracted  the 
majority  of  its  members.  It  is  the  leader 
in  the  forming  of  a  six-club  organization 
with  baseball  teams. 

Fourth  Department. — Another  avenue  of 
approach  under  the  auspices  of  the 
League,  is  the  free  moving  picture.  The 
fourth  department  is  seconding  the  efforts 
of  the  French  National  Movement  to 
eradicate  impure  films  and  literature. 

Plans  for  1923  call  for  the  formation  of 
one  Junior  League  for  the  Italian  children, 
another  for  promising  Arab  boys;  the 
organization  of  a  group  of  boy  scouts 
under  the  leadership  of  the  League  and  a 
group  of  camp-fire  girls. 

Needs. —  There  is  just  one  handicap,  the 
lack  of  literature  in  Italian  and  French. 


COLPORTEUR  WITH  FOREIGN -SPEAKING  GROUP 


That  which  was  from  the  beginning,  which  we  have 
heard,  which  we  have  seen  with  our  eyes,  which  we 
have  looked  upon,  and  our  hands  have  handled,  of  the 
Word  of  Life  ....  that  which  we  have  seen  and  heard 
declare  we  unto  you. 

1  John  1:1,2 


THE  AMERICAN  BIBLE  SOCIETY 

ANALYSIS  OF  STATEMENT 

I.  Historical  Relation  of  the  Methodist  Epis¬ 
copal  Church  to  the  American  Bible  Society 

II.  Influence  of  the  Action  of  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church  on  Other  Denominations 

III.  What  are  the  Needs 


IV. 


A  Ten-Year  Program 


578 


WORLD  SERVICE 


I.  HISTORICAL  RELATION  OF  THE 
METHODIST  EPISCOPAL  CHURCH 
TO  THE  AMERICAN  BIBLE 
SOCIETY 

Adoption  of  American  Bible  Society. — 
In  1836  the  General  Conference  of  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church  dissolved  its 
own  Bible  Society  and  adopted  the  Ameri¬ 
can  Bible  Society  as  its  official  organiza¬ 
tion  for  the  translation  and  circulation  of 
the  Scriptures.  Each  succeeding  General 
Conference  has  continued  this  relationship 
and  recognizes  the  American  Bible  Society 
as  one  of  the  official  benevolences  of  the 
church. 

Comparison  of  gifts. — A  few  facts  con¬ 
cerning  the  gifts  of  the  church  at  different 
periods  will  be  of  interest  and  are  of  im¬ 
portance.  They  are  taken  at  random  from 
a  study  of  the  entire  record  of  the  gifts 
of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  to  the 
American  Bible  Society  as  related  to  its 
other  benevolent  gifts  and  to  its  member¬ 
ship. 

In  1853  the  gifts  from  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church  were  at  the  rate  of  .046 
per  member  or  $34,339.  In  1865  they 
were  at  the  rate  of  .109  per  member  or 
$101,743.  In  1922  they  were  at  the  rate  of 
.033  per  member  or  $150,000. 

If  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  were 
to  give  in  1923  at  the  same  rate  per  mem¬ 
ber  as  it  did  in  1853  (which  was  a  wholly 
normal  period),  it  would  give  to  the  Soci¬ 
ety  a  total  of  $203,065.  If  it  were  to  give 
in  1923  at  the  same  rate  per  member  as  it 
did  in  1865,  it  would  give  a  total  of 
.$481,177. 

If  we  compare  the  gifts  of  the  Metho¬ 
dist  Episcopal  Church  to  the  American  Bi¬ 
ble  Society  and  its  missionary  collections, 
one  or  two  interesting  facts  appear.  For 
instance,  in  1856,  the  collections  for  mis¬ 
sions  amounted  to  $200,970  and  for  the 
American  Bible  Society  $35,038  or  over 
seventeen  per  cent.  If  the  church  were 
giving  to  the  American  Bible  Society  sev¬ 
enteen  per  cent  of  its  collections  for  Home 
and  Foreign  Missionary  Societies  today 
it  would  be  giving  over  $1,700,000  instead 


of  $150,000.  In  1866,  the  collections  for 
missions  amounted  to  $671,000  and  the  col¬ 
lections  for  the  American  Bible  Society 
were  $107,238,  or  about  one-sixth.  If  the 
Society  were  receiving  today  one-sixth  of 
the  offerings  of  the  Missionary  Societies 
it  would  receive  over  $1,500,000.  This 
was  a  particularly  good  year  for  the 
Bible  Society.  For  years  during  that 
period  it  was  the  only  other  benevo¬ 
lence  of  the  church,  then  came  along  other 
collections.  In  1886  the  Missionary  Socie¬ 
ties  received  $823,056  and  the  American 
Bible  Society  $28,940,  or  a  little  more  than 
one-fortieth.  If  the  society  were  receiving 
today  one-fortieth  of  the  collections  of  the 
Missionary  Societies,  it  would  receive 
$250,000  a  year.  In  1906  before  the  sep¬ 
aration  into  Boards  of  Home  and  Foreign 
Missions,  the  total  collection  for  missions 
was  $1,841,511  and  the  gifts  for  the  Bible 
Society  were  $40,074  or  about  one  forty- 
fourth.  If  the  Society  were  to  receive  one 
forty-fourth  of  what  is  now  given  to  the 
Home  and  Foreign  Missionary  Societies, 
it  would  still  receive  over  $200,000  a  year. 

Ought  the  church  ever  to  forget  that  the 
Bible  Society  stands  next  to  home  and  for¬ 
eign  missions  in  the  history  of  its  benevo¬ 
lent  program? 

II.  INFLUENCE  OF  THE  ACTION 

OF  THE  METHODIST  EPISCOPAL 
CHURCH  ON  OTHER  DE¬ 
NOMINATIONS 

Other  denominations  follow  Methodist 
example. — The  intelligent  and  generous 
support  given  to  the  Bible  cause  by  the 
recognition  of  the  American  Bible  Society 
among  its  official  benevolences  and  the  in¬ 
clusion  of  the  same  in  its  budget  has  led 
many  other  denominations  to  follow  the 
example  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church. 

The  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South, 
which  was  united  with  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church  when  the  American  Bi¬ 
ble  Society  was  made  an  official  benevo¬ 
lence  has  continued  the  same  generous  in¬ 
terest  in  the  American  Bible  Society. 


BIBLES 


579 


The  colporteur  takes  the  Bible  to  the  Negro’s  home 


Within  recent  years  the 
leading  denominations  of 
the  United  States  have 
entered  into  the  same  re¬ 
lationships  so  that  at  the 
present  time  there  are  fif¬ 
teen  denominations  which 
have  adopted  the  Ameri¬ 
can  Bible  Society  as  their 
official  medium  for  the 
translation,  publication, 
and  circulation  of  the 
Holy  Scriptures.  Many 
of  these  denominations 
are  emulating  the  gener¬ 
ous  support  given  the  So¬ 
ciety  by  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church  and  a 
few  of  them  are  exceed¬ 
ing  it  in  the  fixed  per¬ 
centage  which  they  have  adopted  for  the 
Society  in  their  budgets. 

III.  WHAT  ARE  THE  NEEDS? 

1.  In  the  Homeland 

a.  Work  among  the  Negroes  of  the 
United  States. — It  has  been  found  nec¬ 
essary  to  create  a  special  department  to 
meet  this  problem  and  the  American  Bible 
Society  has  taken  it  up  in  earnest  with  a 
secretary  in  charge,  located  in  the  Bible 
House,  New  York,  and  four  sub-agents  at 
Atlanta,  Georgia;  Charlotte,  North  Caro¬ 
lina;  Memphis,  Tennessee;  and  Houston, 
Texas,  to  provide  for  the  10,000,000 
colored  people  scattered  throughout  the 
Southern  States.  Out  from  these  centers 
are  operating  twenty-five  full-time  col¬ 
porteurs  and  a  large  force  of  volunteer 
workers  and  special  part-time  colpor¬ 
teurs. 

Taking  cognizance  of  the  tide  of  immi¬ 
gration  whereby  nearly  1,000,000  Negroes 
have  moved  into  the  North  during 
the  last  five  years,  a  fifth  sub-agency  has 
been  established  in  Cleveland,  Ohio,  and 
efforts  are  being  made  to  follow  up  the 
emigrants,  as  they  have  largely  settled  in 
industrial  centers  and  in  the  large  cities 
of  the  North.  This  today  is  one  of  the 
big  problems  confronting  the  American 


Bible  Society  and  demanding  its  most  care¬ 
ful  attention. 

There  is  an  imperative  need  for  other 
sub-agencies,  especially  in  Greater  New 
York,  Chicago,  and  Los  Angeles.  Only 
shortage  of  funds  delays  the  putting  into 
effect  of  these  plans. 

b.  The  Eastern  Agency. — This  includes 
the  State  of  New  York,  together  with  ad¬ 
jacent  portions  of  the  New  England  States 
not  included  in  the  territory  of  auxiliary 
societies. 

The  headquarters  of  this  agency  are  in 
the  Bible  House,  New  York  City,  and  are 
in  charge  of  the  local  sales  room. 

Although  one  of  the  smallest  agencies 
as  to  area,  it  is  one  of  the  most  complex 
in  its  problems. 

c.  The  Atlantic  Agency. — The  Atlantic 
Agency  covers  Pennsylvania,  New  Jersey, 
and  Delaware.  The  great  problems  in  this 
agency  are  connected  with  the  vast  in¬ 
dustries  and  mining  populations  in  which 
there  are  large  numbers  of  foreign-speak¬ 
ing  peoples. 

We  believe  in  Americanizing  by  Bible- 
izing.  By  the  use  of  Diglots  (English  and 
foreign  language  Scriptures  in  parallel  col¬ 
umns,  which  are  now  available  in  thirty- 
three  different  languages)  the  users  learn 
the  Bible  while  learning  English. 


580 


WORLD  SERVICE 


A  colporteur  among  miners,  Pennsylvania 


We  co-operate  with  mission  churches 
and  workers  to  supply  each  church  and 
Sunday  school  with  Bibles  and  to  provide 
colporteurs  for  language  groups. 

d.  South  Atlantic  Agency.  —  This 
Agency  with  headquarters  at  Richmond, 
Virginia,  includes  the  states  of  Virginia, 
West  Virginia,  North  Carolina,  South 
Carolina,  Georgia,  and  Florida. 

There  are  8,000  churches  in  this  terri¬ 
tory,  but  very  few  adequately  supplied 
with  Scriptures. 

A  reasonable  estimate  is  that  there  are 
150,000  families  without  Bibles  in  this 
territory. 

With  but  very  few  exceptions  the  public 
schools  throughout  this  entire  area  are 
open  to  the  distribution  of  the  Scriptures. 
A  program  whereby  a  portion  might  be 
placed  in  the  hands  of  each  child  will  be 
welcomed. 

About  40  nationalities  are  represented 
in  the  population  of  this  Agency.  The 
larger  groups  are  found  in  the  mining  and 
lumber  sections  of  West  Virginia  and 
North  Carolina  and  in  the  industrial  cen¬ 
ters  like  Norfolk,  Virginia,  and  Atlanta, 
Georgia.  The  very  difficulties  of  over¬ 
coming  fanaticism,  ignorance  and  super¬ 
stition  in  these  varied  nationalities  is  a 
challenge  to  the  Christian  church. 


e.  Central  Agency. — This  Agency  with 
headquarters  at  Cincinnati,  Ohio,  includes 
the  states  of  Ohio,  Kentucky,  Tennessee, 
Mississippi,  and  Alabama. 

f.  Northwestern  Agency. — This  large 
agency  includes  the  nine  states  of  Indiana, 
Illinois,  Iowa,  Nebraska,  North  Dakota, 
South  Dakota,  Minnesota,  Wisconsin  and 
Michigan.  It  contains  a  total  population 
of  23,087,086,  this  being  a  growth  of 
twenty  per  cent  in  the  last  ten  years. 

One  striking  feature  has  been  the  phe¬ 
nomenal  growth  of  the  cities  during  this 
time,  being  far  in  excess  of  the  growth  of 
the  evangelical  churches,  thus  throwing 
an  unusually  heavy  responsibility  upon 
the  Bible  Society. 

In  the  rapid  increase  of  population  the 
element  of  foreign  or  mixed  parentage  has 
centralized  in  the  cities,  and  these  recruits 
have  come  almost  exclusively  from  the 
southern  and  southeastern  parts  of  Eu¬ 
rope — non-Bible-using  people. 

Depositories  of  Scriptures  must  be  es¬ 
tablished  in  available  centers  of  popula¬ 
tion. 

Colporteurs  must  be  provided  for  na¬ 
tionalities — Italians,  Bohemians,  Poles, 
Slovaks,  Roumanians,  Jews,  Russians,  Bul¬ 
garians,  and  others. 

Voluntary  workers  must  be  sought  and 
their  efforts  directed. 

g.  Southwestern  Agency. — This  agency 
with  its  headquarters  at  Dallas,  Texas, 
includes  the  states  of  Texas,  Oklahoma, 
Louisiana,  and  Arkansas,  with  a  total 
population  of  10,342,224. 

This  territory  faces  certain  problems 
peculiar  to  itself.  Within  the  last  five 
years  hundreds  of  thousands  of  Mexicans 
have  crossed  the  border  into  the  United 
States,  a  large  proportion  of  them  either 
locating  in  or  passing  through  the  state 
of  Texas.  These  people  are  nominally 
Roman  Catholics,  but  few  if  any  of  them 
have  ever  so  much  as  seen  a  copy  of  the 
Bible.  A  strenuous  effort  is  being  made 
to  supply  each  one,  so  far  as  possible,  with 
a  copy  of  the  Scriptures.  Two  Mexican 
colporteurs  are  giving  all  their  time,  visit¬ 
ing  the  towns  along  the  border  where  these 
refugees  congregate. 


BIBLES 


581 


Another  feature  of  this  area  is  the 
French  and  Creole  population  of  Louis¬ 
iana,  centering  in  and  about  New  Orleans. 
This  has  long  been  a  stronghold  of  Roman 
Catholicism  and  a  very  difficult  place  for 
Bible  distribution,  but  within  the  last  few 
years  a  great  change  has  taken  place  here 
in  this  respect  and  our  veteran  colporteur 
now  at  work  in  New  Orleans  is  receiving 
a  wonderful  welcome  and  reports  that 
never  before  has  he  found  any  city  more 
open  to  the  Scriptures. 

Another  problem  is  the  sparsely  settled 
population  of  Arkansas.  Many  of  these 
people  are  removed  from  school  or  church 
influences  and  unless  reached  by  the  dis¬ 
tributor  of  the  Word  are  untouched  by 
religious  influences. 

h.  Western  Agency.  —  This  agency, 
with  headquarters  in  Denver,  Colorado,  in¬ 
cludes  the  states  of  Missouri,  Kansas, 
Colorado,  Idaho,  Montana,  Utah,  Wyo¬ 
ming,  New  Mexico,  and  Arizona,  with  a 
total  population  of  8,432,006. 

This  is  an  area  of  immense  distances. 
It  would  take  the  Secretary  four  years  of 
constant  travel,  spending  one  day  in  a 
town,  to  cover  the  territory  and  then  there 
would  be  numerous  hamlets  yet  untouched. 


English 

Esperanto 

Esthonian 

Finnish 

Flemish 

French 

German 

Greek 

Hawaiian 

Hebrew 

Hungarian 

Ibanag 

Ilocano 

Irish 

Italian 

Japanese 

Korean 

Latin 

Lettish 


Lithuanian 

Malay 

Marshall  Is. 

Norwegian 

Pampanga 

Panayan 

Pangasinan 

Panjabi 

Persian 

Polish 

Portuguese 

Roumanian 

Russian 

Ruthenian 

Servian 

Slavic 

Slovak 

Slovenian 


Spanish 

Swedish 

Syriac 

Tagalog 

Turkish 

Urdu 

Welsh 

Yiddish 

Chinese-Mandarin 
Chinese-Cantonese 
Chinese-Wenli 
Chinese,  Delegates 
Bohemian-Slovak 
Armenian-Modern 
Syriac-Modern 
Scriptures  for 
Blind  (six  sys¬ 
tems) 


This  territory  possesses  probably  the 
greatest  number  of  sects,  beliefs,  and 
“isms”  of  any  part  of  the  United  States, 
emphasizing  the  supreme  necessity  for  a 
strong  centrally  organized  Bible  work 
throughout  the  section.  It  is  the  only 
basis  on  which  these  divergencies  can  be 
brought  together. 


2.  In  Foreign  Fields 

a.  The  West  Indies  Agency.— With 
headquarters  in  San  Juan,  Porto  Rico,  this 
agency  includes  the  West  Indian  group  of 
islands,  with  a  total  population  of  10,- 
500,000.  Of  these  about  two-thirds  are 
white  and  one-third  colored.  There  are 


Needs: 

Depositories  conveniently  located; 

Co-operation  with  home  mission  work¬ 
ers  ; 

Colporteurs  for  nation¬ 
alities  ; 

Volunteer  workers. 

i.  Pacific  Agency.  — 

This  agency  with  head¬ 
quarters  at  San  Francisco, 

California,  includes  the 
states  of  Washington, 

Oregon,  Nevada,  and  Cal¬ 
ifornia,  with  a  total  popu¬ 
lation  of  5,644,278,  calling 
for  Scriptures  last  year  in 
the  following  languages: 


hundreds  of  islands  in  this  group,  widely 
scattered.  With  inadequate  missionary 
work  among  all  these  islands  as  compared 
with  other  foreign  lands,  it  leaves  a  heavy 


Albanian 

Arabic 

Armenian 

Bicol 

Bohemian 


Bulgarian 

Chinese 

Croatian 

Danish 

Dutch 


A  colporteur  in  the  oil  district  of  Texas 


582 


WORLD  SERVICE 


responsibility  upon  the  Bible  Society.  With 
but  six  sub-agents  and  nineteen  colpor¬ 
teurs  largely  self-sustaining  at  other  tasks 
and  giving  but  little  of  their  time  to  the 
work,  the  task  is  far  from  being  completed. 
It  would  require  a  number  of  depositories 
and  at  least  fifty  colporteurs  adequately 
to  cover  this  territory. 

b.  The  Mexico  Agency. — This  agency, 
with  headquarters  in  Mexico  City,  covers 
the  entire  Republic  of  Mexico  with  a  popu¬ 
lation  of  15,500,000.  Former  antagonism 
to  the  Bible  so  prevalent  in  Mexico  has 
largely  diminished  and  the  work  of  the 
Bible  Society  is  the  one  foreign  propa¬ 
ganda  that  is  meeting  with  rapidly  grow¬ 
ing  favor  throughout  this  new  republic.  In 
order  to  cover  this  territory  the  number 
of  colporteurs  should  be  greatly  increased. 

c.  The  Caribbean  Agency. — The  head¬ 
quarters  of  this  agency  are  in  Cristobal. 
It  includes  all  the  republics  of  Central 
America,  Panama,  and  the  Canal  Zone, 
extending  its  work  into  Colombia,  and 
containing  a  total  population  of  about 
10,000,000. 

Inadequate  transportation  facilities  in 
this  large  territory  make  this  an  unusually 
difficult  field,  and  the  Bible  Society’s 
colporteur  is  in  many  instances  the  sole 
representative  of  evangelical  Christianity 
to  penetrate  these  distances. 


d.  The  Upper  Andes 
Agency.  —  Its  headquar¬ 
ters  office  is  in  the  Pan¬ 
ama  Canal  Zone.  It  ex¬ 
tends  its  operations 
throughout  parts  of 
Colombia,  Ecuador,  Peru 
and  Bolivia.  It  contains 
a  total  population  of  about 
13,905,172.  This  field  is 
coming  rapidly  into  prom¬ 
inence  and  there  is  an  ex¬ 
tremely  urgent  need  for 
more  aggressive  Bible 
propaganda,  propaganda 
which  would  employ  at 
least  twenty  colporteurs. 

e.  The  Brazil  Agency. — 
With  headquarters  in  Rio 
Janeiro,  this  agency  includes  the  Republic 
of  Brazil,  and  contains  a  population  of 
22,000,000.  The  present  appropriation 

provides  for  about  seven  colporteurs  in 

this  vast  territory  which  is  so  rapidly  be¬ 
ing  filled  up  and  developed.  In  order  to 
keep  pace  with  the  growth,  there  should 
be  two  or  three  times  that  number,  and  a 
greatly  enlarged  supply  of  Bibles. 

f.  The  La  Plata  Agency. — With  head¬ 
quarters  in  Buenos  Aires,  this  agency  in¬ 
cludes  the  Republics  of  South  America 
excepting  Brazil,  in  which  the  Spanish  lan¬ 
guage  prevails:  Argentina,  Uruguay, 
Paraguay,  and  Chile,  with  a  total  popula¬ 
tion  of  14,704,282. 

The  veteran  representative  of  the 
American  Bible  Society,  in  charge  of  this 
agency  for  many  years,  the  Rev.  F.  G. 
Penzotti,  has  done  more  than  any  other 
person  to  popularize  the  Bible  in  the  fast¬ 
nesses  of  this  great  continent.  His  son 
now  follows  in  charge  of  the  work  and 
after  a  careful  study  of  the  field  estimates 
that  he  should  have  at  least  seventy-five 
full  time  co-workers  in  order  to  meet  the 
needs. 

As  one  writes,  “A  great  change  has 
taken  place  in  the  Republic  of  Argentina 
during  the  last  decade  in  the  reception  of 
the  Scriptures  by  the  Republic.”  The 
Bible  is  a  mighty  leaven. 


BIBLES 


583 


g.  The  Levant  Agency.— This  agency 
has  its  headquarters  in  Constantinople. 
Its  territory  includes  the  Turkish  Empire 
in  Europe  and  Asia. 

Here  we  have  the  storm  center  of  the 
world  as  these  51,000,000  of  people  are 
torn  by  the  distresses  of  fanatical  warfare. 

First,  the  Ottomans  themselves  must 
have  their  individual  as  well  as  national 
life  leavened  by  a  much  larger  introduc¬ 
tion  of  the  Scriptures  if  they  are  ever  to 
be  able  to  take  their  place  at  the  council 
table  of  the  Christian  nations. 

Second,  the  hundreds  of  thousands  of 
persecuted  Christians  who  have  lost  all 
and  are  being  persecuted  even  to  death  are 
calling  upon  the  Bible  Society  as  never 
before  for  the  Sacred  Word. 

h.  The  Arabic-Levant  Agency.  —  This 
agency  has  its  headquarters  at  Cairo, 
Egypt.  It  is  a  natural  product  in  the 
development  of  the  Levant  Agency,  which 
outgrew  the  possibility  of  direction  from 
one  central  office.  This  includes  Egypt, 
Palestine,  and  Syria,  containing  a  total 
population  of  about  22,650,000.  Much  of 
this  is  entirely  untouched  by  evangelical 
mission  work.  Thousands  do  not  have  the 
Bible  and  the  Bible  Society  should  have  at 
least  seventy-five  representatives  and  in¬ 
creased  stocks  of  books  to  meet  this  situa¬ 
tion. 

i.  The  Siam  Agency.— With  headquar¬ 
ters  in  Bangkok,  this  agency  includes  a 
population  of  about  10,000,000  people. 
This  is  a  country  of  vast  morasses  and 
wildernesses,  and  a  dense  population 
reaching  far  off  into  Southwestern  China, 
with  poor  transportation  facilities  de¬ 
manding  arduous  labors  on  the  part  of 
those  who  carry  the  Word.  Last  year 
there  were  about  thirty-five  workers  en¬ 
gaged  in  this  agency,  giving  all  or  part 
of  their  time.  There  should  be  at  least 
three  times  as  many  and  a  greatly  enlarged 
publication  program. 

j.  The  China  Agency.— Its  headquar¬ 
ters  are  in  Shanghai.  By  mutual  arrange¬ 
ment  with  other  Societies  the  American 
Bible  Society  has  accepted  the  responsi¬ 
bility  for  supplying  the  Scriptures  to 


about  150,000,000  Chinese.  Five  sub¬ 
agencies  are  located  at  strategic  centers, 
Peking,  Hankow,  Canton,  Chungking,  and 
Chengtu.  Most  of  the  work  is  being  done 
by  voluntary  workers,  which  at  best  is 
only  sporadic  and  somewhat  indefinite.  A 
careful  estimate  of  the  workers  needed  for 
this  territory  calls  for  at  least  seven  hun¬ 
dred  and  fifty  full  time  workers. 

k.  The  Philippine  Agency. — Its  head¬ 
quarters  are  in  Manila.  It  has  the  entire 
responsibility  of  providing  the  Scriptures 
for  the  total  population  of  the  Islands, 
about  11,000,000  people.  By  an  inter¬ 
change  with  the  British  and  Foreign  Bible 
Society  they  have  withdrawn 'from  the 
Philippines  so  that  the  whole  work  of 
translation,  revision,  publication,  and  dis¬ 
tribution  depends  upon  the  American 
Bible  Society.  This  work  largely  begin¬ 
ning  in  Spanish  and  now  growing  in  Eng¬ 
lish,  covers  also  ten  Philippine  dialects. 

l.  The  Japan  Agency.— The  headquar¬ 
ters  of  the  Japanese  Agency  are  in  Tokyo. 
From  there,  the  American  Bible  Society 
caters  to  the  northern  half  of  the  Japan¬ 
ese  Empire  containing  about  30,000,000 
of  people.  The  Bible  Society’s  represen¬ 
tative  enjoys  a  peculiar  immunity  from  the 
prejudice  which  the  Japanese  have  against 
the  representatives  of  the  foreign  insti- 


Colporteur  at  work  in  a  Siamese  street 


584 


WORLD  SERVICE 


A  Japanese  colporteur 


tution  or  mission  seeking  establishment 
in  their  Empire.  It  comes  not  to  receive, 
but  to  give,  and  as  such  has  a  large  place 
in  the  hearts  of  the  people.  The  Bible  has 
had  and  is  having  a  very  large  place  in 
the  formation  of  the  new  character  of  the 
Japanese  people.  In  order  to  reach  the 
last  man  within  a  reasonable  time  they 
should  have  at  least  one  hundred  and  fifty 
paid  workers  in  this  area,  giving  their 
whole  time. 

m.  Other  Fields. — In  addition  to  these 
established  agencies,  the  Society  endeavors 
to  meet  calls  for  Scriptures  and  for  funds 
to  assist  in  the  circulation  of  the  Scrip¬ 
tures  in  every  country  in  Europe  except 
Great  Britain  and  in  fields  in  Africa,  and 
Asia,  and  the  Islands  of  the  South  Seas 
not  covered  by  the  regular  agencies. 

IV.  A  TEN-YEAR  PROGRAM 

Forecast 

The  Society  has  been  asked  to  look 
ahead  for  a  period  of  ten  years  and  pre¬ 
sent  some  statements  concerning  the  real 
need  for  the  expansion  of  its  work.  Its 
officers  have  gone  very  carefully  into  this 
matter  and  have  accumulated  a  very  con¬ 
siderable  amount  of  important  and  valu¬ 
able  data.  It  is  not  yet  in  final  form. 
From  it,  however,  certain  facts  emerge. 

If  the  Society  is  to  live  up  to  its  motto 
“The  Whole  Bible  for  the  Whole  World" 


it  should  at  once  begin  on  a  greatly  en¬ 
larged  program  which  would  include : 

a.  An  enlargement  of  its  literary  de¬ 
partment  for  a  study  of  the  language 
needs  of  each  group  and  of  the  scholarship 
at  home  and  in  mission  lands  available  to 
serve  on  Committees  of  Translation  and 
Revision. 

b.  A  very  notable  increase  in  its  pub¬ 
lication  activities  which  would  involve  the 
employment  of  many  publication  houses 
not  now  engaged  in  this  work  or  the  set¬ 
ting  up  of  manufacturing  plants  in  re¬ 
gions  where  no  such  facilities  exist. 

c.  A  proper  housing  of  its  work  in  all 
the  centers  in  the  world  in  which  it  oper¬ 
ates.  It  has  now  a  Bible  House  in  New 
York,  a  Bible  House  in  Cristobal,  and  one 
in  Manila.  It  has  certain  relationships  to 
the  Bible  House  in  Constantinople.  It  has 
land  in  Peking  and  in  Canton  on  which 
Bible  Houses  should  at  once  be  erected. 
If  this  program  of  building  were  carried 
out,  as  it  should  be,  it  would  involve  large 
expenditures  but  a  great  saving  would  be 
accomplished  in  the  end. 

d.  Such  an  addition  to  its  agencies  at 
home  and  abroad  as  to  cover  adequately 
every  state  in  the  Union  and  the  foreign 
lands  in  which  in  spite  of  all  that  is  being 
done  the  surface  is  only  being  touched 
here  and  there.  This  would  mean  en¬ 
largement  of  its  staff  abroad  and  the  em¬ 
ployment  of  the  peculiar  messengers  of  the 
Bible  Societies,  “The  Colporteurs,”  in 
greatly  increased  numbers,  and  the  proper 
supervision  of  their  activities. 

Of  course  all  such  enlargement  would 
involve  a  proportionate  development  of  the 
executive  organization. 

A  somewhat  detailed  estimate  of  a  mini¬ 
mum  annual  expenditure  of  a  ten  years’ 
adequate  program  follows. 

It  may  not  be  wise  in  this  survey  to 
suggest  the  share  of  the  Methodist  Epis¬ 
copal  Church  in  such  a  program,  but  it 
would  necessarily  have  to  be  on  a  scale 
proportionate  to  the  increase  for  other  of¬ 
ficial  benevolences. 


A  CONVERTED  BARROOM 


We  are  not  seeking  simply  to  make  a  safe  place  for  our¬ 
selves  and  our  children  in  the  United  States.  .  .  .  We 
did  not  help  to  drive  the  saloon  out  of  America  expect¬ 
ing  it  to  take  up  its  abode  in  China  or  Africa  or  any¬ 
where  else,  unopposed.  Wherever  the  liquor  infamy 

exists,  we  are  set  to  fight  it. 

William  Fraser  McDowell 


THE  BOARD  OF  TEMPERANCE,  PROHIBITION, 

AND  PUBLIC  MORALS 

ANALYSIS  OF  STATEMENT 

I.  Historical  Statement 


II.  The  Present  Work  of  the  Board 

1.  Co-operative  relations 

2.  The  staff 

3.  Contacts  with  the  field 

a.  Public  presentations 

b.  The  Clipsheet 

c.  The  Voice 

d.  Educational  publicity 

e.  Research  and  reference 

f.  Charts,  illustrations  and  cartoons 

g.  Stereopticon  lectures  and  moving  picture  films 

4.  Foreign  work 

a.  Europe 

b.  India 

c.  Latin  America 

d.  Miscellaneous 


38 


III.  Plans  for  the  Future 

585 


586 


WORLD  SERVICE 


Captured  at  Washington,  D.  C. 


1.  HISTORICAL  STATEMENT 

The  temperance  society.) — The  Board  of 
Temperance,  Prohibition,  and  Public  Mor¬ 
als,  with  offices  at  Washington,  District 
of  Columbia,  organized  by  the  General 
Conference  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church  and  incorporated  under  the  laws 
of  the  District  of  Columbia,  is  the  out¬ 
growth  of  the  permanent  Committee  on 
Temperance  and  Prohibition  established 
by  the  General  Conference  of  1888.  The 
General  Conference  of  1904,  meeting  in 
Los  Angeles,  broadened  the  work  of  this 
committee  and  changed  its  name  to  the 
Temperance  Society  of  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church,  and  made  it  one  of  the 
benevolences  with  headquarters  at  Chi¬ 
cago. 

At  the  General  Conference  of  1908  in 
Baltimore,  the  constitution  of  the  society 
was  broadened  and  $25,000  was  appor¬ 
tioned  for  its  support  and  every  pastor 
was  requested  to  present  the  claims  of 
the  society  and  ask  a  free-will  offering  of 
the  people.1 

The  Board  of  Managers  met  semi¬ 
annually  in  Chicago  to  raise  financial  aid 
for  any  places  where  there  was  a  call  of 
need.  When  Oklahoma  was  having  her 
fight  for  state-wide  prohibition,  the  so¬ 
ciety  raised  funds  and  sent  speakers.  Be¬ 
sides,  numerous  leaflets  and  pamphlets 
were  sent  broadcast  into  the  country,  ef¬ 
fectually  supplementing  public  meetings. 


In  1910,  the  Board  of  Managers  elected 
two  men  to  devote  their  full  time  to  the 
Board  of  Temperance.  These  men  en¬ 
tered  upon  their  work  without  office, 
desk,  or  salary  and  without  guarantee  of 
expense  by  anyone,  but  the  church  rallied 
to  the  work.  Literature  by  the  hundreds 
of  thousands  of  pages  was  circulated,  es¬ 
pecially  during  wet  and  dry  contests. 

An  important  pledge  campaign  was 
conducted;  speeches  were  made  on  street 
corners,  in  parks  and  in  locations  of 
almost  every  description  in  thirty-four 
states.  When  the  General  Conference  of 
1912  met  it  was  found  that  more  than 
one  hundred  thousand  people  had  been 
pledged  to  abstinence. 

By  a  unanimous  vote,  the  General  Con¬ 
ference  of  1912  commended  the  adminis¬ 
tration  of  the  board,  moved  its  head¬ 
quarters  to  Topeka,  Kansas,  and  voted  a 
$50,000  apportionment  as  a  minimum  for 
its  support.2  During  the  next  four  years 
the  society  participated  in  twenty-seven 
state  campaigns  and  sent  out  millions  of 
pages  of  literature.  The  work  was  di¬ 
vided  into  departments  and  under-secre¬ 
taries  were  named.  Research  and  pub¬ 
licity  began  to  be  undertaken ;  posters 
were  produced ;  automobile  campaigns 
in  the  neglected  portions  of  states  facing 
prohibition  elections  were  conducted  and 


New  home  of  the  Board  of  Temperance, 
Prohibition,  and  Public  Morals, 
Washington,  D,  C, 


1  Discipline,  1908,  H444. 


3  Discipline,  1912,  fl479. 


REFORM 


587 


several  of  these  campaigns  were  decided 
by  the  work  of  the  board. 

In  1916,  the  General  Conference  unani¬ 
mously  increased  the  board’s  apportion¬ 
ment,  re-wrote  its  constitution  to  broaden 
its  field  of  operation  and  to  make  perma¬ 
nent  its  task,  located  it  at  Washington, 
District  of  Columbia,  and  instructed  it  to 
undertake  a  building  operation.1 

Present  objectives  of  the  board. — The 
General  Conference  of  1920  took  the  fol¬ 
lowing  action:2 

“In  order  to  make  more  effectual  the 
efforts  of  the  church  to  create  a  Christian 
public  sentiment,  which  will  relate  the 
principles  of  the  gospel  of  Christ  to  the 
economical,  political,  industrial,  and  so¬ 
cial  relations  of  life,  and  which  will  crys¬ 
tallize  opposition  to  all  public  violations 
of  the  moral  law,  the  General  Conference 
hereby  authorizes  the  organization  of  a 
Board  of  Temperance,  Prohibition,  and 
Public  Morals,  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church,  with  headquarters  at  Washing¬ 
ton,  District  of  Columbia,  and  the  Board 
shall  incorporate  under  this  title  and 
work  under  the  following  condition : 

“The  object  of  this  Board  is  to  promote 
voluntary  total  abstinence  from  all  intoxi¬ 
cants  and  narcotics,  to  enforce  existing 
statutory  laws  and  constitutional  provi¬ 
sions  that  suppress  the  liquor  traffic  and  to 
secure  the  speedy  enactment  of  such  legis¬ 
lation  throughout  the  world.” 

“It  shall  be  the  duty  of  the  Board  of 
Managers  to  represent  the  church  offi¬ 
cially  in  every  wise  movement  for  the 
promotion  of  voluntary  personal  total 
abstinence  and  the  securing  of  legal  pro¬ 
hibition  of  the  liquor  traffic;  to  promote 
public  morals;  to  publish,  approve  and 
distribute  literature  on  the  liquor  traffic, 
the  use  of  narcotics  and  manufactured 
articles  containing  a  large  per  cent  of  al¬ 
coholic  liquors.;  to  devise  such  plans  and 
make  such  advices  as  shall  enable  the 
church  most  successfully  to  compass  the 
overthrow  of  that  great  foe  of  society,  the 

1  Discipline,  1916,  f492.  General  Conference  Jour¬ 
nal,  1916,  p.  677. 

2  Discipline,  1920,  fl490. 


Into  Old  Whisky  Row,  Chicago,  once  a  tough 
saloon  section,  prohibition  has  introduced 
day  nurseries 


legalized  liquor  traffic ;  to  make  such  use  of 
the  money  paid  into  its  treasury  as  the 
work  demands,  and  to  publish  an  annual 
report  of  its  work  and  to  make  a  quad¬ 
rennial  report  to  the  General  Conference.” 

II.  THE  PRESENT  WORK  OF  THE 
BOARD 

1.  Co-operative  Relations 
It  is  notable  that  from  the  beginning, 
the  Board  of  Temperance,  Prohibition,  and 
Public  Morals  has  had  only  the  most 
pleasant  relations  with  the  Anti-Saloon 
League,  the  Woman’s  Christian  Temper¬ 
ance  Union  and  other  temperance  and  re¬ 
form  organizations.  This  is  due  to  the 
fact  that  its  field  has  been  unique  and  its 
methods  have  been  unprecedented.  It  has 
gone  into  the  highway  and  byways.  It 
has  circulated  literature  where  literature 
was  not  previously  being  circulated.  It 
has  sent  its  speakers  where  temperance 
speakers  were  hitherto  unknown. 

2.  The  Staff 

At  present  the  board  has  a  general  sec¬ 
retary,  a  research  secretary,  two  field 
secretaries,  two  extension  secretaries,  a 
secretary  for  Colored  work,  and  assistants 


588 


WORLD  SERVICE 


in  research,  publicity,  and  office  manage¬ 
ment. 

There  are  foreign  secretaries  in  South 
America,  France,  Japan,  India,  Italy,  Aus¬ 
tria,  Hungary,  Switzerland,  Germany,  the 
Baltic  States,  and  Mexico. 

3.  Contacts  With  the  Field 

a.  Public  presentations.  —  During  the 
year  1922,  the  general  secretary  and  his 
assistants  travelled  many  thousands  of 
miles  representing  the  board  at  important 
conferences,  conventions,  before  commit¬ 
tees  of  Congress  and  on  many  other  occa¬ 
sions.  They  have  also  participated  in  Ep- 
worth  League  Institutes,  Sunday-school 
conventions  and  public  mass  meetings.  The 
board  has  done  vital  work  in  cleaning  up 
the  Mexican  border  and  in  investigations 
at  various  points  in  the  United  States, 
although  it  does  not  undertake  what  is 
ordinarily  known  as  “law  enforcement” 
work.  The  secretary  for  Colored  work 
organized  and  managed  a  law  enforce¬ 
ment  conference  at  Nashville,  Tennessee, 
with  from  seven  to  eight  hundred  colored 
delegates.  Leaflets  were  circulated  in 
great  quantities. 

b.  The  “Clipsheet.” — A  Clipsheet  has 
been  published  and  circulated  which  goes 
to  every  daily  newspaper  in  the  United 
States  and  to  thousands  of  other  publica¬ 
tions,  as  well  as  to  hundreds  of  “key  men” 
here  and  abroad.  The  idea  of  this  publi¬ 
cation  was  born  in  a  conviction  that  the 
methods  of  circulating  prohibition  litera¬ 
ture  were  inadequate.  Prohibition  papers 
were  being  sent  to  people  who  subscribed 
for  them,  just  as  speaking  was  being  done 
to  those  who  were  already  convinced.  It 
was  believed  that  literature  should  be  con¬ 
stantly  and  systematically  placed  in  the 
hands  of  men  and  women  whose  opinions 
were  worth  while,  but  who  had  not  been 
sufficiently  interested  in  prohibition  to  pay 
for  a  prohibition  paper.  The  Clipsheet  is 
in  a  sense  a  literary  street  speaker,  being 
sent  out  not  primarily  as  a  publicity  at¬ 
tempt,  but  as  an  earnest,  honest,  above¬ 
board  pleader  for  civic  righteousness.  It 
was  a  pioneer  and  today  its  influence  for 
good  is  tremendous  and  it  is  imitated  in 


the  interests  of  a  hundred  other  causes. 
It  has  stood  for  prohibition,  for  political 
cleanliness,  for  Americanism  pure  and 
undefiled  and  against  Sabbath  desecration, 
brutal  prizefighting  and  gambling.  It  has 
avoided  fanaticism  and  extremism,  but  has 
been  loyal  and  fearless. 

c.  “The  Voice.” — Similarly,  The  Voice 
goes  to  our  preachers.  It  is  brief, 
quickly  read  and  hides  nothing  from  our 
people. 

d.  Educational  publicity. — During  1922, 
we  issued  a  number  of  special  publications, 
some  of  which  were  widely  circulated. 
Particular  attention  was  paid  to  illustra¬ 
tions,  for  instance,  in  the  report  of  the 
effects  of  prohibition  in  the  city  of  Chi¬ 
cago. 

In  1921,  Dr.  Charles  W.  Eliot,  president 
emeritus  of  Harvard,  requested  that  the 
board  undertake  an  investigation  as  to  the 
present  attitude  of  business  men  on  Amer¬ 
ican  prohibition.  This  was  arranged  with 
The  Manufacturers ’  Record  of  Baltimore, 
and  the  publication  has  been  circulated  in 
almost  every  country. 

Frequently,  instead  of  the  board’s  hav¬ 
ing  to  go  to  the  newspapers  with  material, 
their  men  come  to  its  offices  seeking  news. 
The  board  has  an  effective  and  systematic 
news-gathering  service:  At  the  prohibition 
commissioner’s  office  in  Washington, 
there  is  a  special  hook  on  which  matters 
that  might  be  of  interest  to  it  are  hung 
and  are  available  for  collection  every  day. 
Our  friends  in  Congress  and  in  the  de¬ 
partments  and  frequently  newspaper  men 
are  sources  of  information.  During  the 
past  year  various  new  avenues  of  pub¬ 
licity  have  been  located. 

The  board  constantly  is  checking  up  on 
liquor  hoaxes  and  found  a  peculiar  pleas¬ 
ure  during  1922  in  correcting  once  again 
the  perennial  liquor  hoax  as  to  Abraham 
Lincoln.  Scores  of  liquor  law  violations 
have  been  reported. 

e.  Research  and  reference. — A  vast 
deal  of  new  statistical  information  has 
been  collected  and  classified.  Files  and 
card  systems  are  in  good  condition.  The 
board  has  information,  for  instance,  show- 


REFORM 


589 


Mute  evidence  that  Chile  needs  the  services  of  this  board 


ing  the  wet  or  dry  prej¬ 
udices,  the  religious  affili¬ 
ations  and  general  char¬ 
acter  of  nearly  all 
members  of  Congress.  It 
is  now  collecting  police 
statistics  from  every  city 
in  the  United  States  hav¬ 
ing  a  population  of  more 
than  25,000.  Many  meth¬ 
ods  are  used,  direct  in¬ 
quiry,  inquiry  by  congress¬ 
men,  visitation,  and  local 
representations.  Through 
our  congressional  friends, 
the  Library  of  Congress 
has  been  used  effectively, 
matter  being  frequently 
translated  and  information  compiled  and 
reported.  The  general  information  files  are 
depended  upon  to  some  extent  by  repre¬ 
sentatives,  senators,  newspaper  men,  mag¬ 
azine  writers,  pastors  and  the  general 
public,  including  debaters,  schools,  public 
libraries,  etc.  Prohibition  material  in  the 
magazines,  the  Advocates,  prohibition 
publications,  the  Clipsheet  and  The  Voice 
is  indexed  and  filed.  For  propaganda  use, 
a  list  of  newspapers  having  columns  de¬ 
voted  to  contributions  is  being  made.  The 
board  is  now  locating  and  photographing 
closed  Keeley  and  Neal  institutes,  closed 
jails  and  breweries  which  are  used  for 
other  purposes.  This  material  will  be  used 
for  illustrated  publications  and  slides. 

f.  Charts  and  cartoons.  —  The  board 
also  makes  and  circulates  charts,  illustra¬ 
tions,  cartoons,  maps  and  posters,  which 
are  furnished  for  exhibits  and  other  uses. 
Efforts  are  being  made  to  appeal  espe¬ 
cially  to  young  people. 

g.  Lectures  and  film. — Stereopticon  lec¬ 
tures  have  been  circulated  and  the  board’s 
motion  picture  has  been  exhibited  to  many 
thousands  of  people.  In  one  New  Jersey 
city,  it  was  shown  to  various  groups  of  for¬ 
eign  born  and  at  the  night  school  it  was 
made  the  subject  of  an  essay  contest. 
Additional  illustrated  lectures  to  cover 
temperance  and  the  general  work  of  the 
board  are  being  prepared. 


The  board’s  offices  have  been  general 
headquarters  for  foreign  visitors.  From 
all  parts  of  the  world  they  have  come, 
some  of  them  bearing  ornate  commis¬ 
sions  from  their  governments  to  study 
American  prohibition. 

4.  Foreign  Work 

a.  Europe. — The  board  sent  one  of  its 
secretaries  abroad  in  1919  and  again  in 
1921  to  outline  and  establish  the  Euro¬ 
pean  work.  The  second  time  he  went 
by  appointment  of  the  President  of 
the  United  States.  It  has  personal  ac¬ 
quaintance  with  every  prohibition  leader 
in  Europe.  Co-operating  faithfully  with 
the  leaders  of  our  church,  the  board  is 
responsible*  for  a  most  flourishing  Meth¬ 
odist  temperance  movement  abroad.  At 
present  it  is  firmly  established  in 
twenty-one  nations.  The  abnormal  power 
of  the  gold  dollar  is  enabling  it  to  do  a 
work  abroad  which  could  not  be  done  in 
normal  times  for  less  than  half  a  million 
dollars. 

In  France,  two  representatives  have 
lectured,  given  motion  picture  exhi¬ 
bitions  against  alcohol,  visited  schools, 
colleges,  barracks  and  Boy  Scout  organi¬ 
zations.  Real  missionary  work  has  also 
been  done  in  taking  the  gospel  of  temper¬ 
ance  to  the  slums.  Argument  and  appeal 
have  been  taken  to  large  manufacturers, 
false  statements  in  the  newspapers  have 


590 


WORLD  SERVICE 


been  denied  and  public  demonstrations  in 
the  city  streets  have  been  held. 

In  Italy,  under  the  Italian  secretary, 
educational  and  publicity  work  has  been 
launched,  a  paper  is  being  published,  and 
meetings  have  been  held  in  public  places, 
prisons,  schools  and  colleges. 

In  Switzerland,  a  well-balanced  work 
in  the  Methodist  Church  is  under  way. 
A  paper  is  published,  effective  work  is 
being  done  among  young  people  and  much 
public  propaganda  is  going  on.  The  board 
contributes  sixty  per  cent  of  the  income 
of  the  International  Temperance  Bureau 
under  Dr.  Hercod,  the  leader  of  Euro¬ 
pean  temperance  propaganda.  The  direc¬ 
tor  of  the  Swiss  telegraph  agency  has 
agreed  to  transmit  press  news,  as  have 
the  Havas  (French),  Wolfe  (German), 
Reuter  (English),  and  Stefani  (Italian) 
news  agencies. 

In  Austria,  Hungary,  Germany,  Es- 
thonia,  and  Latvia  the  work  is  flourishing 
and  in  some  of  these  countries  it  is  reach¬ 
ing  large  proportions.  In  Moscow  and 
Petrograd  there  are  promising  openings. 
At  Augsburg,  Mannheim  and  Buda  Pesth, 
there  are  fixed  centers  of  propaganda.  A 
connection  has  been  made  with  the  Rus¬ 
sian  priests  looking  toward  temperance 
education.  In  Austria,  a  student  secre¬ 
tary  gives  his  entire  time  to  that  work. 
Special  attention  has  been  given  to  exhib¬ 
its  and  parades.  The  work  in  Hungary 
and  Czecho-Slovakia  is  backed  by  the 
leading  men  of  the  nation.  The  board 
has  newly  established  work  at  Darmstadt 
and  Riga. 

b.  India. — A  very  large  and  promising 
work  has  been  launched  in  India.  A  head¬ 
quarters  is  maintained  under  direction 
of  an  executive  committee,  a  monthly 
Clipsheet  is  published  and  many  ad¬ 
dresses  have  been  made.  Testimony  has 
been  given  before  government  commis¬ 
sions.  A  study  book  has  been  prepared 
for  the  Epworth  Leagues  and  posters 
have  been  issued.  A  great  deal  of  litera¬ 
ture  in  the  vernacular  is  circulated.  Sev¬ 
eral  important  conventions  have  been 
held. 


c.  Latin  America. — In  South  America 
important  connections  have  been  estab¬ 
lished  with  the  Chilean  government  and 
with  influential  societies  there  and  in 
other  republics.  A  news  service  is  con¬ 
ducted.  Moving  pictures  and  stereopti- 
cons  are  used.  Propaganda  is  being  car¬ 
ried  on  in  mines,  shops  and  factories.  The 
weekly  bulletin  has  a  circulation  of  1,500. 

Arrangements  have  been  made  to  fi¬ 
nance  a  work  in  Mexico. 

d.  Miscellaneous. — Small  appropriations 
were  made  to  assist  in  the  Scandinavian 
countries  and  in  Korea.  In  addition  to  all 
of  this,  quantities  of  literature  were  sent 
to  various  parts  of  Europe,  Asia,  and  Aus¬ 
tralasia.  The  literature  circulated  by  the 
Research  Department  would  make  one 
solid  column  2,000  miles  long.  The  Clip- 
sheet  has  gone  to  British  newspapers  and 
we  have  received  many  acknowledgments. 

During  1922  three  thousand  inquiries 
were  answered  and  large  co-operation 
has  been  given  to  other  temperance  or¬ 
ganizations. 

III.  PLANS  FOR  THE  FUTURE 

Wet  propaganda.  —  The  prohibition 
amendment  is  at  present  being  assailed 
by  every  species  of  misrepresentation. 
This  misrepresentation  extends  to  the 
history  of  the  movement,  the  method  by 
which  the  prohibition  amendment  was 
achieved,  the  motives  behind  the  agita¬ 
tion,  and  the  effects  of  the  policy.  Abuse, 
misstatement  of  fact,  and  the  powerful 
influence  of  suggestion  in  cartoons,  jokes, 
headlines,  and  news  reports  fall  before 
the  eyes  of  millions  of  people  daily.  By 
these  methods  uninformed  or  illiterate 
people,  as  well  as  those  with  criminal 
tendencies  are  being  made  to  distrust  our 
form  of  government,  to  disapprove  the 
methods  outlined  by  the  fathers  for  the 
securing  of  constitutional  changes,  to 
despise  law  and  to  violate  it  as  a  matter 
of  convinced  right,  not  to  say  of  duty. 
Anti-prohibition  propaganda  appeals 
have  been  made  particularly  to  those  of 
alien  birth,  to  those  whose  education  has 
been  achieved  in  an  alien  atmosphere,  to 


REFORM 


591 


Formerly  a  brewery,  Chicago 


shallow-minded,  so-called  “society  peo¬ 
ple,”  to  Negroes  and  to  other  large  special 
classes.  Practically  all  of  the  foreign- 
language  newspapers  in  the  United 
States  constantly  misrepresent  the  prohi¬ 
bition  law,  not  only  opposing  it,  but  ad¬ 
vertising  materials  and  methods  for  vio¬ 
lating  it.  The  entire  anti-prohibition 
campaign  constitutes  a  challenge  to  the 
safety  of  America  as  well  as  chal¬ 
lenge  to  the  integrity  of  prohibition. 

Urgent  immediate  measures. — The  little 
church  on  Main  Street  brought  prohibi¬ 
tion  to  the  country  and  it  alone  can  de¬ 
fend  it.  The  claim  that  prohibition  was 
“put  over”  on  the  people,  that  it  is  not 
approved  by  a  majority  of  the  population, 
and  that  it  is  the  fruit  of  fanaticism,  is 
constantly  placed  before  the  average  man. 
Unless  adequate  defensive  measures  are 
taken  immediately,  we  face,  in  plain 
speaking,  the  imminent  return  of  the 
American  saloon,  which  was  in  fact 
a  beer  saloon  almost  invariably  owned  or 
controlled  by  brewers.  We  face  the  re¬ 
turn  of  the  beer  interest  in  politics  with 
its  alliance  with  alienism  and  of  every 
evil  thing  against  which  we  have  fought 
for  a  cento  vy,  together  with  a  new  evil 
in  the  form  of  widespread  promotion  of 
home  drinking  by  women  and  children 
and  the  bootlegging  of  whisky  at  every 
bar.  The  Board  of  Temperance,  Prohi¬ 
bition,  and  Public  Morals  knows  how  to 
meet  this  emergency,  but  it  can  not  meet 
it  with  present  funds.  The  question  is 


not  one  of  legislation  and  the  agencies 
and  methods  which  have  achieved  the 
legislation  can  not  deal  with  it.  The  only 
adequate  methods  call  for  an  early  en¬ 
largement  of  its  educational  propaganda. 

The  critical  situation  abroad. — Similarly 
the  work  of  the  Board  of  Temperance, 
Prohibition,  and  Public  Morals  abroad  in¬ 
volves  such  vast  opportunities  as  to  call 
for  immediate  enlargement.  It  is  not  in¬ 
correct  to  say  that  misrepresentation  of 
American  prohibition  in  the  foreign  press 
is  amazing  in  its  extent  and  appalling  in 
its  consequences.  The  Methodist  Episco¬ 
pal  Church  throughout  the  world  parallels 
the  prohibition  movement  in  the  think¬ 
ing  of  the  people  and  we  can  not  avoid 
our  peculiar  responsibility  which,  if 
bravely  assumed,  promises  immense  re¬ 
wards.  When  one  of  our  bishops  met  the 
President  of  Czecho-Slovakia,  the  Presi¬ 
dent  said,  “I  am  glad  to  know  you  or  any 
Methodist;  I  am  a  total  abstainer  my¬ 
self.”  What  Methodism  does  for  prohibi¬ 
tion  in  Europe  will  bring  hundreds  and 
thousands  of  thinking  patriots  to  its  doors. 

Other  evil  tendencies.  —  The  board’s 
duties  do  not  end  with  a  defense  of  the 
prohibition  law.  It  is  perfectly  appar¬ 
ent  that  little  or  nothing  is  being  done 
to  check  numerous  bad  tendencies  in 
American  life.  It  is  a  fact  that  there  is 
more  gambling  today,  for  instance,  than 
ever  before  in  our  history.  Something 
also  must  be  done  to  encourage  decency  in 
the  literature  of  the  people,  to  restrain 
evil  influences  which  are  disintegrating 
home  life  and  causing  young  people  to 
despise  the  moral  standards  of  their 
fathers.  The  question  of  drugs  is  a  world 
problem  which  we  have  not  touched. 

The  board  should  be  enabled  to  deal 
more  adequately  with  the  question  of  pop¬ 
ular  amusements,  prize  fighting,  and  with 
Sabbath  desecration.  It  should  be  en¬ 
abled  to  deal  particularly  with  the  ques¬ 
tion  of  Americanism.  The  church  can 
trust  its  own  agency  to  deal  with  these 
problems  without  fanaticism  and  with 
dignity,  and  it  should  enable  its  agency 
to  deal  with  them  vigorously  and 
promptly. 


DEACONESS  MINISTRY — THE  TEACHING  FUNCTION  IS  A  PART 

i  I 

I  commend  unto  you  Phoebe  our  sister,  who  is  a  servant 

1 

I 

of  the  church,  .  .  .  for  she  herself  also  hath  been  a  helper 

of  many,  and  of  my  own  self. 

1 

Paul,  to  the  Romans,  16:  1,  2 

m3 

/ 

THE  GENERAL  DEACONESS  BOARD 

ANALYSIS  OF  STATEMENT 

I.  The  General  Deaconess  Board 

II.  Distinctive  Position  Now  Held  by  the  Deaconess 

III.  Growth  of  the  Deaconess  Movement 

1.  In  personnel 

2.  In  property 

IV.  Present  Status  of  the  Deaconess  Movement 

V.  Program  for  Advance 

1.  Disseminating  information 

2.  Securing  deaconess  candidates 

3.  Training  deaconess  candidates 

4.  Providing  pensions  and  rest  homes 

5.  Administering  the  board 


593 


594 


WORLD  SERVICE 


1.  THE  GENERAL  DEACONESS 
BOARD 

Objectives 

“For  the  promotion  of  deaconess  work 
throughout  the  church  there  shall  be  a 
board  known  as  the  General  Deaconess 
Board  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church. 
This  board,  duly  incorporated  under  the 
laws  of  the  State  of  New  York  and  having 
its  headquarters  in  the  city  of  Buffalo, 
shall  have  general  supervision  of  all  dea¬ 
coness  work  in  the  church  and  control  of 
all  the  deaconesses.” 

“The  General  Deaconess  Board,  on  re¬ 
quest  of  the  Conference  Deaconess  Board 
and  the  annual  conference,  shall  have 
power  to  authorize  the  establishment  of  a 
deaconess  institution.  Should  the  pro¬ 
posed  institution  be  a  school,  authoriza¬ 
tion  shall  be  given  only  after  approval  by 
the  Board  of  Education  of  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church.  The  General  Deacon¬ 
ess  Board  shall  satisfy  itself  that  there  is 
need  of  the  proposed  institution  in  the 
locality  designated;  that  the  site  selected 
is  suitable  for  the  work  intended;  that  it 
would  not  be  likely  to  affect  unfavorably 
any  existing  institution ;  that  there  is  good 
prospect  of  its  adequate  support,  and  that 
its  property,  of  whatever  form,  is  not  un¬ 
duly  encumbered.” 

“The  General  Deaconess  Board  shall 
establish  a  standard  for  entrance  into 
training  schools,  provided  it  shall  be 
equivalent  to  a  high-school  course,  and 
shall  prescribe  the  Courses  of  Study  for 
Deaconesses.  It  shall  have  authority  to 
determine  and  settle  all  questions  arising 
between  institutions  and  individuals.  It 
shall  seek  to  promote  general  interest  in 
this  work,  approve  rules  for  the  govern¬ 
ment  of  both  institutions  and  deacon¬ 
esses,  prescribe  a  distinctive  garb  for 
deaconesses,  determine  the  minimum  al¬ 
lowance  for  active  deaconesses,  fix  amount 
of  pension  for  retired  deaconesses  and 
perform  such  other  service  as  the  work 
may  demand.”  1 


{  MILLIONS 


« 

/•< 

•7 

H 

MES  #< 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

_ • 

/ 

• 

/  y 

• 

« 

• 

• 

7 

r  ho 

jPITALS 

«r 

/ 

• 

- - 

TRAININ 

SCHOOLS 

OTHER 

SCHOOLS 

. 

••••••••••« 

. . 

. r 

1914  1915  1916  1917  1918  1919  1920  1921  1922 

Increase  in  number  of  deaconess  homes,  hospi¬ 
tals,  training  schools,  and  other  schools 
1914-1922 

II.  DISTINCTIVE  POSITION  NOW 
HELD  BY  THE  DEACONESS 
Annual  conference  membership.  —  The 
deaconess  has  a  distinctive  position  among 
the  women  workers  of  the  Methodist  Epis¬ 
copal  Church.  She  is  the  only  woman 
worker  who  has  membership  in  an  annual 
conference  body;  who  reports  to  and  has 
her  standing  approved  by  that  body ;  who 
is  appointed  to  her  work  by  the  presiding 
bishop;  who  is  consecrated  by  church 
authorization,  and  who,  when  no  longer 
able  to  continue  in  effective  service,  is 
granted  a  retired  relation  with  pension. 

Scope  of  deaconess  work. — Since  the 
days  of  the  Apostles  there  have  been 
women,  called  deaconesses,  who  have  given 
their  lives  to  the  service  of  the  church. 
The  deaconess  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church  is  the  direct  successor  of  the  de¬ 
voted  women  whose  names  are  recorded 
in  the  pages  of  the  New  Testament.  How¬ 
ever,  the  service  rendered  now  is  broader 
and  much  more  varied  than  was  that  of 
early  years.  The  Discipline  states  clearly 
the  wide  scope  of  the  work  of  a  deaconess. 


’Discipline,  1920,  If 491,  §§  1,  2,  3. 


DEACONESSES 


595 


Deaconesses  in  Hamburg,  Germany,  who  have  served  each  for 

twenty-five  years 


“A  deaconess  is  a  woman 
of  suitable  qualification 
who  has  been  led  by  the 
Holy  Spirit  to  devote 
herself  to  Christlike 
service  under  the  direc¬ 
tion  of  the  church . 

She  will  give  herself  to 
any  form  of  service  that 
will  further  the  kingdom 
of  God.”  1 

Her  distinctive  posi¬ 
tion. — What,  then,  differ¬ 
entiates  the  deaconess 
from  other  women  work¬ 
ers  within  the  church? 

Not  her  work,  since  she  may  do  any  work; 
not  her  dress,  since  the  wearing  of  the 
distinctive  garb  is  optional  with  “the  form 
of  administration  or  other  organization 
with  which  the  deaconess  serves” ;  not  her 
remuneration,  since  that  is  not  now  lim-. 
ited.  The  difference  is  in  her  relationship. 
She  is  a  member  of  the  Deaconess  Board 
of  an  annual  conference  and  thereby  a 
part  of  connectional  Methodism.  From 
this  relationship  she  can  be  removed  only 
by  resignation,  by  formal  trial,  or  by 
death. 


1890  1895  1900  1905  1910  1915  1920  1925 

Increase  in  number  of  deaconesses  in  the 
United  States,  1890-1922 


1  Discipline,  1920,  f[229,  §§1,  3. 


III.  THE  GROWTH  OF  THE 
DEACONESS  MOVEMENT 

The  Deaconess  Movement  in  the  Meth¬ 
odist  Episcopal  Church  dates  officially 
from  1888.  In  that  year  the  General  Con¬ 
ference  gave  it  recognition.  It  was  in 
1890  that  the  first  deaconess  license  in 
the  United  States  was  granted. 

1.  Growth  in  Personnel  in  the  United 
States 

In  1890  there  were  3  deaconesses. 

In  1901  there  were  318,  with  505  pro¬ 
bationers. 

In  1911  there  were  723,  with  179  pro¬ 
bationers.2 

In  1921  there  were  846,  with  88  pro¬ 
bationers. 

In  1922  there  were  881,  with  142  pro¬ 
bationers. 

In  Europe,  where  the  General  Deacon¬ 
ess  Board  has  general  supervision,  the 
movement  has  attained  great  strength. 
The  latest  information  from  Switzerland, 
Germany,  and  the  Scandinavian  countries 
shows  907  deaconesses  in  Europe. 

This  gives  a  grand  total  of  1,930  dea¬ 
conesses  and  probationers  in  the  United 
States  and  Europe,  which  indicates  an 


2  A  different  method  of  reckoning  probationers 
accounts  for  the  loss  during  this  decade.  In  the 
early  years  every  student  in  the  training  schools  was 
reported  as  a  probationer.  The  time  came  when  this 
custom  ceased  and  hence  the  decline  in  reported 
probationers. 


WORLD  SERVICE 


596 


$  MILLIONS 


Increase  in  deaconess  property  in  the  United 
States,  1894-1922 

average  annual  increase  of  55  since  the 
action  of  the  General  Conference  of  1888. 

2.  Growth  in  Property 

Growth  since  1894. — The  church  has 
gladly  placed  in  the  hands  of  the  deacon¬ 
esses  the  property  needed  to  carry  on 
their  work.  These  figures  show  remark¬ 
able  growth  in  the  institutions  that  have 
been  officially  recognized  as  deaconess  in¬ 
stitutions.  The  first  year  for  which  ac¬ 
curate  information  is  available  is  1894. 

In  1894  the  total  deaconess  property 
represented  a  value  of  $284,908. 

In  1902  the  property  and  endowment 
figures  had  gone  up  to  $1,898,992. 

In  1912  the  total  was  $4,682,343. 

In  1922  it  had  jumped  to  $12,767,050. 


This  growth  in  property  gives  an  an¬ 
nual  increase  since  1888  of  $375,501.  If 
this  increase  were  divided  into  the  period 
before  the  organization  of  the  present 
form  of  the  General  Deaconess  Board  and- 
the  period  since,  it  would  give  the  follow¬ 
ing:  Annual  increase  before  1912, 

$195,097 ;  annual  increase  since  1912, 
$808,470. 

These  figures  do  not  include  the  prop¬ 
erty  in  Europe.  The  fluctuating  money 
market  makes  any  calculation  unsatisfac¬ 
tory,  but  reliable  estimates  value  Euro¬ 
pean  property  at  $1,495,669.  These  fig¬ 
ures  are  conservative,  and  probably  should 
be  half  a  million  dollars  higher. 

The  total  of  deaconess  property  in  the 
United  States  and  in  Europe  is  approxi¬ 
mately  $14,259,719. 

IV.  PRESENT  STATUS  OF  THE 
DEACONESS  MOVEMENT 

New  impetus  in  1920. — Any  program 
for  the  Deaconess  Movement  within  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church  must  recog¬ 
nize  the  important  status  given  this  Move¬ 
ment  by  the  General  Conference  of  1920. 
Too  few  have  adequate  conception  of  the 
action  taken  at  that  time. 

The  present  status  of  the  deaconess  is 
set  forth  in  Chapter  Three  of  Part  IV  of 
the  Discipline,  1920,  If  229-240. 

The  present  status  of  the  deaconess  or¬ 
ganization  is  contained  in  Chapter  Four¬ 
teen  of  Part  VII  of  the  Discipline,  1920, 
11  491-499. 

These  portions  of  the  Discipline  call 
upon  the  deaconess  to  carry  on  “any  form 


Growth  of  Property  in  United  States  1913-22 


Book  Homes  Hospitals 

of 

1 1913 . $1,852,362X0  $3,408,167.00 

1914  .  2,095,224.00  2,829,660.00 

1915  .  2,344,507.00  2,523,675.00 

1916  .  3,364,410.00  1,906,965.00 

1917  .  5,745,733.00  2,723,875.00 

1918  .  4,367,585.00  2,994,222.00 

1919  .  4,209,970.00  3,301,648.00 

1920  . .  4,446,9  d3. 00  3,899,100.00 

1921  . .  5,111,639.00  4.522,217.00 

1922  .  5,427,411.00  5,966,654.00 


Training 

Other 

T  otal 

Schools 

Schools 

$588,332.00 

$148,000.00 

$5,393,340.00 

796,600.00 

150,717.00 

5,872,201.00 

893,349.00 

148,000.00 

5,909,531.00 

933,862.00 

216,194.00 

6,421,431.00 

641,715.00 

212,000.00 

7,323,323.00 

655,217.00 

253,119.00 

8,270,142.00 

646,717.00 

248.765.00 

8,407,100.00 

716,674.00 

258,000.00 

9,320,707.00 

694,274.00 

380,976.00 

10,709,106.00 

992,482.00 

380,603.00 

12,767,050.00 

lThe  figures  for  1913  are  confused,  and  contain  considerable  overlapping  in  the  various  items.  The  total, 
however,  is  correct. 


DEACONESSES 


597 


of  service  which  will 
further  the  kingdom  of 
God.” 

As  a  result  women  of 
the  highest  capabilities 
and  training  can  find 
within  the  Deaconess 
Movement  ample  scope  for 
their  consecrated  service. 

There  is  no  form  of  work 
open  to  women  within  the 
church  that  is  not  now 
open  to  the  deaconess. 

Types  of  work.  —  The 
Commission  on  Life  Serv¬ 
ice  has  recently  issued  lit¬ 
erature  showing  that  dea¬ 
conesses  are  now  required 
for  the  following  types  of  work : 

1.  Local  Church  Positions:  Pastor’s 
Assistant,  Church  Secretary,  Director  of 


Religious  Education,  Director  of  Social 
and  Recreational  Activities,  Missionary, 
Evangelistic,  Country  Church. 

2.  Social  Service  Positions:  Old  Peo¬ 
ple’s  Homes,  Rest  Homes,  Children’s 
Homes,  Orphanages,  Baby  Folds,  Dea¬ 
coness  Homes,  Business  Girls’  and 
Woman’s  Homes,  Fresh  Air  and  Vaca¬ 
tion  Homes,  Settlements,  Day  Nurseries, 
Immigrant  Work,  Hospitals,  Dispensa¬ 
ries,  District  Nursing. 

3.  Educational  Positions:  Grade 

Schools,  Secondary  Schools,  High  Schools, 


Cooking  class  in  a  deaconess  seminary 


598 


WORLD  SERVICE 


Colleges,  Universities,  Training  Schools, 
Industrial  Schools. 

4.  General  Positions:  Executive,  Edi¬ 
torial,  Administrative. 

Additions  are  bound  to  be  made  to  this 
list  as  new  positions  open  to  women  work¬ 
ers,  and  as  this  is  happening  constantly, 
the  Deaconess  Movement  is  manifestly 
just  at  the  beginning  of  a  period  of  great 
enlargement. 

V.  PROGRAM  OF  ADVANCE 

Distinct  fields  of  activity.— In  view  of 
the  ever-widening  field  of  deaconess  serv¬ 
ice  and  in  order  that  our  board  may  prop¬ 
erly  co-ordinate  its  work  with  that  of 
other  boards  of  the  church,  it  will  be  nec¬ 
essary  for  the  General  Deaconess  Board  to 
devote  itself  primarily  to  the  promotion 
of  such  activities  as  relate  to  the  advance¬ 
ment  of  the  Deaconess  Movement. 

The  task  placed  upon  the  General  Dea¬ 
coness  Board  is  a  large  one  and  in  order 
to  carry  it  out  adequately,  the  program 
divides  itself  into  five  distinct  fields  of 
activity. 

1.  To  disseminate  information  about 
the  widening  scope  of  the  Deaconess 
Movement  and  of  the  official  connectional 
relation  of  the  deaconess. 

2.  To  secure  deaconess  candidates  suf¬ 
ficient  in  number  and  of  such  quality  as  to 
meet  the  increasing  demand. 

3.  To  provide  for  these  candidates  the 
best  possible  preparation. 

4.  To  make  possible  proper  facilities 
for  those  in  need  of  rest  and  to  insure 


adequate  pension  for 
those  who  have  spent 
their  lives  in  this  service. 

5.  To  administer  ef¬ 
fectively  the  affairs  of  the 
board. 

In  addition  to  these  five 
it  is  the  duty  of  the  Gen¬ 
eral  Deaconess  Board  to 
bring  into  sympathetic  co¬ 
operation  the  deaconess 
work  of  the  entire  Meth¬ 
odist  Episcopal  Church. 

1.  Disseminating  Information 

An  information  service. — There  is  noth¬ 
ing  more  certain  than  that  the  day  of 
woman’s  work  in  the  church  is  here. 
Women  are  now  serving  world-wide 
church  organizations.  They  are  in  ex¬ 
ecutive  positions,  have  been  members  of 
general  conferences,  and  devote  them¬ 
selves  to  almost  every  form  of  Christian 
activity.  As  the  Deaconess  Movement  is 
a  connectional  movement  of  the  Church 
it  is  the  duty  of  the  General  Deaconess 
Board  to  formulate  for  the  information 
of  the  church  a  program  of  possible  dea¬ 
coness  service.  Such  a  program  will  de¬ 
mand  large  use  of  the  church  press,  will 
call  for  specially  adapted  printed  material 
and  will  necessitate  presentation  by  pic¬ 
tures  and  addresses. 

2.  Securing  Candidates 

Life  service  appeals. — As  knowledge  of 
the  Deaconess  Movement  becomes  wide¬ 
spread  and  new  enterprises  are  under¬ 
taken,  there  will  be  an  increasing  call  to 
the  gifted  daughters  of  the  church  and 
many  more  women  of  the  highest  type 
must  be  brought  into  this  form  of  service. 
Young  women  in  high  schools  and  colleges 
should  be  reached  with  such  attractive 
printed  material  as  will  arrest  attention. 
In  public  gatherings  and  in  private  con¬ 
versation  the  claims  of  this  work  should 
be  personally  presented. 

In  all  this  work  the  General  Deaconess 
Board  will  continue  to  co-operate  with  the 
Life  Service  Commission. 


DEACONESSES 


599 


3.  Training  Candidates 

Adequate  training  neces¬ 
sary. — No  part  of  a  pro¬ 
gram  of  advance  will  be 
of  greater  importance 
than  that  which  seeks  the 
proper  training  of  the 
women  workers  of  the 
church.  It  is  possible  to 
take  a  consecrated  young 
woman,  give  her  a  hurried 
coaching,  and  then  turn 
her  loose  on  some  church 
organization ;  but  it  is  not  possible  by  this 
method  to  secure  the  sterling  type  of  lead¬ 
ership  which  the  church  requires  in  this 
critical  period  of  expansion. 

As  the  majority  of  young  women  seek 
preparation  in  training  schools,  it  is  nec¬ 
essary  that  the  standards  of  instruction 
in  such  schools  be  brought  to  the  highest 
possible  level  and  that  regular  and  post¬ 
graduate  courses  meet  recognized  educa¬ 
tional  standards. 

Approved  courses  of  study.  —  The 
courses  of  study  in  the  following  train¬ 
ing  schools  have  been  approved  by  the 
General  Deaconess  Board:  Boston  Uni¬ 
versity  School  of  Religious  Education, 
Boston,  Massachusetts;  Chicago  Training 
School,  Chicago,  Illinois;  Missionary 
Training  School,  Cincinnati,  Ohio;  Dorcas 
Institute,  Cincinnati,  Ohio;  Iowa  National 
Training  School,  Des  Moines,  Iowa;  Folts 
Mission  Institute,  Herkimer,  New  York; 
Kansas  City  National  Training  School, 
Kansas  City,  Missouri;  D.  W.  Blakeslee 
Training  School,  New  Haven,  Connecti¬ 
cut;  San  Francisco  National  Training 
School,  San  Francisco,  California;  North¬ 
west  Training  School,  Seattle,  Washing¬ 
ton;  Lucy  Webb  Hayes  National  Training 
School,  Washington,  D.  C. 

It  is  advisable  to  make  scholarships 
available  for  a  limited  number  of  young 
women  of  unusual  promise,  by  means  of 
which  those  without  sufficient  funds  may 
be  encouraged  to  secure  adequate  train¬ 
ing. 

The  General  Deaconess  Board  will  co¬ 
operate  with  every  institution  which  may 


be  able  to  contribute  to  the  solution  of  this 
problem. 

4.  Providing  Rest  Homes  and  Pensions 

Permanent  pension  payments. — If  a  dea¬ 
coness  in  fulfilling  her  vow  is  broken  in 
body  by  the  strain  of  the  modern  church, 
it  should  be  the  joy  of  that  church  to 
provide  for  her  a  haven  of  rest  and  a 
house  of  healing.  Rest  homes  are  needed. 

The  claim  for  pension  is  recognized,  and 
the  General  Deaconess  Board  is  delegated 
to  pay  pensions  to  officially  retired  dea¬ 
conesses.  In  order  to  insure  permanency 
of  pension  payment  an  adequate  endow¬ 
ment  is  required.  This  endowment  should 
not  be  less  than  $500,000  and  continued 
effort  should  be  made  to  secure  that  sum. 
As  about  $70,000  only  is  in  hand,  the  pres¬ 
ent  pensions  are  paid  largely  from  the 
current  income  of  the  General  Deaconess 
Board. 

5.  Administering  the  Board 

Enlarged  work  of  board. — The  respon¬ 
sibility  for  carrying  out  the  advanced 
program  of  the  deaconess  work  belongs 
to  the  General  Deaconess  Board,  for  this 
board  has  “general  supervision  of  all 
deaconess  work  in  the  church  and  con¬ 
trol  of  all  the  deaconesses.” 

The  contribution  made  by  the  adminis¬ 
tration  of  such  a  board  to  the  progress 
of  the  church  cannot  be  tabulated,  but 
its  value  appears  in  a  healthier  atmos¬ 
phere,  in  higher  standards  of  preparation, 
in  broader  scope  of  work,  and  in  co-or¬ 
dination  of  effort  on  the  part  of  all  con¬ 
nected  with  the  Deaconess  Movement. 


■ 


. 

1  _ , 


\ 


NURSES,  BETHESDA  HOSPITAL,  CINCINNATI,  OHIO 


And  Jesus  went  about  all  Galilee  ....  healing  all 
manner  of  sickness  and  all  manner  of  disease  among 
the  people. 

Matthew  4:23 


If 


THE  BOARD  OF  HOSPITALS  AND  HOMES 

ANALYSIS  OF  STATEMENT 


I.  The  Missionary  Character  of 
Hospitals  and  Homes. 

II.  Board  of  Hospitals  and  Homes 

1.  Organization  and  purpose 

2.  The  function  of  the  board 

3.  Achievements  since  1920 

4.  Co-operative  relations 


III.  Method  and  Scope  of  Studies 

IV.  What  the  Survey  has  Revealed 

V.  What  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church  Must  do  for  its  Philan¬ 
thropic  Institutions  in  the  Next 
Ten  Years 


39 


601 


602 


WORLD  SERVICE 


I.  THE  MISSIONARY  CHARACTER 
OF  HOSPITALS  AND  HOMES 

The  Place  of  Philanthropy  in 
Methodism 

John  Wesley’s  practice.— The  preaching 
of  the  gospel  by  John  Wesley  was  accom¬ 
panied  by  a  practical  application  of  the 
healing  and  comforting  ministry  of  Jesus. 
Mr.  Wesley  gave  attention  to  the  needs 
of  the  sick  and  afflicted  in  the  jails  and 
alms  houses  and  established  dispensaries 
as  well  as  homes  for  children  and  aged 
women.  The  beginning  of  Methodism  was 
practical  because  it  was  spiritual  and  had 
world-wide  vision. 

Present-day  philanthropy.  —  Today  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church  in  the  United 
States  alone  operates  173  benevolent  in¬ 
stitutions,  representing  a  property  and 
endowment  value  of  $36,000,000. 

The  first  Methodist  Episcopal  Home  for 
Aged  was  established  in  1850  in  New 
York  City.  There  are  now  thirty-seven 
such  homes  in  the  United  States  where 
aged  men  and  women  are  spending  their 
sunset  days  in  comfort. 

The  first  Methodist  Episcopal  Home  for 
Children  was  founded  in  1864  at  Warren- 
ton,  Missouri,  and  has  been  followed  by 
forty-five  other  homes,  where  children 
have  the  best  of  care. 

The  first  Methodist  Episcopal  hospital 
opened  its  doors  in  1883  in  Brooklyn,  New 
York,  and  there  now  are  seventy-nine 
other  similar  institutions  in  the  United 
States,  giving  service  to  200,000  sick,  suf¬ 
fering,  and  needy  people.  There  are 
eleven  institutions  of  other  kinds,  such 
as  homes  for  working  girls,  homes  for 
working  young  men,  homes  for  delinquent 
girls,  homes  for  retired  ministers  and 
tuberculosis  sanitariums. 

The  healing  commission.  —  “Go,  preach 
and  heal,”  the  ideal  for  all  true  Christian 
activity,  is  still  written  high  on  the  far- 
flung  battle  flag  of  the  Christian  church 
and  wherever  the  message  is  preached  in 
foreign  or  home  field,  it  must  always 
be  accompanied  by  a  practical  ministry 
of  healing  and  comfort.  Bishop  James 
W.  Bashford,  laying  the  corner  stone  of 


the  Woman’s  Hospital  in  Peking,  China, 
is  a  true  Christian  statesman  preaching 
the  whole  gospel  to  the  whole  of  man. 
Likewise  our  bishops  dedicating  hospitals 
or  homes  in  the  United  States,  are  truly 
representing  the  missionary  spirit  of  the 
Christ,  for  the  physical  needs  are  always 
the  same,  irrespective  of  the  field  of  serv¬ 
ice. 

An  evangelizing  agency.  —  Every  year 
thousands  of  men  and  women  from  all 
stations  in  life  who  have  given  little 
thought  to  spiritual  things  find  Christ  as 
a  personal  Saviour  while  being  restored 
to  physical  health.  Hundreds  of  boys  and 
girls  come  to  our  children’s  homes  from 
homes  broken  up  by  death  or  other  rea¬ 
sons.  And  here  they  are  nurtured  and 
trained  under  the  care  of  those  who  give 
to  them  a  love  and  devotion  which  they 
could  not  get  elsewhere.  This  in  both  in¬ 
stances  is  a  real  missionary  service  ren¬ 
dered  in  an  hour  of  need. 

Modern  medical  service. — A  Methodist 
Episcopal  hospital  gives  more  than  medi¬ 
cal  and  surgical  service.  But  it  must  be 
remembered  that  it  does  give  this.  Each 
day  is  full  of  care  for  men  and  women 
suffering  with  pneumonia  and  heart  dis¬ 
ease,  with  goiter  and  nephritis,  with 
broken  legs  and  appendicitis,  with  mas¬ 
toiditis  and  tonsilitis,  for  new-born  babes 
and  their  mothers.  They  are  of  all  races, 
colors,  and  creeds.  The  first  Methodist 
Episcopal  hospital  took  for  its  slogan: 

“A  general  hospital  which  shall  be  open 
to  Jew  and  Gentile,  Protestant  and  Cath¬ 
olic,  heathen  and  infidel,  on  the  same 
terms.” 

The  dispensaries  in  connection  with  the 
hospitals  care  for  thousands  of  medical 
and  surgical  patients.  These  patients  pay 
a  small  amount,  in  most  cases  not  suffi¬ 
cient  to  pay  for  the  medicine  or  necessary 
medical  supplies.  Thousands  of  babies 
receive  care  through  the  Out-patient  De¬ 
partment.  This  all  demands  adequate 
plan  and  equipment,  food  and  medical 
supplies,  and  an  efficient  adminis¬ 
trative  and  medical  staff.  And  it  de¬ 
mands  of  its  staff,  executives,  surgeons, 
physicians,  and  nurses,  not  only  profes- 


PHILANTHROPY 


603 


Hospitals  and  Homes  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church 


sional  efficiency,  but  also 
Christian  character  and  a 
passion  for  service. 

The  church  and  public 
health.  —  The  church 
claiming  for  itself  a  fore¬ 
most  place  in  the  develop¬ 
ment  of  spiritual  life  and 
Christian  education,  must 
perforce  equally  recog¬ 
nize  its  obligation  in  the 
field  of  humanitarian  ef¬ 
fort  for  social  and  phys¬ 
ical  welfare.  To  neglect 
this  feature  will  event¬ 
ually  result  in  a  lopsided 
church  program  and  give 
to  others,  who  are  not 
Christian,  the  most  im¬ 
portant  places  of  leadership. 

A  Christian  home.— A  Methodist  Epis¬ 
copal  home  for  children  is  more  than  an 
orphanage.  It  is  a  home.  Here  the  lad 
or  girl  suddenly  thrust  out  into  the 
world  at  a  time  when  most  needing  the 
love  and  care  of  parents  finds  what  an 
“orphanage”  in  the  accepted  definition  of 
such  an  institution,  never  can  give. 
Clothes,  a  bed,  and  food  never  make  a 
home  for  children.  They  crave  parental 
love  and  care,  which,  from  Christian  men 
and  women,  they  receive  in  our  forty-five 
homes  for  children  scattered  from  Boston 
to  San  Francisco.  They  are  taught  home 
ways,  Christian  truth  and  right  habits 
and  are  prepared  for  the  day  when  old 
enough  to  tackle  life  on  their  own  footing, 
they  go  forth  to  carve  their  own  career. 
The  heartaches  comforted,  the  tragedies 
averted,  the  visions  opened  up,  are  not  to 
be  recorded  in  type.  They  are  written  in 
the  lives  of  those  who  are  advancing  the 
Kingdom  because  of  what  the  church  put 
into  their  lives  in  childhood’s  days. 

A  contented  old  age. — Old  age  must  ever 
be  lonely.  There  is  always  the  “last 
leaf,”  but  old  age  should  not  be  left  to  be 
hard  and  uncomfortable.  In  the  homes 
for  the  aged,  the  days  of  sunset  are  made 
as  bright  and  cheery  as  possible.  Here 
the  lonely  grandmother  with  children  and 


grandchildren  gone,  may  dream  in  peace 
of  the  days  of  ambition  and  hopes  and 
longings  and  live  in  memories  of  him  who 
was  her  sweetheart  and  companion  of  the 
many  years  as  she  daily  sees  with  greater 
vividness  the  outlines  of  the  shores  be¬ 
yond.  And  the  while  she  does  this,  the 
attentions  of  home  and  church  are  all  pro¬ 
vided  for  her,  loving  attendants  try  to 
bring  the  joy  that  the  thinning  ranks  of 
companions  took  away,  medical  care  is 
provided  in  the  hour  of  need  and  the 
going  home  is  made  beautiful  and  com¬ 
forting. 

Free  service  in  hospitals.  —  Under  this 
caption  is  included  the  actual  service 
which  is  rendered  by  a  hospital  or  home 
to  a  patient  or  a  guest  from  whom  no  pay 
can  be  expected.  There  are  thousands 
of  such  cases  brought  to  the  hospitals  each 
year.  There  are  people  from  all  classes 
and  conditions  who  live  far  below  the 
average  financial  income  determined  by 
the  government  as  a  necessary  basis  of 
maintaining  individual  or  home  life.  In 
many  cases  homes  have  been  broken  by 
death  or  other  conditions  leaving  one  or 
more  parties  at  the  mercy  of  charity  and 
friends.  These  people  are  taken  to  the 
hospitals  by  local  charitable  agencies, 
police,  pastors,  and  friends.  In  many  in¬ 
stances,  it  is  not  possible  to  secure  any 


604 


WORLD  SERVICE 


The  orphanage  is  more  than  an  orphanage: 
it  is  a  home 

money  with  which  to  pay  for  even  a  week 
of  service  in  the  hospital.  Even  when 
this  amount  is  provided  for,  the  patient 
sometimes  is  compelled  to  remain  in  the 
hospital  for  a  longer  period  and  thus  be¬ 
comes  a  charitable  patient. 

Part  pay  cases. — The  part  pay  cases  in 
the  hospital  arise  from  a  large  number  of 
people  who,  as  ward  patients,  are  unable 
to  pay  sufficient  rate  even  to  meet  the 
average  cost  per  patient  per  day  in  the 
hospital.  This  class  also  includes  a  large 
number  of  people  who  come  into  the  hos¬ 
pital  with  a  small  amount  of  money, 
which  is  all  that  they  have,  and  have  to 
depend  upon  the  hospital  for  the  balance 
of  the  service  rendered  to  them.  Occa¬ 
sionally,  these  people  are  dismissed  from 
the  hospital  with  the  expectation  that  they 
will  be  able  to  pay  the  hospital  the  bal¬ 
ance  of  the  bill,  but  after  a  period  of  time, 
find  that  this  is  an  impossibility.  The 
hospital  then  charges  this  to  part  pay 
service  and  it  is  thus  reported  at  the  end 
of  the  year. 

Free  service  in  children’s  homes. — The 
survey  reveals  the  fact  that  sixty  per  cent 
of  the  children  received  in  the  homes  for 
children  each  year  are  free  and  part  pay 
cases.  In  many  instances  the  children 
are  entire  orphans  or  the  parent  left  is 
in  such  poor  circumstances  that  no  money 


can  be  paid  for  the  upkeep  of  the  child,  in 
which  instance  the  service  is  designated 
as  entire  free  service.  On  the  other  hand, 
there  are  instances  wher  the  parent  will 
place  a  child  in  the  home  and  pay  a  small 
amount  for  its  maintenance  which  amount 
is  below  the  average  cost  for  a  child  a 
day,  so  that  the  home  must  assume  the 
balance  of  the  indebtedness  for  this  main¬ 
tenance  service. 

Free  service  in  homes  for  the  aged. — The 
survey  reveals  the  fact  that  sixty  per  cent 
of  the  people  received  in  the  homes  for  the 
aged  receive  free  or  part  pay  service.  The 
average  admission  fee  for  entrance  into 
a  home  for  aged  is  about  $400.00.  People 
are  not  received  until  they  are  sixty-five 
years  of  age.  The  average  age  at  the  time 
of  being  received  into  a  home  is  sixty- 
eight  years.  The  average  age  of  expect¬ 
ancy  of  life  for  these  people  is  ten  years, 
because  people  live  longer  in  homes  for 
the  aged  than  they  do  in  other  homes, 
owing  to  the  lack  of  worry  and  trouble  in 
taking  care  of  themselves  and  being  re¬ 
sponsible  for  their  maintenance,  as  well 
as  the  happy,  cheerful  conditions  which 
surround  them.  People  upon  entering  a 
home,  sign  a  contract  by  which  they  give 
over  to  the  home  their  possessions.  In 
most  cases  these  possessions  are  very  lim¬ 
ited.  In  the  old  established  homes  of  the 
church,  it  has  been  ascertained  that  there 
are  many  people  who  have  been  received 
on  the  basis  of  $300.00  and  have  lived 
from  fifteen  to  eighteen  years  without 
any  other  financial  gifts  to  the  home  than 
the  entrance  fee.  This  has  entailed  con¬ 
stant  expenditure  of  money  by  boards  of 
directors  for  their  maintenance.  The  es¬ 
tates  and  money  put  at  the  disposal  of 
the  boards  of  directors  by  people  coming 
into  the  homes  furnish  only  a  small  per 
cent  of  the  finances  necessary  to  main¬ 
tain  the  guests  over  a  period  of  years.  It 
will  thus  be  seen  that  the  homes  for  aged 
are  constantly  facing  a  losing  financial 
proposition  in  the  maintenance  of  their 
aged  guests.  There  are  a  few  guests  who 
are  able  to  pay  a  sufficient  sum  of  money 
to  keep  them  over  a  period  of  years  until 
their  death.  However,  the  survey  reveals 


PHILANTHROPY 


605 


the  fact  that  these  instances  are  very  rare. 

Summary  of  free  service.  —  The  total 
amount  of  free  and  part  pay  work 
for  1921  in  Methodist  Episcopal  philan¬ 
thropic  institutions  totalled  $1,695,104, 
while  the  total  amount  of  disbursements 
for  all  hospitals  and  homes  mainte¬ 
nance  and  service  was  $7,974,979;  thus 
showing  that  twenty-five  per  cent  of 
all  money  disbursed  for  maintenance  of 
hospitals  and  homes  was  given  for  free  or 
part  pay  service. 

The  Board  of  Hospitals  and  Homes 
must  also  place  before  the  churches  the 
needs  of  national  institutions  such  as  the 
National  Sanitarium  for  Tuberculosis,  a 
National  Home  for  Retired  Ministers  in 
favorable  climes,  and  a  National  Home 
for  Incurables.  These  institutions  must 
be  fostered  by  the  Board  of  Hospitals  and 
Homes  and  the  board  should  receive  suf¬ 
ficient  benevolent  funds  to  promote  and 
maintain  them  properly  for  the  sake  of 
the  whole  church  and  its  constituency. 

II.  BOARD  OF  HOSPITALS  AND 
HOMES 

1.  Organization  and  Purpose 

Disciplinary  provisions.  —  Recognizing 
its  responsibility  in  this  matter,  the  Meth¬ 
odist  Episcopal  Church,  through  the  Gen¬ 
eral  Conference  in  1920,  created  the 
Board  of  Hospitals  and  Homes.  It  is  a 
benevolent  board  of  the  church  in  the 
same  manner  as  the  other  benevolent 
boards.  “For  the  promotion  and  general 
supervision  of  an  advisory  character  for 
all  hospitals,  homes,  or  other  organizations 
and  institutions  for  the  care  of  the  sick, 
incurables,  and  other  dependents,  there 
shall  be  a  board  known  as  the  Board  of 
Hospitals  and  Homes,  incorporated  ac¬ 
cording  to  law  and  subject  to  the  control 
of  the  General  Conference.”  1 

Affiliation. — “All  institutions  or  organi¬ 
zations  seeking  to  affiliate  with  this  board 
must  have  the  indorsement  of  the  Annual 
Conference  within  whose  bounds  they  are 
located.  Institutions  or  organizations  of 

1  Discipline,  1920,  IfSOO,  §1, 


similar  character  operating  under  other 
boards  seeking  affiliation  with  this  board 
must  secure  the  consent  of  their  board, 
the  recommendation  of  the  Annual  Con¬ 
ference  within  whose  bounds  they  operate 
and  the  approval  of  this  board.”  2 

Activities. — “This  board  shall  sustain  an 
advisory  relation  to,  but  shall  not  provide 
direct  supervision  over  institutions  or  or¬ 
ganizations  within  its  jurisdiction  except 
when  specifically  requested.” 

“It  may  make  surveys,  disseminate  in¬ 
formation,  suggest  plans  for  securing 
funds,  maintain  a  bureau  for  the  purpose 
of  securing  experts  in  all  lines  of  work, 
provide  architectural  data,  and  render  as¬ 
sistance  in  the  promotion  and  establish¬ 
ment  of  new  institutions.  It  shall  en¬ 
courage  and  assist  all  institutions  within 
its  jurisdiction  in  attaining  the  highest 
possible  standards.  This  board  may  ad¬ 
minister  any  and  all  funds- vested  in  it  for 
general  or  specific  purposes  and  shall  have 
power  in  co-operation  with  the  other  be¬ 
nevolent  boards,  and  in  the  same  manner, 
to  secure  special  funds  to  carry  out  and 
execute  its  purposes.”  3 

2.  The  Function  of  the  Board 
It  will  thus  be  seen  that  it  is  the  func¬ 
tion  of  the  Board  of  Hospitals  and  Homes 


2  Discipline,  1920,  f|501,  §2. 

3  Discipline,  1920,  f|505,  §1,  2. 


A  happy  old  age  guaranteed  by  the  Old 
People’s  Home 


606 


WORLD  SERVICE 


to  assist  the  local  hospitals  and  homes  in 
every  department  of  their  work.  There  has 
not  been  enough  local  initiative  to  put  the 
whole  program  on  the  map.  This  has 
been  and  must  continue  to  be  supplied  by 
the  Board  of  Hospitals  and  Homes.  The 
following  instances  will  illustrate  the  spe¬ 
cific  types  of  work  that  the  Board  of  Hos¬ 
pitals  and  Homes  does  for  a  local  institu¬ 
tion  : 

a.  For  a  children’s  home. — A  children’s 
home  within  the  bounds  of  a  confer¬ 
ence  had  not  set  up  its  organization 
in  the  Annual  Conference.  The  Board  of 
Hospitals  and  Homes,  with  its  Depart¬ 
ment  of  Survey  and  Standardization,  sent 
its  representative  to  this  home.  The  rep¬ 
resentative  went  over  all  of  the  details 
of  the  organization  very  carefully  and 
advised  a  new  form  of  organization  for 
the  local  board  through  the  Annual  Con¬ 
ference.  This  organization  was  put  into 
effect  at  the  next  session  of  the  Annual 
Conference.  Conference  endowment  was 
secured  for  the  set-up  of  the  American 
White  Cross  and  through  its  department 
of  publicity  this  plan  was  fully  carried 
into  effect  in  the  local  churches.  A  large 
amount  of  money  was  secured  for  the  care 
of  the  children  in  the  home  as  well  as 
a  fund  for  the  building  of  a  new  home. 
The  Board  of  Hospitals  and  Homes 
through  its  department  of  architec¬ 
ture  furnished  a  competent  counsellor, 
who  laid  out  the  plans  for  the  new  home 
and  gave  specific  direction  to  the  local 
architects  in  the  completion  of  plans  for 
the  new  structure.  The  board  has  kept 
in  definite  touch  with  this  organization, 
which  has  prospered  through  the  year. 

b.  For  a  new  hospital. — The  Board  of 
Hospitals  and  Homes  was  requested  to  lay 
out  through  its  Department  of  Survey  and 
Standardization,  the  complete  plans,  for  a 
new  Methodist  hospital  in  a  conference. 
The  representative  met  the  Annual  Con¬ 
ference  Board  and  through  it  organized 
a  local  board  of  directors  and  all  of  the 
working  departments  of  the  hospital. 

Through  its  Department  of  Publicity 
and  Finance,  a  representative  of  the  board 


counselled  with  the  local  board  of  direc¬ 
tors  in  setting  up  the  publicity  and  cam¬ 
paign  plans  for  securing  funds.  Through 
the  Department  of  Architecture,  the  plot 
and  building  plans  were  laid  out  and 
proper  architectural  services  secured  for 
the  new  hospital.  The  board  has  kept  in 
continuous  touch  with  this  new  develop¬ 
ment.  The  hospital  has  been  opened  for 
one  year  and  has  prospered  financially 
and  has  done  a  fine  piece  of  community 
work. 

c.  For  homes  for  aged. — The  Board  of 
Hospitals  and  Homes  was  asked  to  take 
up  the  development  of  a  home  for  aged. 
The  same  procedure  as  that  indicated  for 
the  home  for  children  and  the  hospital 
was  carried  out  and  the  new  home  is  under 
construction  at  the  present  time. 

3.  Achievements  Since  1920 

Since  the  organization  of  the  Board  of 
Hospitals  and  Homes  by  the  General  Con¬ 
ference  in  1920,  the  tasks  committed  to 
the  board  have  been  undertaken  vigor¬ 
ously.  It  is  impossible  to  state  in  such 
brief  form  the  total  program  that  has  been 
put  into  effect. 

a.  Conference  organization. — Since  1920, 
Conference  Boards  of  Hospitals  and 
Homes  have  been  organized  in  most  of  the 
Annual  Conferences  in  the  United  States. 
The  function  of  the  local  board  in  the  An¬ 
nual  Conference  is  to  give  consideration 
to  all  hospital  and  home  interests  within 
the  bounds  of  conference.  All  new  hospi¬ 
tal  and  home  projects  must  have  consid¬ 
eration  by  the  local  board  and  presenta¬ 
tion  of  these  interests  to  the  Annual 
Conference  for  vote  before  a  new  hospital 
or  home  can  be  established  or  financial  pro¬ 
grams  of  any  character  put  into  effect. 
This  organization  is  a  definite  channel 
through  which  the  local  institutions  can 
present  their  matters  to  the  Annual  Con¬ 
ference.  The  committees  which  previ¬ 
ously  handled  the  affairs  of  the  local  insti¬ 
tutions,  have  now  been  merged  into  one 
Annual  Conference  board,  making  a  much 
more  unified  supervision  of  the  entire 
philanthropic  program  of  the  conference. 


PHILANTHROPY 


607 


Cooking  class  in  a  Methodist  school  which  exists  simply  for  girls 
who  need  another  chance 


b.  Local  boards  of  directors. — Many  local 
boards  of  directors  have  requested  re¬ 
organization  of  their  hospitals  or  homes 
in  order  to  conform  to  the  new  General 
Conference  legislation.  Many  hospitals 
and  homes  which  did  not  have  the  trust 
clause  in  their  deeds,  have  had  the  arti¬ 
cles  of  incorporation  and  constitution 
changed,  so  that  practically  two-thirds  of 
the  hospitals  and  homes  are  now  held  in 
trust  for  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church. 
In  some  instances,  boards  of  directors 
have  been  entirely  reorganized,  so  that 
the  board  is  now  elected  by  the  Annual 
Conference  instead  of  being  a  self-perpet¬ 
uating  body.  Many  of  the  older  hospi¬ 
tals  and  homes  have  been  reorganized  in 
their  departments  of  management,  finance 
and  methods  of  operation,  thus  strength¬ 
ening  local  institutions  and  giving  per¬ 
manence  to  their  work. 

c.  New  Boards  of  Directors. — The  board 
has  adopted  standardized  articles  of  in¬ 
corporation,  constitution  and  by-lawj  for 
all  new  hospitals  and  homes.  This  new 
form  of  organization  requires  that  all 
hospitals  and  homes  must  be  organized 
under  the  auspices  of  the  Annual  Confer¬ 
ence  within  whose  bounds  they  are  located 
and  in  all  instances  a  majority  of  the 
membership  of  the  board  of  directors 
must  be  members  of  the  Methodist  Epis¬ 
copal  Church,  thus  insuring  the  interest 
of  the  Annual  Conference  in  the  affairs 
of  the  hospital  or  home.  It  is  only  in  this 
way  that  we  can  insure  permanent  organ¬ 


izations  and  expect  a  con¬ 
tinued  support  of  the 
churches  in  the  Annual 
Conference. 

d.  Reorganized  institu¬ 
tions.  —  Several  hospitals 
and  homes  which  have 
been  merely  local  in  their 
organizati  n  and  admin¬ 
istration,  have  been  reor¬ 
ganized  and  placed  under 
the  direct  auspices  of  the 
Annual  Conference  and  in 
several  instances,  under  a 
combined  board  repre¬ 
senting  one  or  more  An¬ 
nual  Conferences.  This  has  greatly 
strengthened  the  local  hospital  or  home. 

e.  Standardization  of  hospitals  and 
homes. — Previous  to  the  organization  of 
the  Board  of  Hospitals  and  Homes,  there 
had  been  no  definite  standards  by  which 
hospitals  and  homes  were  to  operate  ex¬ 
cept  in  the  case  of  hospitals  having  the 
minimum  standard  adopted  by  the  Ameri¬ 
can  College  of  Surgeons.  The  board  has 
now  adopted  definite  standards  for  the 
hospitals,  homes  for  aged,  and  homes  for 
children  and  in  so  doing,  set  up  a  goal  to 
be  reached  by  each  local  institution.  Dur¬ 
ing  the  past  two  years,  eighteen  hospitals 
have  reached  the  standards  which  have 
been  adopted  by  the  Board  of  Hospitals 
and  Homes  and  the  American  College  of 
Surgeons,  thus  making  a  total  of  twenty- 
five  hospitals  which  have  reached  a  high 
standard  in  the  medical  and  surgical  pro¬ 
fession.  The  Board  of  Hospitals  and 
Homes  will  continue  its  efforts  to  have 
each  hospital  standardized  in  all  its  lines 
of  work.  We  should  be  100  per  cent 
standard.  All  of  the  homes  for  children 
have  now  met  the  requirements  of  the 
state  within  whose  bounds  they  are  lo¬ 
cated,  relative  to  sanitation,  educational 
qualifications,  and  other  items  that  relate 
to  the  welfare  of  orphans.  Most  of  the 
homes  have  met  the  standards  adopted  by 
the  board  in  relation  to  organization  and 
policy  and  will  all  be  rated  A1  in  due  time. 

Many  changes  have  been  made  in  the 
operation  of  the  homes  for  aged,  in  order 


608 


WORLD  SERVICE 


that  they  will  also  meet  the  classification 
of  A1  homes.  These  standards  relate, 
mainly  to  health,  food,  and  the  general 
conditions  of  home  life  that  should  char¬ 
acterize  a  home  in  which  aged  people  are 
to  live  the  balance  of  their  days. 

Thus  the  item  of  standards  in  relation 
to  the  various  types  of  institutions  have 
been  very  carefully  studied  and  marked 
progress  has  been  made  by  all  of  our  phil¬ 
anthropic  institutions.  This  in  itself  is 
worth  all  of  the  work  and  service  which 
the  board  has  given  to  the  hospitals  and 
homes  during  the  past  two  years. 

f.  Publicity.  —  The  Board  of  Hospitals 
and  Homes,  through  its  Department  of 
Publicity,  has  brought  to  the  local  hospi¬ 
tals  and  homes  a  great  inspiration  in  the 
character  and  set-up  of  new  publicity. 
The  director  of  publicity  has  prepared 
booklets  illustrative  of  hospital  and  home 
work.  The  White  Cross  publicity  which 
has  been  used  throughout  the  church,  has 
been  a  great  inspiration  in  setting  forth 
the  needs  of  the  hospitals  and  homes. 
First-class  publicity  is  absolutely  essen¬ 
tial  if  the  church  is  to  be  educated  along 
the  lines  of  philanthropic  service. 

g.  New  vision. — The  Board  of  Hospi¬ 
tals  and  Homes  has  given  to  the  local  in¬ 
stitutions  a  new  vision  of  their  rela¬ 
tionship  to  the  church  at  large  and  also 
a  consciousness  of  their  place  in  the  en¬ 
tire  church  program.  Through  special 
meetings  and  conferences,  a  spirit  of  co¬ 
operation  has  been  developed  and  real 
team  work  is  being  done  by  our  local 
institutions.  New  courage  has  been  given 
to  many  boards  of  directors,  which  have 
been  on  the  verge  of  financial  embarrass¬ 
ment.  The  local  superintendent  and  offi¬ 
cials  have  taken  new  heart,  as  they  really 
find  the  church  at  large  interested  in 
their  local  projects. 

h.  Architectural  supervision.  —  The 
Board  of  Hospitals  and  Homes  has  set 
itself  to  the  task  of  working  out  a  definite 
plan  through  which  better  hospitals  and 
homes  will  be  constructed  and  the  most 
efficient  architectural  service  rendered  to 
the  local  institutions  in  their  new  building 


programs.  Many  hospitals  and  homes 
have  been  located  through  the  services  of 
the  Department  of  Survey  of  the  board. 
Information  has  been  given  relative  to 
building,  equipment  and  furnishings. 
Architectural  plans  have  saved  the  hos¬ 
pitals  and  homes  large  sums  of  money, 
and  given  a  better  type  of  structure  than 
heretofore.  Thirty-two  hospitals  and 
homes  have  received  direct  service  through 
this  department. 

i.  Finance. — Through  the  finance  de¬ 
partment,  the  board  has  given  special  at¬ 
tention  to  the  financial  problems  of  many 
local  institutions.  Financial  campaigns 
have  been  promoted  with  the  very  best  of 
campaign  publicity  and  leadership.  Dur¬ 
ing  the  past  two  years,  over  $800,000  has 
been  raised  through  the  organization 
known  as  the  American  White  Cross.  All 
of  this  money  has  been  used  for  mainte¬ 
nance,  building,  and  endowment.  New 
bookkeeping  systems  have  been  estab¬ 
lished  in  many  hospitals  and  homes,  thus 
adding  to  the  efficiency  of  the  administra¬ 
tive  work  in  the  institution  and  making  it 
possible  for  accurate  reports  to  be  sub¬ 
mitted  to  the  boards  of  directors  each 
month.  Many  hospitals  and  homes  have 
had  careful  consideration  by  the  depart¬ 
ment  of  survey  in  relation  to  their  ex¬ 
penditures  and  the  possibility  of  increas¬ 
ing  the  efficiency  of  their  service  through 
the  better  handling  of  their  finances  and 
the  expenditure  of  their  money. 

j.  Child  welfare.  —  Special  emphasis 
has  been  placed  upon  the  necessity  of  re¬ 
lating  the  interests  of  children’s  homes  to 
the  communities  along  the  line  of  child 
welfare.  This  program  has  been  put  into 
effect  in  many  communities  and  will  be 
promoted  as  money  is  available  for  special 
workers. 

k.  New  institutions  and  general  de¬ 
velopment. — It  will  be  impossible  to  make 
an  adequate  statement  covering  the  physi¬ 
cal  development  of  the  hospitals  and 
homes  throughout  the  past  two  years.  The 
board  set  definite  goals  for  its  service  at 
the  outset  and  has  met  them  in  a  very 
gratifying  manner. 


PHILANTHROPY 


609 


This  board  works  for  child  welfare.  Children 
from  one  of  its  homes  playing  in  the  sand-box 


A  summary  of  the  new  institutions  fol¬ 
lows  : 

Hospitals 

Number  of  new  hospitals  established....  20 

Value  of  new  hospital  buildings . $  796,000 

Number  of  old  organizations  erecting 

new  buildings  .  28 

Value  of  new  buildings  erected— *. . $2,875,000 

Money  raised  in  campaigns  and  by  spe¬ 
cial  gifts  for  old  and  new  hospital 
buildings  and  endowment . $4,789,000 

Homes  for  Children 

Number  of  new  homes  for  children .  4 

Value  of  new  buildings  . $  75,000 

Number  of  old  organizations  erecting 

new  buildings  . 9 

Value  of  new  buildings  erected . $  471,000 

Amount  raised  in  campaigns  and  by 
special  gifts  . . . $  227,300 

Homes  for  Aged 

Number  of  new  homes  for  aged .  1 

Number  of  old  organizations  erecting 

new  buildings  .  11 

Value  of  new  buildings  erected . „ .  476,000 

Amount  raised  in  campaigns  . $  200,000 

Other  Institutions 

Number  of  new  organizations .  5 

Value  of  prope  ty  — . . $  105,000 

Number  of  old  organizations  erecting 

new  buildings  .  1 

Value  of  new  buildings  erected . $  25,000 

Summary 

Number  of  new  organizations  .  30 

Value  of  new  property . $1,452,000 

Number  of  old  organizations  erecting 

new  buildings  . 49 

Value  of  new  buildings  erected . $3,850,000 

Total  value  of  new  buildings . $5,302,000 


Total  amount  raised  in  campaigns  and  by 
special  gifts  . $5,216,300 


Total  number  of  new  projects  considered  by 
the  Board  of  Hospitals  and  Homes, 
many  of  which  are  now  under  further 
consideration  by  the  annual  conferences 
and  local  boards  of  directors  .  37 

It  will  thus  be  seen  that  the  philan¬ 
thropic  interests  of  the  church  have  gone 
forward  very  rapidly  during  the  past 
two  years.  This  has  been  done  without 
any  special  embarrassment  to  the  gen¬ 
eral  finances  of  the  church  and  in  many 
instances  the  church  has  hardly  known 
that  large  sums  of  money  have  been  con¬ 
tributed  to  the  various  local  enterprises. 
The  sum  total  of  the  whole  program 
should  be  very  gratifying  to  the  church  at 
large. 

4.  Relation  of  Board  of  Hospitals 
and  Homes  to  Other  Boards  Carry¬ 
ing  on  Philanthropic  work 

Affiliations  of  institutions. — All  of  the 
institutions  affiliated  with  the  Board  of 
Hospitals  and  Homes  are  organized  and 
operated  either  as  annual  conference  in¬ 
stitutions  or  under  the  Woman’s  Home 
Missionary  Society,  the  Board  of  Educa¬ 
tion  for  Negroes,  or  the  Deaconess  As¬ 
sociation  of  the  annual  conference.  All 
these  institutions  have  the  recommenda¬ 
tion  of  the  annual  conference  within 
whose  bounds  they  are  located.  Some 
hospitals  and  homes  of  the  Woman’s 
Home  Missionary  Society  or  the  Deacon¬ 
ess  Associations  are  the  only  institutions 
within  the  bounds  of  the  annual  confer¬ 
ence  and  have  combined  boards  represent¬ 
ing  the  annual  conference  and  the  society 
under  whose  auspices  they  operate. 

All  of  the  eleven  hospitals  and  dispen¬ 
saries  of  the  Woman’s  Home  Missionary 
Society  are  serving  annual  conferences 
within  whose  bounds  there  are  no  regular 
conference  institutions  serving  the  same 
territory.  Four  of  these  are  distinctly 
missionary  hospitals  and  can  only  exist  by 
missionary  aid.  They  are  located  at 
Nome,  Alaska;  Jacksonville,  Florida; 
Rapid  City,  South  Dakota;  and  Albuquer¬ 
que,  New  Mexico. 

The  hospitals  operating  under  Deacon¬ 
ess  Associations  as  in  the  Montana  and 
North  Montana  Conferences,  are  entirely 


610 


WORLD  SERVICE 


STATISTICAL  SUMMARY  OF  PHILANTHROPIC  INSTITUTIONS 


Ul 

0) 


INSTITUTIONS 


a 

o 

s 

'O 

c 

tS 


m 

c'S 
C  m 
3  o 


a m 

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a« 

I* 


'd 

o> 

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u 

U1 


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,Q  a) 

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$  3^ 
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£: 

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3  > 


«  £ 
t>  W 


^  TO 

0&H  g 

«  .a 

2?,Z 

C  0J  C) 


1  Hospitals  . 

2.  Homes  for  Aged . 

3.  Homes  for  Children 

4.  Other  Institutions  .. 

Totals  . 


so 

6,646 

67 

7,590 

220,076 

$  667,123 

38 

1,936 

42 

4,344 

1,652 

339,580 

44 

2,670 

40 

3,906 

3,281 

348,224 

11 

349 

10 

231 

840 

16,900 

.173 

11,601 

. 

16,071 

225,849 

$1,371,827 

$376, GSG 
16,100 
84,401 
6,090 


$483,277 


Difference  between  total  free  and  part  pay  service  and  amount  contributed  by  churches . 


'C  a 

<y  r— i 

■i  oi 

<U  <D 

y  y 
•w£! 

CO 

I* 2 3 4 5 

Eg 


$469,290 

192,402 

320,893 

5,092 


$987,677 

....$867,427 


dependent  upon  local  conference  financial 
assistance  for  all  free  and  part  pay  work. 
The  General  Deaconess  Board  of  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church  does  not 
furnish  funds  with  which  to  pay  these  de¬ 
ficiencies  in  income.  The  same  statement 
is  true  of  the  homes  for  children  and  aged 
and  other  philanthropic  institutions. 
Each  serves  in  a  particular  way  the  con¬ 
stituency  wherein  it  is  located.  There  is 
practically  no  overlapping  of  institutions 
located  within  the  same  territory. 

There  are  several  hospitals  and  homes 
located  in  the  same  city  that  serve  con¬ 
ferences  of  different  languages  and  races, 
but  each  has  its  own  constituency,  for  in¬ 
stance  in  Chicago  there  are  both  the  Swe¬ 
dish  Home  for  Aged  and  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Old  People’s  Home  for  English- 
speaking  people. 

A  clear  field. — It  is  the  policy  of  the 
Board  of  Hospitals  and  Homes  not  to 
overlap  the  functions  of  other  boards.  Its 
program  as  outlined  in  the  legislation  is 
clear  and  permits  it,  through  various  de¬ 
partments  of  work,  to  give  assistance  to 
all  of  the  various  kinds  of  institutions  and 
different  types  of  work. 

The  Board  of  Hospitals  and  Homes  gives 
advisory  supervision  to  all  hospitals  and 
homes  which  affiliate  with  it  through  the 
provision  made  in  its  charter  given  by 
the  General  Conference.  In  doing  so 
through  its  various  departments,  the 
Board  of  Hospitals  and  Homes  performs 
a  service  in  standardization,  publicity, 


finance  and  architecture  that  is  not  given 
by  the  other  boards  of  the  church. 

III.  THE  METHOD  AND  SCOPE 
OF  THESE  STUDIES 

Scope  of  survey. — The  method  of  sur¬ 
vey  was  a  detailed  study  by  a  board  rep¬ 
resentative  of  every  hospital  and  home. 
The  studies  covered  a  period  of  four 
years  for  the  hospitals  and  three  years 
for  the  homes  for  aged  and  children  and 
other  types  of  institutions.  Other  data 
were  secured  from  annual  reports  and  the 
records  of  superintendents  and  boards 
of  managers. 

Special  attention  was  given  to  the 
study  of  the  work  done  by  the  hospitals 
and  homes  in  behalf  of  the  poor  and  needy, 
which  is  classed  under  free  or  part  pay 
service  cases.  The  statement  of  this  work 
appears  on  pages  603-4. 

In  the  study  of  the  homes  for  the  aged, 
an  attempt  has  been  made  to  secure  data 
on  the  amount  of  part  pay  service 
rendered  to  those  guests  who  have  been 
accepted  on  the  basis  of  a  small  pay¬ 
ment,  which  if  invested  at  six  per  cent 
interest,  would  provide  for  only  a  small 
amount  of  the  service  rendered  over  the 
period  of  the  guest’s  stay  in  the  home; 
also  a  study  of  the  free  service  accorded 
guests  who  pay  no  entrance  fee. 

A  study  of  financial  methods.— Carefully 
prepared  questionnaires  have  been  sent 
out  to  all  the  hospitals  and  homes  under 
Methodist  Episcopal  supervision.  The  ob- 


PHILANTHROPY 


611 


STATISTICAL  SUMMARY  OF  PHILANTHROPIC  INSTITUTIONS 


INSTITUTIONS 


c.  «t 
v  g 

o  Z 

<v  p 

«-S 

|ss 

H  <4-f  r-4 


C 

0) 

£  g 
w  5 

t-  Cj 

3  C 

•2  c 


'  o 


1.  Hospitals  . $G, 518, 075 

2.  Homes  for  Aged . -  603,807 

3.  Homes  for  Children..  690,212 

4.  Other  Institutions  -  61,044 


$6,599,658 

596,037 

722,403 

56,878 


C  m 
3.t2 
O  y 

£<e 

£ 

75  ~ 

•*-*  73 
O  OJ 

hU 


Totals  . $7,873,138  $7,974,976 

Total  amount  of  general  debts . . 


cj  U 
w  cj 

§11® 
oZ  cj." 

5  o>  ®  £ 

x. 

<a  . 

"  V  U.  2 
O  c  o  ^ 


$325,516 

44,874 

61,100 

6,200 

$427,690 


O  p 

V-  ._x 

c 

o 

c 

3 

'O  5 

0 

01 CQ 

'O 

c 

K 

^  >» 

O  4_» 
u 

2  u 

c.2  d 

0)  <D 

3  W  O) 

3 

3  a 

O 

cj  E 

K**  Cu 

< 

e 

o> 

£  ® 
S  d 
o  a> 

"O  [x 
|o 


2TJ 

O  O 
x  a) 
C  <u 
<2 


$  953,000  $19,529,712  $27,938,373  $3,916,130  $40,475,000 

292,500  4,136,801  1,514,000  2,884,168  10,000,000 

317,000  3,456,593  1,755,000  1,929,641  10,000*000 

30,500  228,000  350,000  None  1,100,000 


$1,593,000  $27,351,106  $31,557,373  $8,729,939  $61,575,000 
. . . $3,265,407 


ject  of  the  survey  has  been  to  ascertain 
the  methods  by  which  the  hospitals  and 
homes  have  been  financed  and  the 
amount  of  free  or  part  pay  service  that 
is  being  rendered  to  needy  people.  Other 
items  relate  to  the  churches  giving 
financial  assistance  to  hospitals  and 
homes  and  building  endowment  funds. 
An  attempt  has  also  been  made  to  ascer¬ 
tain  what  the  philanthropic  program  of 
the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  should 
be  for  the  next  ten  years. 

The  survey  has  revealed  the  fact  that 
the  method  of  financing  the  various  in¬ 
stitutions  is  thoroughly  inadequate  and 
subjects  the  hospitals  and  homes  to 
every  possible  expedient  to  secure  funds. 
Moreover,  it  reveals  the  fact  that  many 
of  our  institutions  are  in  financial  jeopardy 
which  threatens  their  very  existence  and 
the  welfare  of  those  entrusted  to  their  care. 

No  survey,  however  thorough,  can 
fully  reveal  all  the  needs  of  a  hospital 
or  home.  But  it  does  serve  to  indicate 
present  needs  and  future  lines  of  ad¬ 
vance. 

IV.  WHAT  THE  SURVEY  HAS 
REVEALED 

(Explanation  of  Statistical  Table — 
Pages  610-611) 

a.  Concerning  the  hospitals 

The  survey  thus  shows  that  of  the  total 
number  of  patients  220,076,  treated  in 
the  hospitals  in  1921,  sixteen  per  cent 


received  free  or  part  pay  service  amount¬ 
ing  to  $1,043,809.  Toward  paying  this 
amount,  7,590  churches  gave  $469,290 
leaving  a  deficit  of  $574,519  to  be  raised 
by  any  kind  of  methods  found  possible  in 
the  local  communities,  such  as  fairs,  ba¬ 
zaars,  suppers,  tag  days,  entertainments, 
and  other  uncertain  methods  of  finance. 

A  few  hospitals  give  as  much  as  fifty 
per  cent  free  and  part  pay  service. 
There  should  be  at  least  thirty  per  cent 
free  and  part  pay  service  given  by  each 
hospital.  This,  however,  can  only  be  made 
possible  through  more  generous  support 
by  the  churches.  Less  than  one  fourth 
of  the  charges  in  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church  make  any  contribution  to  the  hos¬ 
pitals  at  the  present  time. 

The  general  church  must  be  responsible 
for  a  larger  proportion  of  the  needy  peo¬ 
ple  than  it  has  been  heretofore. 

b.  Concerning  the  homes  for  aged 

The  survey  shows  that  of  the  total  num¬ 
ber  of  guests,  1,652  in  the  homes  for  aged 
in  1920-1921,  sixty  per  cent  received  free 
or  part  pay  service  amounting  to  $355,680. 

Toward  paying  this  amount,  4,344 
churches  gave  $192,402,  leaving  a  deficit 
of  $163,278  to  be  raised  by  such  other 
methods  as  may  be  devised. 

The  sixty  per  cent  of  free  and  part  pay 
service  given  by  the  homes  for  the  aged  is 
in  about  the  right  proportion  to  the  needs 
as  represented  by  the  present  bed  capac¬ 
ity.  However,  there  are  hundreds  of  aged 


612 


WORLD  SERVICE 


people  who  should  have  the  tender  care 
of  the  church.  Many  of  these  are  in 
homes  under  other  denominations  or  in 
county  homes. 

c.  Concerning  the  homes  for  children 

The  survey  shows  that  of  the  total 

number  of  guests,  3,281,  in  the  homes  for 
children  in  1920-1921,  sixty  per  cent  re¬ 
ceived  free  or  part  pay  service  amounting 
to  $432,625. 

Toward  paying  this  amount  3,906 
churches  gave  $320,893,  leaving  a  deficit 
of  $111,732  to  be  raised  by  other  methods. 

The  60  per  cent  free  and  part  pay  serv¬ 
ice  given  by  the  children’s  homes  is  in 
about  the  right  proportion  to  the  needs. 
However,  there  are  thousands  of  orphans 
who  should  have  the  care  of  the  church, 
but  are  now  in  the  state,  county,  and  mu¬ 
nicipal  homes  or  have  been  entirely  lost  to 
the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church. 

d.  Concerning  other  institutions 

The  survey  shows  that  of  the  total 
number  of  guests,  840,  in  the  other  in¬ 
stitutions  in  1920-1921,  forty  per  cent  re¬ 
ceived  free  or  part  pay  service  amounting 
to  $22,990. 

Toward  paying  this  amount,  thirty-one 
churches  gave  $5,092,  leaving  a  deficit  of 
$17,898  to  be  raised  by  other  methods. 

e.  Summary 

The  total  number  of  buildings  owned 
by  the  various  boards  aggregate  449.  Al¬ 
lowing  ninety  feet  front  for  each  build¬ 
ing,  they  would  reach  a  distance  of  seven 
and  four-fifth  miles  in  solid  frontage.  If 
placed  equal  distance  from  each  other  on 
a  stretch  of  land  sixty  feet  wide,  owned  by 
the  various  local  boards,  it  would  repre¬ 
sent  a  hospital,  home  for  aged,  home  for 
children  or  some  other  type  of  institution, 
reaching  366  miles. 

As  many  people  entered  the  doors  of  the 
hospitals  and  dispensaries  of  the  Metho¬ 
dist  Episcopal  Church,  during  one  year, 
220,076,  as  live  within  the  bounds  of  the 
city  of  St.  Paul,  or  Columbus,  Ohio.  Peo¬ 
ple  of  all  races,  creeds  and  color,  of  all 
physical  and  financial  conditions  with  all 
types  of  diseases,  were  diagnosed  and 
treated. 


The  total  amount  of  free  and  part  pay 
service  rendered  through  the  hospitals 
amounted  to  $1,043,809.  This  is  equal  to 
one-fourteenth  of  the  total  amount  of 
benevolences  raised  and  expended  by  the 
various  Boards  of  Benevolence  of  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church  during  the 
year  1921.  The  church  has  given  the 
service  of  1,400  physicians  and  surgeons, 
and  2,500  nurses  who  ministered  in  the 
spirit  of  Christ  in  a  way  that  can  scarcely 
be  duplicated  by  any  other  form  of  min¬ 
istry.  Two  thousand  members  of  boards 
of  directors  and  trustees  are  interested  in 
the  welfare  of  these  institutions. 

In  the  homes  for  children  the  number 
of  boys  and  girls,  3,281,  receiving  care 
from  interested  matrons,  superintendents, 
and  officers  represents  a  small  city  itself. 
To  these  children,  the  church  gave  in  free 
and  part  pay  service  a  total  of  $432,625. 

Through  the  homes  for  the  aged,  1,652 
aged  people  received  service  which  cost 
the  church  $355,680. 

V.  WHAT  THE  METHODIST  EPIS¬ 
COPAL  CHURCH  MUST  DO  FOR 
ITS  PHILANTHROPIC  INSTI¬ 
TUTIONS  IN  THE  NEXT 
TEN  YEARS 

A  Ten-Year  Forecast 

a.  A  more  complete  survey.— -A  careful 
study  of  the  uncharted  sections  of  the 
country  should  be  made  showing  localities 
where  there  are  no  hospitals  and  homes  in 
order  to  discover  what  opportunities  there 
are  for  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church. 

b.  A  program  of  education. — The  church 
must  be  educated  to  a  full  realization  of  its 
responsibility  to  the  sick,  homeless,  aged, 
and  orphans.  There  should  be  presented 
to  the  church  a  constructive  philanthropic 
program  which  should  become  an  integral 
part  of  the  church’s  work.  It  is  only  by 
thus  doing  that  our  philanthropic  institu¬ 
tions  will  be  able  to  contribute  their  part 
in  developing  a  complete  program  of  serv¬ 
ice.  This  program  should  then  put  it  into 
effect  until  the  needs  are  met  and  the 
point  of  saturation  for  the  service  of  hos¬ 
pitals  and  homes  has  been  reached. 


PHILANTHROPY 


613 


Sun-parlor  and  rest-room  in  a  home  for 
aged  women 


c.  Disease  prevention.  —  The  church 
must  come  to  a  vision  of  its  opportunity 
and  duty  for  the  prevention  of  disease. 

d.  High  standards. — The  local  institu¬ 
tions  must  reach  the  standards  which 
have  been  adopted  by  the  Board  of  Hospi¬ 
tals  and  Homes  and  other  agencies  and 
thus  be  placed  in  a  position  to  give  the 
most  efficient  service.  The  staff  organiza¬ 
tions  in  the  hospitals  must  be  properly 
developed  in  such  a  way  that  the  highest 
class  of  diagnostic,  medical  and  surgical 
work  will  be  performed  through  co-ordinat¬ 
ing  groups  in  order  to  render  the  very 
best  of  service  to  the  community.  Ours 
must  have  higher  standards  of  service 
than  those  institutions  which  are  classi¬ 
fied  as  non-Christian.  The  distinct  fea¬ 


The  pathological  laboratory  in  a  great 
Methodist  hospital 


ture  of  our  hospital  and  home  program 
must  be  the  character  of  service  rendered 
to  the  physical,  intellectual,  moral,  and 
spiritual  life  of  the  community. 

e.  An  integral  part  of  Christianity.  — 
There  must  be  developed  a  higher  regard 
among  physicians  and  surgeons  for  their 
relationship  to  the  health  needs  of  the 
world  as  a  part  of  the  Christian  program. 
This  must  begin  in  the  development  of  the 
undergraduate  men  and  women  who  are 
coming  into  the  universities  and  colleges 
for  preparatory  work.  It  must  also  be 
carried  into  medical  schools  where  the  un¬ 
dergraduates  are  to  have  their  training. 
The  physician  and  surgeon  have  within 
their  power  the  possibility  of  becoming 


The  board  fosters  a  constructive  program 
for  the  training  of  nurses 


great  missionary  forces  for  the  church 
both  in  home  and  foreign  fields.  Service 
of  this  type  is  a  good  entering  wedge. 

f.  The  training  of  nurses. — There  must 
be  developed  a  constructive  program  of 
training  work  in  the  schools  of  nursing 
in  the  hospitals.  To  this  end,  the  Board 
of  Hospitals  and  Homes  must  set  forth  a 
definite  policy  by  which  it  can  reach  the 
best  equipped  young  women  from  the  high 
schools  and  colleges  and  place  them  in  the 
proper  schools  so  they  can  be  trained  into 
the  best  of  nurses  and  special  workers  for 
the  hospitals.  Nurse  training  for  hospital 
service  begins  a  long  time  previous  to  en¬ 
tering  the  hospital. 

The  same  plan  must  be  carried  out  for 
training  of  high-grade  executives,  ma¬ 
trons  and  supervisors  of  homes  for  both 
the  aged  and  children. 


614 


WORLD  SERVICE 


Dietitians  receiving  training  in  one  of  our  Methodist  hospitals 


g.  Community  relation¬ 
ships. — The  Board  of  Hos¬ 
pitals  and  Homes  must 
seek  to  relate  local  hospi¬ 
tals  and  homes  as  a  dis¬ 
tinct  part  of  the  service  of 
the  church,  to  the  various 
other  interests  of  the  com¬ 
munity.  Many  institutions 
have  not  yet  realized  that 
they  have  any  duty  to  per¬ 
form,  other  than  that  of 
doing  their  distinctive 
type  of  work  irrespective 
of  any  relationship  to  other  agencies  of 
the  same  community. 

h.  A  permanent  financial  policy. — The 
church  must  formulate  a  constructive  fi¬ 
nancial  policy  for  the  securing  both  of 
maintenance  for  the  care  of  free  and  part 


One  of  our  maternity  hospitals 


pay  service  and  of  endowment  funds  nec¬ 
essary  to  carry  on  the  specific  work  of  the 
institutions  throughout  a  period  of  years. 
This  is  a  very  important  matter  and  must 
have  the  closest  scrutiny  and  the  best 
thought  given  to  it.  Many  hospitals  and 
homes  cannot  expect  to  be  in  existence 
fifty  years  from  now,  if  they  continue 
working  under  their  present  plan  of  finan¬ 
cial  support.  Large  sums  of  money  must 
be  raised  for  endowment,  through  special 
gifts,  through  annuities,  and  through  vari¬ 
ous  other  plans. 

The  survey  as  previously  stated,  reveals 
the  lack  of  uniformity  in  financial  plans 
for  the  various  institutions  and  the  lack 
of  co-operation  throughout  the  church  for 
making  our  institutions  secure  through¬ 
out  the  years.  To  help  secure  the  needed 
uniformity  is  an  aim  of  this  board. 


A  SUMMER  SCHOOL  OF  THEOLOGY 


Who  could  have  prophesied  that  these  few  years  would 
gather  so  many  hundreds  into  these  modern  Schools 
of  the  Prophets,  so  that  young  ministers  should  thus  be 
brought  more  and  more  to  love  God  with  all  their  minds 
and  all  their  hearts  to  the  end  that  they  might  love  him 
with  all  their  strength ? 

Edwin  Holt  Hughes 


COMMISSION  ON  COURSES  OF  STUDY 


Why  the  Commission  Was  Formed 

The  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  has 
16,545  pastoral  charges  in  the  United 
States.  The  progress  of  all  her  work 
rests  in  the  end  upon  the  efficient  leader¬ 
ship  of  these  men.  No  more  serious  task 
confronts  the  church  than  the  training  of 
her  ministry. 

For  years  we  have  been  giving  atten¬ 
tion  to  our  colleges  and  seminaries,  and 
the  millions  we  have  invested  has  been 
money  wisely  spent.  But  only  recently 
have  we  awakened  to  the  seriousness  of 
another  part  of  the  problem.  The  fact  is 
that  only  one  out  of  five  of  our  ministers  is 
a  graduate  of  college  and  seminary,  while 
one  out  of  four  of  the  men  has  not  even 
gone  beyond  the  high  school.  In  a  day 
when  trained  leadership  is  an  absolute 
necessity,  when  high-school  and  college 
enrolment  mounts  by  leaps  and  bounds, 
what  have  we  done  for  these  men,  the 
great  majority  of  our  preachers,  who  have 


not  had  the  full  equipment  of  the  schools? 
Very  little,  it  must  be  said,  in  the  past. 
Once  in  four  years  the  bishops,  through  a 
committee,  revised  the  list  of  books  which 
formed  a  prescribed  course  of  study.  Once 
a  year  for  four  years  the  young  preacher 
was  examined  in  these  books.  And  that 
was  all.  We  spent  millions  on  our  schools ; 
on  these  men  we  spent  nothing  though 
they  were  the  great  majority  of  our  min¬ 
istry. 

Its  Organization 

In  1916,  the  forward  step  was  taken. 
We  came  to  see  that  what  was  needed  was 
not  a  series  of  examinations  but  an  ed¬ 
ucational  institution.  The  first  step  was 
to  provide  for  a  permanent  commission  to 
work  with  the  boards  of  examiners  and 
to  plan  and  direct  the  training  of  these 
students.  In  1920,  the  commission  was 
enlarged,  a  modest  budget  was  assured, 
and  an  educational  director  was  placed 
in  charge.  Today  this  work  forms  the 


615 


61 6 


WORLD  SERVICE 


greatest  single  theological  institute  in  the 
world,  with  2,500  men  in  training  in  its 
courses,  and  over  1,500  examiners  direct¬ 
ing  the  actual  work. 

The  Commission’s  Business 

a.  Arranging  a  curriculum. — The  first 
task  of  the  commission  was  to  outline  the 
course  of  study  for  these  men.  It  had  to 
decide  what  subjects  should  be  studied  and 
how  much  time  should  be  given  to  each. 
It  had  to  find  books  fitted  for  men  who 
were  studying  by  themselves,  and  in  some 
cases  to  have  these  books  specially  pre¬ 
pared.  It  had  to  train  men  in  the  great 
historic  convictions  of  the  church  as  well 
as  to  introduce  them  to  the  thought  and 
problems  of  present-day  life.  Of  the 
forty-seven  volumes  which  the  men  study 
in  their  course,  including  the  examination 
for  admission,  nine  deal  with  history  and 
biography,  eight  with  the  Bible,  six 
with  the  practical  work  of  the  preacher 
and  pastor,  five  with  theology,  three 
with  religious  education,  and  three  with 
sociology  and  social  service.  Ten  of  these 
books  deal  with  Methodism,,  its  history, 
biography,  doctrines,  and  polity. 

In  this  part  of  its  work  the  commission 
has  stood  in  close  relation  with  the  bish¬ 
ops.  In  fact  the  bishops  have  given  far 
more  attention  to  the  course  of  study 
under  the  new  plan  than  in  former  years. 
The  commission  itself  is  elected  by  them, 
though  three  of  its  members  are  nomi¬ 
nated  by  the  Board  of  Education.  It 
selects  three  of  its  own  number  as  mem¬ 
bers  of  the  commission,  one  of  them  being 
the  chairman  of  the  commission  and  all 
sharing  actively  in  its  work.  The  books 
of  the  course  as  it  now  stands  have  had 
the  approval  of  the  bishops  after  full  con¬ 
sideration  by  them. 

b.  Making  schools. — It  is  one  thing  to 
arrange  a  course  of  study ;  it  is  quite 
another  to  make  a  school.  Merely  to  as¬ 
sign  books  and  give  examinations  are  not 
enough.  Here  are  3,000  men  who  cannot 
go  away  to  school,  who  are  already  serv¬ 
ing  churches  as  pastors,  who  are  not 
trained  students.  What  can  be  done  to 
teach  them  first  of  all  how  to  study ;  then 


to  interest  them  in  this  work;  to  lay  out 
their  tasks  for  them  plainly  step  by  step ; 
to  give  them  individual  help  and  guidance; 
and  if  possible  to  bring  them  into  personal 
contact  with  instructors  and  with  other 
students?  What  follows  shows  how  the 
commission  is  trying  to  do  this. 

1.  Directions  and  helps — a  substitute 
teacher. — Each  year  of  his  course  the  stu¬ 
dent  must  study  ten  or  twelve  books.  Four 
or  five  of  them  give  him  his  principal  sub¬ 
jects  of  study,  the  others  being  for  collat¬ 
eral  reading.  This  student  needs  guidance 
far  more  than  does  the  college  man  in  the 
seminary.  His  greatest  handicap  is  not 
lack  of  learning  but  lack  of  training  in 
the  art  of  study.  So  the  commission  sup¬ 
plies  him  with  a  manual  of  Directions  and 
Helps  to  take  the  place  of  the  teacher  as 
far  as  is  possible.  He  has  five  of  these  for 
his  course,  averaging  over  two  hundred 
pages  each,  one  for  his  examination  for 
admission  and  one  for  each  of  the  four 
years.  These  manuals  give  general  sug¬ 
gestions  for  his  study;  outline  plans  for 
his  work  and  tell  him  how  to  proceed; 
furnish  explanations,  comments,  and  sug¬ 
gestive  questions.  They  refer  to  other 
books.  They  seek  to  stimulate  his  own 
thought,  and  quicken  his  interest.  They 
point  out  the  meaning  of  each  study  for 
his  work,  and  show  him  especially  how  he 
can  utilize  this  work  for  his  pulpit. 

2.  Building  a  correspondence  school. — 
Ideally  the  course  of  study  is  a  corre¬ 
spondence  school,  and  the  first  steps,  to 
this  end  have  been  taken.  The  most  im¬ 
portant  is  the  provision  for  required  writ¬ 
ten  work  as  outlined  in  the  Directions  and 
Helps.  Step  by  step  in  his  work  the 
student  is  required  to  express  his  thoughts 
and  give  evidence  of  his  work  in  written 
exercises.  Most  of  these  are  very  simple 
but  they  change  mere  passive  memorizing 
into  active  thought  and  study,  and  they 
afford  a  training  in  exact  thought  and  ef¬ 
fective  expression  that  is  of  special  value 
to  the  preacher.  This  written  work  the 
student  is  expected  to  hand  at  regular 
intervals  to  the  examiner,  receiving  it  back 
with  corrections  and  suggestions.  The 


COURSES  OF  STUDY 


617 


next  step  may  be  the  establishment  of  a 
central  agency  with  a  force  giving  all  its 
time  to  this  work,  to  which,  when  a  given 
conference  so  elects,  the  students  may 
send  in  all  their  written  work. 

3.  Summer  schools  of  theology. — Here 
is  a  striking  development  looking  toward 
the  making  of  a  real  system  of  education 
out  of  the  course  of  study.  The  begin¬ 
nings  of  this  work  reach  back  for  years, 
but  except  in  a  few  notable  instances, 
these  gatherings  of  students  and  exami¬ 
ners  were  simply  conference  for  coaching 
and  examinations.  In  1921  the  advance 
began :  thirteen  schools  were  held.  In 
1922  there  were  thirty-five,  in  some  cases, 
a  number  of  conferences  co-operating  in 
one  school.  This  year  the  number  will 
probably  be  increased  to  fifty,  with  at 
least  fifteen  hundred  students  in  attend¬ 
ance  besides  examiners  and  other  preach¬ 
ers.  The  attendance  is  usually  required. 
Expenses  are  reduced  to  a  minimum  and 
often  special  aid  is  given.  The  term  is 
about  ten  days.  Classes  are  conducted  in 
the  subjects  of  the  course.  Special  lec¬ 
turers  of  first  rank  are  brought  in.  The 
student  gains  personal  contact  with  the 
examiners  under  whom  he  has  been  doing 
his  work  as  well  as  with  fellow  students. 
The  stimulus  and  inspiration  which  this 
means  for  the  young  man  who  has  been 
working  alone  in  some  remote  village  or 
country  point  cannot  be  overestimated. 
Commonly  the  school  is  held  at  the  seat 
of  one  of  our  colleges  and  not  a  few  men 
have  their  feet  turned  to  college  halls  be¬ 
cause  of  this  experience. 

c.  Training  local  preachers  in  supply 
charges. — Here  is  the  most  difficult  single 
task  in  training  its  leaders  which  our 
church  has.  Last  year  4,416  pastoral 
charges  were  “left  to  be  supplied.”  These 
are  not  our  largest  churches  but  in  count¬ 
less  cases  they  represent  the  only  reli¬ 
gious  privileges  that  are  furnished  to  folk 
in  the  village,  on  the  frontier,  or  in  the 
open  country.  Some  of  these  churches  are 
supplied  by  students  and  retired  minis¬ 
ters  but  nearly  three-fourths  of  them  are 
cared  for  by  local  preachers,  of  whom 
40 


about  two  thirds  are  giving  full  time  to 
this  work.  These  are  men  who  have  not 
been  received  into  the  annual  conference, 
it  may  be  because  of  age,  for  lack  of  edu¬ 
cation,  or  for  some  other  deficiency.  Here 
then  is  a  group  of  about  two  thbusand 
preachers,  giving  full  time  to  the  church, 
differing  only  in  the  fact  they  are  not 
members  of  any  conference. 

The  need  of  training  for  these  men  is 
peculiarly  urgent.  Three-fifths  of  these 
supply  pastors  have  not  had  more  than  a 
high-school  education;  one-third  of  them 
did  not  go  beyond  the  eighth  grade.  But 
for  the  training  of  these  men  the  church 
in  the  past  has  done  practically  nothing. 
A  very  simple  course  of  study  was  pro¬ 
vided.  Sometimes  it  was  studied,  more 
often  not.  There  was  no  help  offered  and 
practically  no  supervision,  though  these 
men  need  help  more  than  others.  And  yet 
we  entrusted  several  thousand  of  our 
churches  to  them.  The  commission  is  now 
giving  attention  to  this  neglected  group. 
They  are  being  brought  in  under  the  new 
plan.  The  Conference  Boards  of  Exami¬ 
ners  now  have  charge  of  their  studies  and 
examinations.  A  carefully  revised  course 
of  study  is  being  planned.  A  special  vol¬ 
ume  of  Directions  and  Helps  has  been  is¬ 
sued  for  their  use,  a-nd  the  summer  schools 
of  theology  are  open  to  them. 

d.  Post-graduate  courses  of  study. — The 
college  and  seminary  are  the  beginning 
and  not  the  end  of  preparation.  Systematic 
study  is  a  vital  necessity  for  the  preacher. 
The  pressure  of  duties,  however,  makes 
it  hard  for  the  minister  to  carry  on  such 
work.  So  the  commission  provides  courses 
of  study  for  the  man  who  has  finished  the 
conference  course  or  has  graduated  from 
college  and  seminary.  This  work  is  only 
in  its  beginnings.  The  plan  is  to  provide 
a  series  of  courses  covering  the  various 
fields  of  theology  so  that  the  minister  may 
choose  from  among  them  what  will  be  of 
most  interest  and  profit  to  him,  and  follow 
this  year  by  year  with  other  courses.  Two 
courses  have  been  issued  and  some  five 
hundred  men  enrolled.  A  special  instruc¬ 
tor  is  provided  for  each  course,  an  expert 


618 


WORLD  SERVICE 


in  the  field  in  question.  The  student  pur¬ 
chases  the  text-book  issued  by  the  com¬ 
mission  and  the  additional  books  called 
for,  enrols  with  the  commission,  and  pays 
the  nominal  fee  of  two  dollars.  A  regular 
course  is  marked  out,  and  all  his  papers 
are  sent  in  to  the  instructor  who  returns 
the  same  with  comments  and  suggestions 
besides  aiding  the  student  in  any  special 
problems  that  may  arise. 

The  Future  Need 

The  work  of  the  commission  is  only  in 
its  first  stage.  Not  until  1920  did  the 
commission  have  any  budget  with  which 
to  operate.  The  remarkable  development 
of  such  work  as  that  of  the  summer  schools 
has  been  made  possible  by  this  moderate 
assistance,  as  has  also  the  securing  of  an 
Educational  Director.  During  1922,  about 
1,500  students  from  fifty  conferences  at¬ 
tended  conference  or  area  summer  schools 
of  theology,  took  the  examinations,  and 


discussed  their  problems  with  the  examin¬ 
ers  in  person.  In  the  World  Service 
Program,  the  commission  will  require 
$45,000  annually  to  carry  on  its  work 
as  on  the  present  basis,  and  asks  for 
$60,000,  which  was  aporoved  and  en¬ 
tered  as  the  commission’s  share  of  the 
$18,500,000  apportioned  to  the  churches. 

The  future  will  see  a  great  system  of 
education  developed  on  this  foundation, 
enrolling  several  thousand  young  men  each 
year,  providing  the  best  plans  and  helps 
that  can  be  secured,  giving  the  privilege 
of  real  correspondence  work  under  expert 
instructors,  bringing  them  together  each 
year  of  their  four  years’  course  for  three 
or  four  weeks  of  inspiring  tuition  and 
fellowship,  and  then  directing  their  con¬ 
tinued  study  after  they  have  finished  the 
regular  course.  From  such  work  the 
church  may  expect  a  stronger  leadership 
for  the  more  commanding  tasks  of  the 
coming  years. 


MISSIONARY  RECRUITS  UNDER  INSTRUCTION 

It  matters  not  if  storm  or  sunshine  be 
My  earthly  lot,  bitter  or  sweet  my  cup; 

I  only  pray,  God  fit  me  for  mine  work ; 

God  make  me  holy,  and  my  spirit  nerve 
For  the  stern  hour  of  strife. 

Nathan  Brown 


COMMISSION  ON  LIFE  SERVICE 


The  Problem  of  Personnel 

Quantity.  —  The  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church  as  it  is  at  present  organized,  uti¬ 
lizes  a  personnel  numbering  23,272  men 
and  women.  If  to  this  number  is  added 
the  supply  pastors  who  are  not  members 
of  our  annual  conferences  and  the  young 
women  who  are  nurses  in  training  in  our 
hospitals,  the  total  is  increased  to  28,286 
men  and  women  who  are  devoting  their 
entire  time  to  work  under  the  auspices  of 
our  church. 

In  the  above  .total  are  included  5,408 
women  who  are  serving  as  teachers  in  our 
schools  and  colleges,  directors  of  religious 
education,  deaconesses,  nurses,  and  in 
other  phases  of  work  under  the  supervi¬ 
sion  of  the  women’s  missionary  societies. 

Personnel  requirements.  —  The  pastoral 
charges  exceed  16,000,  of  which  more 
than  4,000  are  at  present  “supply 
charges.”  The  Board  of  Foreign  Missions 


lists  936  names  of  workers  in  the  field, 
to  which  may  be  added  125  retired  mis¬ 
sionaries  often  performing  special  work, 
and  612  workers  of  the  Woman’s  For¬ 
eign  Missionary  Society.  The  teaching 
positions  in  our  own  church  institutions 
are  computed  at  3,263.  Week-day  reli¬ 
gious  education  work,  which  is  only  at 
its  beginnings,  already  is  organized  in 
some  form  at  about  800  centers,  331  of 
which  meet  in  Methodist  Episcopal 
Churches,  in  which  our  church  is  some¬ 
times  directly  and  always  co-operatively 
related.  We  have  eighty  hospitals  whose 
staff  needs  total  upwards  of  2,500  work¬ 
ers.  There  are  nearly  2,000  deaconesses 
of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  in  all 
lands.  The  six  remaining  general  boards 
of  the  church  require  a  large  number  of 
workers  with  special  training.  This  com¬ 
putation  does  not  include  workers  for 
local  Sunday  schools  and  Epworth 
Leagues,  nor  interdenominational  organi- 


619 


620 


WORLD  SERVICE 


zations  such  as  the  American  Bible  Soci¬ 
ety,  the  Y.  M.  C.  A.,  and  the  Y.  W.  C.  A. 

Losses. — A  recent  study  of  the  ministers 
of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  made 
by  the  commission  shows  that  the  total  loss 
in  the  effective  full  membership  through 
death,  location,  withdrawal,  and  super¬ 
numerary  and  retired  relationships  during 
the  last  four  years  amounts  to  3,025,  or  an 
average  of  756  each  year.  Over  against 
this,  there  were  admitted  into  full  mem¬ 
bership  during  the  last  four  years  2,412 
men,  an  average  of  603  each  year.  This 
means  that  the  church  faced  an  average 
yearly  loss  in  its  regular  ministry  of  153 
men.  This,  in  the  face  of  the  fact  that  the 
World  Service  Program  will  call  for  a 
larger  number  of  men  in  the  future  than 
the  church  is  utilizing  at  the  present  time. 

Quality. — The  problem  of  personnel  is 
not  confined  entirely  to  the  question  of 
numbers.  A  church  that  is  inadequately 
provided  with  leadership  must  rely,  to  an 
increasing  extent,  upon  unqualified  men 
and  women.  For  instance,  the  educational 
qualifications  of  2,480  supply  preachers  is 
indicated  by  the  following : 


Eighth  grade  or  less  . 857  34.5% 

Part  high  school  . 486  19.5% 

Full  high  school  . 228  9.1% 

Part  college  . 396  15.9% 

Full  college  . 298  12  % 

Full  theological  school . 102  4.1% 

College  and  theological  school . 113  4.5% 


2,480  99.6% 

In  the  past  the  pressure  under  which 
district  superintendents  have  labored  in 
order  to  man  their  charges  has  caused 
them  to  urge  young  men  who  were  prepar¬ 
ing  for  the  ministry  to  enter  actual  service 
more  quickly  than  really  was  wise.  This 
perhaps  accounts,  in  part,  for  the  fact  that 
out  of  eighty  per  cent  of  the  members  of 
annual  conferences  in  effective  relation  in 
1922,  eighteen  per  cent  or  2,023  men  se¬ 
cured  only  part  of  a  high-school  course,  or 
less  than  a  high-school  course;  thirty- 
seven  per  cent  or  4,163  are  graduates  of 
high  school,  have  part  of  a  college  course 
or  theological  without  college;  forty-five 
per  cent  or  5,070  have  college  or  both  col¬ 
lege  and  theological  training.  Out  of  a 


total  of  11,256,  only  2,784  have  a  full  col¬ 
lege  course,  while  2,286  have  both  college 
and  theological  training. 

The  Council  of  Church  Boards  of  Edu¬ 
cation  made  a  study  of  men  in  theological 
seminaries  in  the  United  States  and  Can¬ 
ada  in  the  years  1922  and  1923.  Out  of 
8,300  registered  men,  4,500  had  at  some 
time  or  other  attended  college.  Only  3,000 
men,  however,  were  college  graduates  and 
of  that  3,000,  one-third  were  graduates  of 
sub-standard  colleges.  This  means  that 
only  one-fourth  of  the  men  who  were  last 
year  preparing  for  the  Protestant  min¬ 
istry  in  theological  seminaries  were  grad¬ 
uates  of  standard  colleges  previous  to 
entering  upon  theological  training. 

The  Commission  on  Life  Service  still 
receives  letters  from  young  men  and  young 
women  who  are  anxious  to  take  a  short 
cut  in  their  preparation  for  Christian 
service.  The  church  no  longer  questions 
whether  college  and  theological  training 
should  be  a  requisite  requirement  for  the 
Christian  ministry.  Even  on  the  basis  of 
statistics  regarding  church  membership, 
Sunday-school  enrolment,  total  benevo¬ 
lences,  and  salaries,  a  case  could  be  made 
showing  how  costly  it  is  for  the  church  to 
attempt  to  carry  on  its  program  without 
demanding  adequate  educational  qualifi¬ 
cations.  The  question,  however,  assumes 
much  greater  proportions  than  can  be 
estimated  by  statistical  comparisons.  The 
church  is  today  face  to  face  with  its  pri¬ 
mary  purpose:  the  interpretation  of  the 
teachings  of  Jesus,  and  their  application 
to  the  problems  of  human  life.  For  this 
reason,  one  of  its  most  important  duties 
is  to  see  that  young  men  and  young  women 
looking  forward  to  leadership,  are  pro¬ 
vided  with  such  educational  and  vocational 
guidance  as  will  guarantee  the  largest  pos¬ 
sible  efficiency  upon  their  part. 

Only  recently  has  an  effort  been  made 
by  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  care¬ 
fully  to  study  its  personnel  problem.  So 
far  as  the  ministry  is  concerned,  the 
church  never  has  carried  on  a  systematic 
cultivation  of  its  choicest  material.  It  is 
an  indication  of  abundant  spiritual  incli¬ 
nations  in  the  heart  of  young  people  that 


LIFE  SERVICE 


621 


only  in  this  late  day  does  the  church  really 
feel  the  embarrassment  of  a  haphazard 
and  uncertain  method  in  recruiting  and 
directing  its  leadership. 

The  Commission  Raised 

Before  the  organization  of  the  Commis¬ 
sion  on  Life  Service  the  various  boards  of 
the  church  acted  independently  in  seek¬ 
ing  their  personnel. 

.  The  authorization  of  the  Commission  on 
Life  Service  by  the  General  Conference  of 
1920*  was  the  church’s  first  attempt  to 
unify  its  procedure.  The  primary  task  of 
the  commission  is  to  discover  the  men  and 
women  who  are  already  qualified  for  ef¬ 
fective  leadership  in  the  church,  and  to 
give  guidance  to  young  men  and  young 
women  who  are  contemplating  full-time 
Christian  work  and  are  in  process  of  prep¬ 
aration. 

The  various  boards  of  the  church  have 
allocated  representatives,  who  in  conjunc¬ 
tion  with  the  executive  secretary  and  three 
other  workers,  constitute  the  staff  of  the 
commission. 

The  Task  Surveyed 

Old  decisions  followed  up. — The  first 
cask  of  the  Commission  on  Life  Service 
was  to  give  attention  to  the  lists  of  names 
of  possible  candidates  that  had  accumu¬ 
lated  for  several  years.  Staff  representa¬ 
tives  were  urged  to  eliminate  all  old  names 
in  their  files.  Communications  were  sent 
to  more  than  50,000  young  people  whose 
names  were  in  the  files  of  the  commission 
in  July,  1921.  Most  of  these  young  people 
had  signed  their  declaration  cards  with 
part-time  service  in  mind.  Their  names 
were  referred  to  the  pastors  in  their 
respective  communities. 

Plans  to  avoid  confusion. — The  Commis¬ 
sion  on  Life  Service  immediately  began 
to  study  how  to  avoid  much  of  the  confu¬ 
sion  that  had  prevailed  in  the  past.  An 
excellent  pamphlet,  Concerning  Life  Serv¬ 
ice  Appeals,  was  distributed  widely  to  Ep- 
worth  League  institutes  and  to  pastors. 
The  Board  of  the  Epworth  League, 


through  its  Life  Service  Secretary,  exer¬ 
cised  increasing  caution  in  regard  to  its 
program  of  recruiting.  The  life  service 
conferences  in  connection  with  colleges 
and  universities  were  planned  with  pri¬ 
mary  emphasis  upon  personal  interviews 
rather  than  upon  public  addresses.  The 
literature  of  the  commission  was  supplied 
freely  wherever  any  groups  of  Methodist 
young  people  were  in  conference,  as  Ep¬ 
worth  League  institutes,  Sunday-school 
institutes  and  summer  schools,  Christian 
Associations,  Student  Volunteer  conven¬ 
tions,  and  Older  Boys’  conferences. 

Some  Results 

Recruits  for  the  ministry. — During  the 
years  1921  and  1922,  the  commission  was 
in  touch  with  1,225  men  and  eighteen 
women  who  are  considering  the  ministry 
as  their  life  work.  Their  educational 
status,  not  counting  those  in  theological 
seminaries,  was  as  follows: 

Number  of  those  whose  educational  qual¬ 


ifications  were  uncertain  . 254 

Boys  below  high  school .  51 

Have  had  some  grade  or  grammar  school..  8 

6th  grade  .  5 

7th  grade  .  6 

8th  grade  . 13 

Graduate  of  grades .  19 

Men  in  high  school  . 356 

Report  indefinite  amount  of  high-school 
work  .  13 

1  year  high  school .  55 

2  years  high  school . 57 

3  years  high  school .  81 

4  years  high  school . 83 

Graduate  of  high  school .  66 

Postgraduate  in  high  school .  1 

Men  in  college . 389 

Report  indefinite  amount  of  college  work..  11 

1  year  . 142 

2  years  .  89 

3  years  .  74 

4  years  .  32 

Graduate  of  college .  36 

Postgraduate  in  college .  5 

Women  in  high  school . 10 

Women  in  college .  8 


Total  recruits. — As  the  result  of  the  total 
recruiting  activity  of  the  church  during 
the  years  1921  and  1922,  9,906  names 
were  received  by  the  Commission  on  Life 
Service.  Over  3,000  of  these  names  were 
received  directly  from  pastors.  A  few  of 


^Discipline,  j[579. 


WORLD  SERVICE 


these  young  people  have  not  yet  entered 
high  school.  The  great  majority  are  in 
high  school.  A  large  number  are  either 
endeavoring  to  secure  funds  to  carry  on 
their  college  work  or  are  already  securing 
their  college  education. 

Names  in  file. — The  Commission  on  Life 
Service  had  the  names  of  approximately 
16,000  young  men  and  young  women  in  its 
files  at  the  beginning  of  the  year  1923.  It 
must  be  remembered  that  there  exists  in 
the  minds  of  many  young  people  great  un¬ 
certainty  about  their  life  service.  This  is 
indicated  by  an  analysis  of  the  names  of 
recruits  received  from  the  Epworth 
League  during  the  years  of  1918,  1919, 
1920,  and  1921.  The  total  number  of 
names  received  was  9,617.  Communica¬ 
tions  were  sent  to  all  these  young  people 
with  a  request  for  more  detailed  and  spe¬ 
cific  information  regarding  their  intention. 
Failure  to  reply  or  replies  requesting  that 
their  names  be  dropped  caused  the  with¬ 
drawal  of  5,480  names  up  to  the  beginning 
of  1923. 

Relation  of  This  Commission  to  the 
Great  Commission 

The  Commission  on  Life  Service  is  anx¬ 
ious  to  avoid  having  young  people  sign 
life  service  decision  cards  or  commit  them¬ 
selves  in  any  way  when  they  are  too  young. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  commission  be¬ 
lieves  it  is  absolutely  necessary  for  the 
church  to  keep  closely  in  touch  with  all 
young  men  and  young  women  who  actually 
are  interested  in  placing  their  lives  at 
the  disposal  of  the  church.  In  a  great 
many  instances  the  earlier  communica¬ 
tions  deal  only  with  a  declaration  of  pur¬ 
pose  or  intention.  The  majority  of  the 
life  service  decision  cards  which  are 
signed  indicate  no  definite  choice  of  a  vo¬ 
cation.  Out  of  the  total  of  approximately 
16,000  names,  5,926  are  still  indefinite  re¬ 
garding  the  kind  of  work  they  wish  to 
undertake.  In  addition,  a  large  number, 
just  how  many  we  are  unable  to  state, 
have  not  yet  made  a  final  decision  regard¬ 
ing  their  life  work.  Both  of  these  groups, 
however,  have  indicated  a  real  intention 


to  enter  upon  some  full-time  work  under 
the  direction  of  the  church  if  the  church 
can  use  them. 

The  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  has 
little  to  fear  regarding  its  future  leader¬ 
ship,  if  it  continues  to  give  definite  infor¬ 
mation  to  its  young  people  regarding  its 
program.  The  need  for  definite  informa¬ 
tion  increases  in  proportion  as  the  candi¬ 
dates  come  to  the  close  of  their  period  of 
preparation.  For  this  reason,  the  com¬ 
mission  publishes  its  Bulletin  of  Personnel 
Needs.  In  this  are  presented,  quarterly, 
the  immediate  demands  of  the  church.  It 
is  designed  to  be  of  special  value  in  secur¬ 
ing  the  final  commitment  of  men  and 
women  to  a  definite  task. 

Behind  this  final  commitment,  as  a  rule, 
lie  many  months  and  possibly  years  when 
interest  must  be  stimulated  and  intelli¬ 
gence  cultivated  by  general  information. 
Young  men  and  young  women  who  have 
received  information  and  who  have  been 
encouraged  to  consider  full-time  Chris¬ 
tian  service,  but  who  do  not  finally  enter 
full-time  service,  will  render  more  intelli¬ 
gent  part-time  service  because  of  these 
contacts. 

How  the  Commission  Works 

In  general,  the  procedure  of  the  Com¬ 
mission  on  Life  Service  is  as  follows : 

1.  Pastors,  District  Superintendents, 
Life  Work  Secretaries  of  Epworth  League 
Institutes,  Sunday-school  teachers,  and  all 
others  are  urged  to  send  in  the  names  of 
any  young  men  and  young  women  whom 
they  know  to  be  considering  full-time 
Christian  work. 

2.  The  Commission  on  Life  Service  helps 
to  provide  secondary  schools,  colleges, 
and  universities  (including  state  universi¬ 
ties),  with  representatives  for  life  work 
conferences.  Group  meetings  and  per¬ 
sonal  interviews  are  especially  emphasized 
in  these  conferences. 

3.  The  Commission  on  Life  Service  en¬ 
deavors  to  secure  information  concerning 
all  young  men  and  young  women  whose 
names  are  in  its  files.  On  the  basis  of  this 
information  correspondence  is  invited  and 


LIFE  SERVICE 


623 


special  literature  is  forwarded,  which  may 
be  of  value  to  young  people  facing  life 
work  decisions. 

4.  The  Commission  on  Life  Service  also 
supplies  posters,  pamphlets,  and  bulletins 
to  institutes,  conferences,  colleges,  and 
universities,  as  well  as  to  individuals. 

5.  Whenever  it  is  apparent  that  a  fairly 
mature  interest  and  concern  is  manifested 
in  some  special  form  of  work  or  in  one 
particular  field  of  service,  the  recruit  is 
placed  in  touch  with  the  board  that  is  most 
responsible  for  that  particular  work  or 
field.  If  an  opportunity  for  service  does 
not  come  in  connection  with  one  board,  an 
effort  is  made  to  discover  whether  appoint¬ 
ment  and  employment  is  possible  or  ad¬ 
visable  in  some  other  department  of  the 
church. 

6.  The  Commission  on  Life  Service  be¬ 
lieves  that  the  actual  recruiting  of  the  fu¬ 
ture  leadership  of  the  church  will  always 
be  very  largely  done  by  pastors,  Sunday- 
school  teachers,  and  workers  in  the  local 
churches.  Therefore,  it  seeks  to  stimulate 


a  new  degree  of  attention  to  the  matter  on 
the  part  of  the  local  church  both  by  means 
of  denominational  and  interdenomina¬ 
tional  approaches. 

7.  The  Commission  on  Life  Service 
seeks  from  colleges  and  universities  such 
vocational  and  educational  information  as 
they  may  gather  concerning  young  men 
and  young  women  who  may  be  considering 
full-time  Christian  work.  The  commis¬ 
sion  desires  the  privilege  of  having  its 
staff  representatives  interview  these 
young  people,  and  always  hopes  that  these 
representatives  will  be  utilized  in  inter¬ 
viewing  students  who  may  be  undecided  or 
indefinite  regarding  their  life  work. 

Future  Needs 

In  the  World  Service  Program  the  com¬ 
mission  will  require  $54,677  annually  to 
carry  on  its  work  as  at  present,  and 
asks  for  $75,000  which  asking  was  ap¬ 
proved  and  entered  as  the  commission’s 
share  of  the  $18,500,000  apportioned  to 
the  church. 


WORK 

Let  me  but  do  my  work  from  day  to  day 
In  field  or  forest,  at  desk  or  loom; 

In  roaring  market  place  or  tranquil  room 
Let  me  but  find  it  in  my  heart  to  say, 

When  vagrant  wishes  beckon  me  astray — 

" This  is  my  work;  my  blessing,  not  my  doom; 

Of  all  who  live,  I  am  the  one  by  whom 
This  work  can  best  be  done  in  the  right  way.” 

Then  shall  I  see  it  not  too  great,  nor  small, 

To  suit  my  spirit  and  to  prove  my  powers; 

Then  shall  I  cheerful  greet  the  laboring  hours 
And  cheerful  turn,  when  the  long  shadows  fall 
At  eventide,  to  play  and  love  and  rest 
Because  I  know  for  me  my  work  is  best. 

Henry  van  Dyke 


mm 

5X  i"- ' 

T 

L  • 

*  -a , 

The  National  Methodist  C onference  marked  the  third 
great  gathering  in  the  interest  of  the  Centenary.  The 
first  was  at  Niagara,  when  it  was  dreamed  out ;  the  sec¬ 
ond  was  at  C olumbus,  when  the  plunge  was  taken;  the 
third  was  at  Detroit.  .  .  .  Methodism  has  had  a  new 
vision  which  she  will  not  willingly  let  die. 

An  Editor  on  the  National  Conference  at  Detroit 


COMMITTEE  ON  CONSERVATION  AND  ADVANCE 


I.  The  Commission  on  Finance 

Influenced  by  certain  conditions  which 
were  set  forth  at  length  in  the  Episcopal 
Address  to  the  General  Conference  of 
1912  and  by  many  memorials  from  the 
various  parts  of  the  church  calling  atten¬ 
tion  to  grave  defects  in  the  system  of 
financing  the  local  and  benevolent  bud¬ 
gets,  the  General  Conference  of  1912 
appointed  a  Commission  on  Finance  which 
should  during  the  quadrennium  attempt 
to  devise  a  better  system  and  if  possible 
unify  the  financial  appeals.1 

Previous  to  1912,  a  number  of  attempts 
had  been  made  to  co-ordinate  the  benevo¬ 
lent  appeals  of  the  church,  but  they  faced 
baffling  and  perplexing  difficulties  and 
none  of  them  were  of  any  far-reaching 
significance. 

General  duties.  —  The  Commission  on 
Finance  undertook  to  secure  from  the 


benevolent  boards  their  statements  of 
need,  revise  their  askings,  and  determine 
the  total  amount  to  be  apportioned  to  the 
churches.  The  commission  also  made  the 
apportionments;  co-operated  with  the 
boards  in  promoting  the  unity  and  effi¬ 
ciency  of  their  financial  appeals,  informed 
the  congregations  concerning  all  depart¬ 
ments  of  the  financial  activity  of  the 
church;  and  strove  earnestly  to  put  into 
operation  the  new  financial  plan  calling 
for  an  every-member  canvass  and  a  sub¬ 
scription  for  benevolent  and  current  ex¬ 
penses  on  a  weekly  basis. 

II.  The  Council  of  Boards 
a.  Inception. — The  celebration  of  the 
Centenary  brought  with  it  enlarged  plans 
of  education,  promotion,  and  giving,  as 
well  as  increased  administrative  duties  to 
all  the  benevolent  boards.  After  the 
great  financial  campaign  of  1918-19,  cul¬ 
minating  in  the  five-year  Centenary  sub- 


1  General  Conference  Journal  1916,  p.  1319. 


626 


WORLD  SERVICE 


scription,  the  organization  responsible  for 
the  activities  of  the  Centenary  was  re¬ 
placed  by  the  Centenary  Conservation 
Committee. 

The  General  Conference  of  1920,  after 
considering  the  whole  range  of  activities 
of  the  Commission  on  Finance,  the  Cen¬ 
tenary  Conservation  Committee,  and  the 
new  and  forward-looking  work  necessary 
for  the  maintenance  of  the  church’s  benev¬ 
olent  program,  amalgamated  all  these 
functions  into  our  new  organization 
called  the  Council  of  Boards  of  Benevo¬ 
lence. 

The  organization  and  duties  of  the 
Council  and  its  committees  are  fully  out¬ 
lined  in  the  Discipline  of  1920. 1 

b.  Departments  of  work. — To  carry  out 
the  provisions  of  the  General  Conference, 
the  functions  of  the  Committee  on  Conser¬ 
vation  and  Advance  are  grouped  under 
the  finance,  educational,  and  field  depart¬ 
ments,  all  correlated  under  a  general  ad¬ 
ministration. 

1.  Finance  Department 

One  of  the  most  important  central  agen¬ 
cies  ever  established  in  our  church  is  the 
Finance  Department  of  the  Committee  on 
Conservation  and  Advance.  To  the  gen¬ 
eral  treasurer  are  remitted  more  or  less 
regularly  from  the  churches  of  the  United 
States  their  offerings  for  the  general 
benevolent  work  of  the  church.  Vouchers 
in  the  form  of  receipts  are  issued  and 
records  are  kept  of  all  these  offerings  by 
charges.  This  means  the  accounting  of 
an  average  of  over  a  million  dollars  a 
month  in  remittances,  most  of  it  in  com¬ 
paratively  small  amounts. 

At  the  end  of  each  month  the  general 
treasurer  distributes  these  sums  to  the 
various  benevolent  boards  and  agencies 
and  keeps  the  records  and  accounts  of 
this  distribution  in  perfect  order.  At  the 
same  time,  he  must  examine,  approve, 
and  pay  the  bills  for  the  central  office  and 
make  the  necessary  regular  remittances 
for  the  expenses  of  the  twenty-three  area 
offices. 

1 W07-410. 


Statistics. — Our  system  of  apportion¬ 
ment  in  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church 
means  that  there  must  be  available  accu¬ 
rate  and  uniform  statistics  on  all  items 
involving  church  membership,  value  of 
property,  amount  of  local  support,  benev¬ 
olent  and  per  capita  giving.  An  earnest 
effort  is  being  made  to  establish  a  uniform 
statistical  system  for  the  whole  church 
in  order  that  our  statistical  records  may 
be  as  perfect  as  possible. 

Apportionments. — From  these  statistics 
available  in  the  office  of  the  general  treas¬ 
urer,  the  apportionments  are  calculated. 
The  enormous  labor  involved  in  making, 
sending  out,  and  finally  recording  these 
apportionments  is  indicated  on  page  690. 

Budgets.  —  The  Council  of  Boards 
through  the  Executive  Committee  is  re¬ 
quired  to  receive  and  pass  upon  the  ad¬ 
ministrative  budgets  of  all  the  related 
boards  and  agencies.  The  central  office 
receives  these  budgets  and  prepares  them 
for  the  Executive  Committee  and  Council. 

Uniform  audit. — During  recent  years,  it 
has  become  apparent  that  a  more  or  less 
uniform  system  of  accounting  should  be 
established  in  the  various  boards  and  that 
the  financial  operations  of  our  church 
should  be  simplified  as  largely  as  possible 
and  that  much  saving  could  be  effected 
if  some  central  auditing  agency  could  be 
established.  Much  progress  has  been 
made  on  this  problem,  but  there  is  still 
much  to  be  desired. 

It  will  be  seen  that  in  the  receiving  and 
accounting  of  such  large  sums  as  are  now 
involved  in  our  benevolent  giving,  the 
problems  are  complex  and  difficult  and  a 
central  treasury  and  clearing  house  for 
all  financial  matters  are  absolutely  neces¬ 
sary. 

2.  Educational  Department 

The  whole  problem  of  keeping  the 
benevolent  interests  before  the  church 
through  the  special  methods  of  publicity 
and  education  is  the  responsibility  of  the 
Educational  Department  of  the  Commit¬ 
tee  on  Conservation  and  Advance. 

Stewardship. — The  stewardship  division 
prepares  and  distributes  stewardship 


CONSERVATION  AND  ADVANCE 


62  7 


tracts  and  pamphlets  of  tried  and  tested 
methods,  and  conducts  the  correspond¬ 
ence  with  church  leaders  and  especially 
with  the  volunteer  district  stewardship 
secretaries.  This  division  creates  and 
meets  demands  for  stewardship  speakers 
for  all  sorts  of  meetings  and  occasions.  It 
also  is  endeavoring  to  vitalize  the  steward¬ 
ship  committee  of  the  quarterly  confer¬ 
ence  in  the  local  church.  If  to  this  is 
added  the  demands  of  the  publicity  de¬ 
partment  for  live  up-to-date  stewardship 
material,  it  will  be  observed  that  the  nec¬ 
essary  writing  and  editing  is  enormous. 

A  central  publicity  bureau. — The  pub¬ 
licity  division  furnishes  weekly  to  all  of 
our  official  papers,  material  on  the  needs 
and  achievements  of  our  benevolent  work 
through  the  world.  The  assembling  of 
this  material,  the  research  required  for 
its  accurate  statement  and  the  actual 
writing  is  a  large  part  of  this  division’s 
work.  Items  for  the  press  associations 
and  for  local  newspapers  are  furnished 
for  Methodist  events.  Articles  of  gen¬ 
eral  and  denominational  interest  are  con¬ 
tinually  placed  in  the  leading  magazines 
and  periodicals.  All  pamphlet  and  peri¬ 
odical  literature  is  prepared  by  or  passes 
through  the  hands  of  this  division. 

Thus,  there  is  growing  up  a  well-staffed 
central  publicity  bureau  for  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church,  one  that  does  not  be¬ 
come  a  mere  propaganda  agency  but  is  an 
informing,  inspiring  and  evangelizing 
force  in  the  broadest  sense. 

Stereopticon  lectures. — Our  church  has 
taken  the  lead  in  the  production  and  dis¬ 
tribution  of  lantern  slides  and  the  distri¬ 
bution  of  stereopticon  and  motion  picture 
projection  apparatus.  In  the  central 
office  there  are  now  over  100,000  nega¬ 
tives  which  are  captioned,  classified,  and 
catalogued,  covering  all  fields  and  all 
phases  of  our  work  at  home  and  abroad. 
Lectures,  story  sets,  and  illustrated 
hymns  are  distributed  through  the 
twenty-three  area  offices.  The  recent  de¬ 
cision  of  the  Council  to  offer  this  mate¬ 
rial  to  the  churches  free  of  rental  has 
doubled  the  demands  on  this  division. 


Pageants  and  plays.  —  This  division, 
one  of  the  best  equipped  in  America,  is 
endeavoring  to  provide  the  most  ap¬ 
proved  pageant  and  educational  dramatic 
material  available  in  order  to  satisfy  the 
new  rising  demand  for  social  and  dra¬ 
matic  expression  in  our  churches,  espe¬ 
cially  among  the  children  and  young 
people.  This  involves  the  careful  reading 
and  preparation  of  plays,  demonstrations, 
and  pageants;  and  the  provision  of  cos¬ 
tumes,  curios,  and  accessories  for  vivid 
and  effective  presentation.  Through  lec¬ 
tures  and  demonstration  courses  in  col¬ 
leges  and  training  schools,  a  new  leader¬ 
ship  for  this  work  is  being  stimulated. 

Mission  study. — The  responsibility  for 
co-operating  with  the  Missionary  Educa¬ 
tion  Movement  in  planning  the  mission- 
study  books  for  all  ages  rests  with  the 
educational  department.  The  promotion 
of  missionary  addresses,  methods  confer¬ 
ences,  study  classes  in  institutes  and  sum¬ 
mer  schools,  and  the  training  of  mission¬ 
ary  education  leaders  is  also  cared  for  in 
this  department. 

Church  Training  Night. — This  division 
is  a  clearing  house  for  the  exchange  of 
material  for  church  training  night,  rap¬ 
idly  becoming  the  outstanding  mid-week 
service  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church. 
It  recommends  suitable  texts  and  aspires 
to  do  more  than  merely  record  classes  and 
keep  records.  It  hopes  to  be  and  is  a  reli¬ 
able  source  of  information  on  the  best  ma¬ 
terials  and  methods. 

Quarterly  conference  committees. — For 
the  promotion  of  education  and  giving  in 
the  interest  of  our  general  benevolences 
in  the  local  church,  the  prime  responsibil¬ 
ity  is  with  the  quarterly  conference  com¬ 
mittee  on  apportioned  benevolences.  To 
revitalize  and  make  effective  the  work  of 
this  committee,  the  department  prepares 
special  literature  and  stimulates  more 
active  responsibility  in  the  local  church. 
Beginning  with  the  apportioned  benevo¬ 
lence  committee,  the  department  hopes  to 
reach  out  and  help  all  of  the  local  church 
quarterly  conference  groups  to  more  effi¬ 
cient  service. 


628 


WORLD  SERVICE 


3.  Field  Department 

The  field  department  brings  the  chal¬ 
lenging  achievements  and  needs  of  our 
benevolent  work  through  the  living  voice 
to  the  churches  of  the  United  States.  To 
this  end  it  correlates  the  field  presenta¬ 
tions  of  all  the  boards  and  provides  addi¬ 
tional  speakers  and  workers  for  districts, 
conferences,  and  areas,  for  all  sorts  of 
meetings  and  occasions. 

Field  workersj — The  assignment  of  gen¬ 
eral  field  workers,  home  and  foreign  mis¬ 
sionaries,  and  special  representatives  to 
the  various  areas  is  done  by  the  field  de¬ 
partment.  The  most  effective  use  of  the 
time  of  these  workers  in  satisfying  the 
various  demands  of  the  field  is  a  difficult 
problem  for  the  central  promotional 
agency. 

The  area  offices. — All  relations  with  the 
area  offices  are  maintained  by  the  field  de¬ 
partment.  This  involves  the  necessary 
correlation  of  field  programs  throughout 
the  church  for  the  effective  use  of  field 
workers. 

The  area  secretary  is  the  educational 
and  promotional  agent  for  a  given  episco¬ 
pal  area  and  through  his  office,  in  co-oper¬ 
ation  with  the  resident  bishop,  the 
churches  find  their  contacts  with  the 
larger  organizations. 

Inspirational  meetings. — The  field  de¬ 
partment  also  has  opportunity  to  give 
counsel  on  the  program  of  great  inspira¬ 
tional  and  educational  gatherings  as  well 
as  for  conference,  district  and  sub-district 
meetings,  and  is  in  constant  demand  to 
supply  speakers  for  such  meetings  and  for 
local  churches. 


Annual  conference  visitation. — The  ar¬ 
rangements  for  anniversaries  and  for  the 
visits  of  the  representatives  of  the  dif¬ 
ferent  benevolent  boards  and  agencies  to 
the  annual  conferences  is  made  through 
the  field  department.  Attempts  and  ad¬ 
justments  are  being  made  continually  to 
make  these  presentations  of  greatest 
value  to  ministers  and  laymen. 

Jf.  General  Administration 

The  co-ordination  of  all  of  this  work  of 
the  committee  is  in  the  general  adminis¬ 
tration  which  also  has  immediate  charge 
of  the  central  office  and  all  of  its  depart- 
ments  and  different  functions. 

Life  service. — While  the  General  Con¬ 
ference  of  1920  created  a  Commission  on 
Life  Service,  it  also  authorized  the  Com¬ 
mittee  on  Conservation  and  Advance  to 
carry  out  “the  plans  of  the  Council  of 
Boards  of  Benevolence  for  the  enlistment 
of  the  youth  for  Christian  life  service.” 
In  view  of  these  provisions,  the  Commis¬ 
sion  on  Life  Service  is  happily  located  in 
the  offices  of  the  Committee  on  Conser¬ 
vation  and  Advance  and  its  work  closely 
correlated  with  our  general  administra¬ 
tion. 

Meetings  and  minutes. — The  calls  for  the 
various  committees  including  the  meet¬ 
ings  of  the  Executive  Committee  and  the 
Council  are  sent  from  the  general  office 
and  minutes  of  all  of  these  meetings  are 
recorded  and  sent  out  by  this  central 
agency.  The  general  administration  also 
is  responsible  for  arranging  the  dockets 
and  preparing  the  business  for  the  Coun¬ 
cil  as  well  as  caring  for  the  necessary  de¬ 
tails  as  to  place  of  meeting. 


BIBLE  CLASS  IN  NORTH  AFRICA 


The  final  citadel  of  heathenism  is  in  the  home,  and  that 
fortress  can  be  taken  by  women  only. 

Helen  Barrett  Montgomery 


WOMAN’S  FOREIGN  MISSIONARY  SOCIETY 


I.  THE  BEGINNINGS 
“The  Founders.” — Fifty-four  years  ago, 
on  a  stormy  twenty-third  of  March,  there 
met  in  the  vestry  of  Tremont  Street 
Church,  Boston,  a  group  of  eight  women 
whose  names  have  gone  into  history  as 
“The  Founders”  of  the  Woman’s  Foreign 
Missionary  Society  of  the  Methodist  Epis¬ 
copal  Church.  There  might  have  been 
others,  for  the  women  of  thirty  churches 
had  been  notified  of  the  meeting.  Some 
years  later  a  little  woman  stood  wistfully 
before  the  memorial  window  which  re¬ 
cords  the  names  of  “The  Founders.”  “My 
name  ought  to  have  been  there,”  she  re¬ 
marked.  “Were  you  one  of  that  historic 
group?”  inquired  a  sympathetic  voice. 
“No,  but  I  ought  to  have  been!  I  was 
invited  and  had  my  bonnet  on  ready  to  go 
but  I  untied  it  and  stayed  at  home  because 
of  the  storm.”  The  intrepid  women  who 
did  not  loose  their  bonnet  strings  and  suc¬ 
cumb  to  the  comforts  of  home  and  shelter, 


breathed  into  the  new  organization  the 
breath  of  determination  and  sacrifice 
which  have  ever  since  characterized  it. 
Mrs.  Clementina  Butler  came  through  the 
storm  from  South  Boston,  and  Mrs.  Lois 
Parker  from  Malden,  their  hearts  burning 
with  a  desire  to  rouse  Methodist  women 
to  a  sense  of  the  need  which  they,  as  wives 
of  missionaries,  had  seen  in  India. 

Thoburn  the  prophet. — God  has  his  own 
calendar  and  knows  no  limitations  of 
space.  Even  while  moving  on  the  hearts 
of  women  in  Boston,  he  was  putting  into 
the  mind  of  Thoburn,  missionary  seer  in 
India,  the  conviction  that  the  East  could 
not  be  evangelized  without  the  personal 
help  of  women.  Accordingly  he  urged  his 
sister,  then  teaching  in  Ohio,  to  join  him 
in  India.  She  presented  her  name  to 
the  young  society  at  its  first  public  meet¬ 
ing.  Then  came  from  India  a  plea  for 
a  medical  woman;  and  Dr.  Clara  Swain 
volunteered. 


629 


630 


WORLD  SERVICE 


The  first  missionaries. — The  two  young 
women  set  out  on  their  venture  of  faith  in 
November  of  the  same  year,  backed  only 
by  the  promise  of  prayers  and  support  on 
the  part  of  a  few  daring  women.  Their 
experiences  read  like  a  romance,  but  can 
be  matched  in  essential  details  by  those 
of  pioneers  in  every  mission  land.  Men 
did  not  appreciate  their  purpose;  women 
did  not  comprehend  it.  The  religious 
teachers  of  the  East  had  all  denied  to 
women  the  right  to  develop  and  achieve 
and  had  engendered  a  feeling  of  disrespect, 
if  not  of  contempt,  for  her.  She  was 
looked  upon  as  a  tool  or  toy,  a  baneful  in¬ 
fluence  to  be  kept  in  restraint  for  society’s 
good.  It  is  not  strange  that  the  civiliza¬ 
tions  of  the  East  became  static  and  deca¬ 
dent,  for  “no  nation  can  rise  above  the 
level  it  sets  for  its  womanhood.”  Christ 
alone  of  religious  teachers  recognized  “no 
male  nor  female,”  no  double  standards  by 
which  to  judge  the  guilty,  no  limitations  in 
development  because  of  sex.  His  gospel 
was  good  news,  indeed,  to  the  women  of 
the  East;  but  when  it  reached  them  it 
found  them  with  little  hope  or  aspiration 
either  for  themselves  or  for  their  daugh¬ 
ters.  Only  one  woman  in  a  thousand  in 
China  and  a  possible  eight  in  a  thousand 
in  India  could  read.  Girl  babies  were  not 
welcomed.  Baby  towers,  the  Yangtze,  and 
the  Ganges  were  requisitioned  to  lessen 
the  numbers  of  those  for  whom  dowries 
must  otherwise  be  provided  and  husbands 
procured.  One  need  not  be  surprised  that 


thousands  of  little  girls  were  dedicated  to 
lives  of  slavery  under  the  name  of  religion 
as  “temple  attendants;”  that  even  yet  in 
India  there  are  2,500,000  child  wives, 
and  40,000,000  women  locked  within 
harems  and  zenanas,  virtual  prisoners  for 
life. 

II.  FROM  MUSTARD  SEED  TO  TREE 

Some  of  the  Seeds 
In  India. — When  Miss  Thoburn  went  to 
India,  men  there  were  saying:  “We  be¬ 
lieve  in  the  depravity  of  women  and  the 
sanctity  of  a  cow.”  They  were  not  cordial 
to  her  efforts  to  educate  their  daughters. 
Her  first  little  bazaar  school  had  to  be 
guarded  at  the  entrance  by  a  boy  armed 
with  a  club. 

In  China,  Japan,  and  Korea. — The  Wool- 
ston  sisters  in  China  met  like  opposition. 
In  Japan,  Dora  Schoonmaker  was  driven 
out  five  times  in  one  year  from  the  quar¬ 
ters  she  had  rented  for  her  girls’  school.  In 
Korea  women  were  so  little  esteemed  they 
did  “not  even  have  a  name.” 

Some  of  the  Trees 
In  India. — But  all  this  represents  an¬ 
other  and  very  different  day.  Miss  Tho- 
burn’s  bazaar  school  developed  into  the 
first  Christian  College  for  women  in  the 
Orient.  It  has  received  generous  recogni¬ 
tion  from  the  government  and  has  just 
moved  into  fine  new  buildings,  as  the 
Woman’s  Department  of  Lucknow  Uni¬ 
versity.  Students,  including  sixteen  Hindu 
and  Moslem  girls,  come 
from  all  parts  of  India. 
The  first  woman  dentist, 
the  first  Mohammedan 
woman  physician,  the  first 
woman  agriculturalist  in 
India,  and  the  first  woman 
in  North  India  to  take  a 
Master  of  Arts  degree, 
are  graduates  of  Isabella 
Thoburn.  A  brilliant 
alumna  who  gives  prom¬ 
ise  of  being  a  second  Lila- 
vati  Singh,  is  now  taking 
the  degree  of  Doctor  of 
Philosophy  at  Columbia 


One  of  the  buildings  of  the  Hwa  Nan  Woman’s  College, 
Foochow,  China 


WOMEN’S  SOCIETIES 


631 


Geometry  class  in  Ewa  Haktang  school,  Seoul,  Korea 


as  the  first  holder  of  the 
Edith  Jackson  Fisher  Fel¬ 
lowship. 

In  China. — The  school 
which  the  Woolston  sis¬ 
ters  planted  has  grown 
into  our  splendid  Hwa 
Nan  College,  beautiful  for 
situation  and  for  cultured 
Christian  womanhood  of 
its  alumnae  and  student 
body.  The  students  con¬ 
duct  Sunday  schools  and 
public  welfare  activities  in  the  villages 
about  Foochow.  One  of  the  graduates,  a 
specialist  in  religious  education  from 
Boston,  makes  this  group  of  thirty  vil¬ 
lages  her  special  parish.  Every  member 
of  the  Senior  class  is  a  Christian.  No  one 
can  estimate  the  influence  of  the  teachers, 
the  Bible  women,  and  the  home  makers 
who  have  gone  from  this  school  into  the 
life  of  China  and  Malaysia.  A  recent  red 
letter  day  was  the  sod-breaking  ceremony 
for  the  new  Lydia  Trimble  dormitory, 
toward  which  the  students  and  alumnae 
raised  ten  thousand  dollars  gold. 

In  Japan. — The  school  which  Miss 
Schoonmaker  persisted  in  re-starting  in 
Tokyo  developed  into  our  crowded  Aoyama 
High  School  of  700  pupils,  from  which  450 
girls  had  to  be  turned  away  this  year.  A 
class  of  ninety-five  graduated  in  March, 
1922. 

In  Korea. — Ewa  Haktang  is  as  yet  the 
only  school  in  all  Korea  which  offers 
higher  education  to  girls.  So  eager  are 
these  maidens  of  Chosen  for  an  education 
that  they  storm  the  doors  for  admission 
and  are  content  to  sleep  on  the  bare  floor 
if  only  they  may  remain.  One  girl  walked 
150  miles  from  her  home  last  year  to 
attend  the  school.  The  present  enrolment 
(from  kindergarten  through  college  de¬ 
partments)  is  620. 

Again  in  China. — These  are  only  typical 
illustrations.  Let  one  more  suffice:  Fifty 
years  ago  Gertrude  Howe,  in  spite  of  pro¬ 
testing  friends,  “threw  her  life  away  on 
the  Chinese.”  She  braved  opposition  and 
started  a  school  with  little  castaway  babies 
as  a  nucleus.  She  lives  today  to  see  as  a 


result  of  her  life’s  investment,  three  fine 
high  schools,  three  hospitals  in  charge  of 
former  pupils,  a  home  for  cripples,  four 
boarding  schools,  seventy  day  schools 
with  two  thousand  pupils,  and  hundreds  of 
homes  presided  over  by  queenly  Christian 
women  trained  in  her  schools.  She  was 
also  one  of  the  founders  of  the  West  China 
Mission. 

III.  THIS  FREEDOM 

The  “new  woman”  in  the  East. — In  short, 
the  leaven  a  few  women  took  and  hid  in 
the  meal  has  lifted  the  whole  mass.  Of  all 
the  movements  that  characterize  the  East 
today,  none  is  more  significant  than  the 
“woman  movement.”  “The  World  was 
Made  for  Women,  Too,”  is  inscribed  over 
the  door  of  a  woman’s  clubroom  in  India ! 
“I  believe  in  equal  rights,  in  equal  chance 
to  work  and  in  equal  pay,”  said  one  of  our 
brilliant  Chinese  graduates,  now  a  doctor 
in  charge  of  one  of  our  hospitals.  An 
editorial  in  the  New  Woman,  a  paper  pub¬ 
lished  by  the  graduates  of  Ewa  Haktang, 
says,  “For  ages  women  have  been  treated 
like  animals  and  have  been  under  man’s 
foot.  For  ages  we  have  been  fettered  by 
unbroken  customs.  Now  we  propose  to 
lay  aside  these  fetters  and  be  free.  It  is 
the  purpose  of  this  magazine  to  discourage 
immorality  and  to  stand  for  high  ideals 
to  the  end  that  women  may  have  equal  re¬ 
sponsibilities,  equal  leisure.” 

The  logical  result  of  the  gospel. — One 
need  not  be  disturbed  by  this  militant 
woman  movement,  unwittingly  projected 
by  our  modest  mothers  and  the  mission¬ 
aries  they  sent  out.  It  is  the  logical  con- 


632 


WORLD  SERVICE 


Freshman  histology  class,  Woman’s  Union  Medical  College, 

Peking,  China 


sequent  of  education,  of  contact  with  the 
West,  and  of  preaching  the  Christian  doc¬ 
trine.  However,  unless  “this  freedom,” 
coveted  by  our  sisters  of  the  East,  be  tem¬ 
pered  by  Christian  principles  and  ideals, 
it  shall  have  been  obtained  with  a  great 
price.”  That  price  will  be  the  break-down 
of  family  and  social  life  and  the  surrender 
of  whatever  virtues  the  old  order  did  pos¬ 
sess.  Without  the  standards  and  safe¬ 
guards  of  Christianity,  without  right 
ideals  of  woman  and  of  her  proper  place 
in  social  uplift,  this  new  movement  carries 
within  itself  elements  of  far-reaching 
danger.  “It  is  a  Niagara  that  will  destroy, 
or  it  can  be  made  a  dynamo  of  power.” 
Truth  may  be  stronger  than  error  but  un¬ 
propagated  error  goes  farther  than  un¬ 
uttered  truth.  Wrong  ideals  of  the  wes¬ 
tern  woman  reach  the  East  by  cables, 
press,  radio,  and  cinema.  The  Christian 
woman  is  not  so  advertised.  We  must 
make  her  ideals  known  by  increasing  the 
number  of  those  who  may  become  and  who 
can  create  wise  leaders  for  these  restless, 
aspiring  hosts.  They  are  tearing  the  veils 
from  their  faces.  We  must  lift  the  veils 
also  from  their  hearts  and  minds.  We 
must  create  a  Christian  literature  for 
them  and  provide  more  Bible  women  to 
expound  the  truth  which  will  make  free. 
We  must  equip  our  higher  institutions  of 
learning,  normal  schools,  college  libraries? 
and  laboratories  in  order  to  meet  this 
emergent  situation. 

A  united  financial  campaign.  —  Again, 
events  were  divinely  timed.  Contempora¬ 
neous  with  this  “Feminist  Movement,”  God 
put  into  the  hearts  of  Christian  women  of 
different  denominations  the  desire  to  pro¬ 
mote  a  united  financial  campaign  for  the 
building  and  equipment  of  six  Union  Col¬ 
leges  for  women  in  the  Orient.  Approxi¬ 


mately  $3,000,000  was 
raised  by  this  fine  co¬ 
operative  effort :  Metho¬ 
dist  women  contributed 
$271,958.86.  Added  to 
this,  the  Rockefeller  cred¬ 
its  and  the  amount  raised 
by  the  Methodist  women 
for  their  own  colleges 
bring  their  total  to  $491,884.86. 

IV.  REPORTS 

1.  The  Finances  of  the  Society 

Treasury. — The  Society,  at  its  annual 
meeting,  makes  a  budget  and  appropria¬ 
tions  for  the  coming  year— from  an  empty 
treasury !  It  is  an  act,  not  of  presumption, 
but  of  faith  to  be  accompanied  by  “works.” 
Appropriations  generally  provide  for  at 
least  a  ten  per  cent  increase  in  returns. 
The  appropriations  for  the  current  year 
total  $2,357,276,  allowing  3.2  per  cent  only, 
for  both  home  and  foreign  administration 
expense.  There  are  no  salaried  officers 
and  all  items  of  expense  are  kept  at  the 
lowest  possible  level. 

From  “two  cents”  to  the  tithe. — “Two 
Cents  a  Week  and  a  Prayer”  was  the 
slogan  and  pledge  of  the  members  in  the 
early  days  of  the  society.  The  dues  con¬ 
tinue  to  be  one  dollar  per  year,  but  no 
woman  today  can  satisfy  herself  with  a 
gift  so  meager— nor  did  our  mothers. 
They  supplemented  dues  by  “tithes  and 
offerings,”  annuities,  bequests,  and  memo¬ 
rials.  Sixty  thousand  members  are  now 
pledged  to  give  one-tenth  of  their  in¬ 
come  for  the  extension  of  the  kingdom. 
But  it  is  the  latter  part  of  the  pledge,  com¬ 
bined  with  the  first,  that  has  laid  hold  of 
the  divine  resources.  Twenty-four  thou¬ 
sand  women  are  members  of  the  League 
of  Intercessors  and  are  praying  for  the 
dedication  of  life  and  means  for  this  world 
task,  and  for  continued  benediction  on 
the  work  of  their  hands. 

Publications.  —  The  Publication  Office 
has  made  a  record  of  more  than  fifty 
years  of  self-support.  Millions  of  pages 
of  programs,  leaflets,  and  demonstrations 
leave  its  presses  annually.  The  Woman’s 


WOMEN’S  SOCIETIES 


633 


Missionary  Friend  and 
the  Junior  Friend  have 
made  a  combined  gain,  in 
the  last  six  months,  of 
1,583  subscribers,  making 
156,391  subscriptions. 

2.  The  Jubilee 

Fiftieth  anniversary - 

The  Society  celebrated  its 
fiftieth  anniversary  in  Boston  in  1919. 
Goals  had  been  set  in  1914,  when,  in  the 
midst  of  lowering  war  clouds,  uncertainty 
as  to  procedure  and  policy,  perils  by  sea 
and  in  foreign  lands,  the  women  felt 
acutely  the  need  of  advance  in  order 
to  meet  the  world  needs  and  conditions. 
More  keenly  did  they  feel  the  need 
of  united  and  definite  prayer,  so  the 
League  of  Intercessors  was  formed,  the 
members  pledging  themselves  “to  give 
time  from  day  to  day  to  quiet,  unhurried 
thoughts  about  God  and  his  world-wide 
purpose,  and  to  definite  prayer  for  the 
progress  of  his  kingdom.” 

The  women  then  set  themselves  to  the 
task  of  reaching  these  goals : 

“One  thousand  missionaries  on  Jubilee 
Roll; 

“Four  hundred  thousand  members; 

“Two  hundred  thousand  subscribers  to 
our  periodicals; 

“Sixteen  hundred  thousand  dollars  in 
1919  for  the  conquest.” 

These  goals  were  met.  How  Mother 
Parker’s  heart  must  have  rejoiced  as  she 
sat  on  the  platform  at  Boston  and  heard 
that  the  Society  she  had  helped  to  organ¬ 
ize  had  sent  to  the  women  of  other  lands, 
1,087  missionaries  whose  service  totaled 
5,965  years ;  that  receipts  for  the  year  rep¬ 
resented  501  times  the  amount  collected 
in  1869,  and  that  the  membership  had 
grown  from  eight  to  459,498 !  Mother 

Parker  still  has  occasion  for  gratitude  as 
each  report  finds  her  in  her  Indian  home. 

3.  The  Secretary’s  Report 

Organizations 

Auxiliaries  .  8,383 

Young  People  and  Standard  Bearers .  3,637 

King’s  Herald  Band  .  3,469 

Little  Light  Bearer  Circles .  2,837 

18,326 


_  fr*  A®  9  9  .#  «  jtj.IL 

kdfe  iar’v 

From  the  Mary  Johnston  Hospital,  Manila,  P.  I. 

Membership 

Auxiliaries  . . 377,109 

Young  People  and  Standard  Bearers .  83,498 

King’s  Heralds  .  83,006 

Little  Light  Bearers  .  75,119 

618,732 

Subscriptions 

Woman’s  Missionary  Friend  .  98,189 

Junior  Missionary  Friend  .  65,619 

Der  Frauen-Missions-Freund  .  3,351 

M  one  y 

Receipts  . $2,255,740.88 

V.  FIELD  ACTIVITIES 

1.  Evangelistic 

The  Society’s  evangelistic  campaign  in 
1920  secured  thirteen  new  evangelistic 
missionaries;  support  for  200  new  Bible 
women;  a  building  fund  of  $122,170;  lit¬ 
erature  for  all  the  Oriental  lands  and  pro¬ 
vision  for  itinerating  our  evangelists. 

The  task  of  our  evangelists  is  chal¬ 
lenging  and  tremendous.  Centuries  of 
isolation,  of  ignorance,  and  of  suppression 
still  weigh  upon  the  native  Christian 
women.  There  are  500,000  more  men  than 
women  in  the  native  Methodist  churches. 
“The  home,  and  not  the  individual  is  the 
unit  of  the  church”  and  the  church  can 
not  fulfill  its  proper  mission  until  the 
women  are  an  evangelising  agency  within 
their  own  families  and  communities. 
Summary  of  evangelistic  achievement: 

Bible  Training  Schools .  36,  Enrolment  8^0 

Bible  Training  Institutes . 375,  Enrolment  9,407 

Bible  women  .  2,631 

Women  under  instruction  . 242,723 

Women  and  girls  baptized  in  1922 .  20,715 

2.  Educational 

a.  “Children’s  Year.”— This  year  has 
been  Children’s  Year.  The  2,000  little  tots 
in  kindergartens,  the  more  than  34,000 
little  girls  in  our  primaries,  and  the  un- 


41 


634 


WORLD  SERVICE 


privileged  children  of  our  village  day- 
schools  have  been  the  special  objects  of 
prayers  and  gifts.  The  Society  is  striving 
to  create  the  ideals  of  the  coming  genera¬ 
tion,  but  it  is  able  to  touch  only  a  fringe. 
There  are  70,000,000  children  of  school 
age  in  China,  and  only  4,000,000  of  them 
in  schools  of  any  kind.  Of  these  there  are 
ninety-six  boys  to  four  girls  in  the  lower 
primary  grades  and  ninety-five  to  five  in 
the  higher  primary.  “This  startling  dis¬ 
crepancy  indicates  the  greatest  lack  in 
Chinese  public  education  and  the  place 
where  help  from  the  Christian  movement 
is  most  needed.”  A  challenge  to  the  Chris¬ 
tian  womanhood  of  America! 

In  India,  where  the  masses  are  turning 
to  the  Christian  church,  and  where  our 
own  denomination  baptized  136,000  last 
year,  100,000  Methodist  children  have  no 
school  privileges.  We  must  not  raise  an 
illiterate  church.  We  have  at  present  983 
village  schools  in  India  and  Burma.  It  is 
the  purpose  of  the  Society  to  increase  such 
schools,  to  standardize  and  better  equip 
them,  and  to  lift,  by  vocational  training, 
the  economic  status  of  those  who  attend. 

b.  “High  School  Year.”  —  The  year 
1923-24  has  been  set  apart  for  special  em¬ 
phasis  on  high,  normal,  and  vocational 
training  schools.  In  these  an  army  of 
native  teachers  will  be  trained  for  elemen¬ 
tary  schools.  The  high  schools  supply  not 
only  the  students  who  enter  college  but 
also  those  greater  numbers  who  enter  im¬ 
mediately  into  professional  or  home  life. 
In  one  high  school  seventy-nine  girls  were 
baptized  this  year.  In  another  all  but  two 
pupils  are  Christians.  The  teachers  realize, 
as  one  writes,  “Our  first  business  is  to  love 
these  girls  into  a  knowledge  of  Christ.” 
And  this  does  not  involve  loss  of  scholar¬ 
ship  ! 

The  industrial  woman. — More  and  more 
girls  and  women  must  be  prepared  to  be 
economic  factors  by  reason  of  what  they 
can  do.  Otherwise  there  must  continue  to 
be  child  wives  and  girl  widows.  The  in¬ 
creasing  number  of  those  who  are  being 
exploited  as  mine  and  factory  workers, 
under  intolerable  conditions  must  like¬ 
wise  receive  an  intelligent  ministry.  The 


Society  hopes  to  provide  settlement  Ilduses, 
social  workers,  and  hostels  to  meet  this 
new  phase  of  work  among  women.  In 
many  cases,  employers  welcome  such  serv¬ 
ice.  The  factory  owners  of  Cawnpore 
have  offered  to  finance  a  system  of  schools 
for  the  hundreds  of  children  of  employees 
if  the  Society  will  but  provide  an  experi¬ 
enced  teacher  to  organize  and  oversee  the 
work. 

c.  Summary  of  educational  activities. — 


Schools  of  all  grades .  1,316 

Kindergartens  .  4-1 

Day  Schools  .  1,117 

Boarding  Schools  . 112 

Woman’s  Foreign  Missionary  Society  Col¬ 
leges  .  3 

Union  Colleges  .  6 

Pupils  in  all  grades . 45,993 

Kindergartens  .  1,962 

Lower  and  Higher  Primary . 34,155 

Middle  Schools  .  2,429 


3.  Medical 

The  recent  medical  campaign  yielded 
$234,468,  four  new  doctors,  eleven  nurses, 
four  heating  plants,  four  lighting  plants, 
seven  isolation  wards,  and  supplies  to  the 
value  of  $30,000.  There  is  still  need,  in 
our  hospitals,  for  doctors,  nurses,  techni¬ 
cians,  dietitians,  business  managers,  libra¬ 
ries,  instruments,  supplies  of  every  sort. 
Twenty  are  in  operation  with  a  total  staff 
of  438,  twenty-seven  of  whom  are  mis- 


Missionary  selling  Scripture  portions  at 
railway  station,  Brindaban,  India 


sionary  doctors,  matched  by  an  equal  num¬ 
ber  of  native  women  physicians.  These 
hospitals  ministered  last  year  to  more  than 
260,000  patients,  giving  them  the  “Christ 
treatment,”  as  a  grateful  patient  said,  as 
well  as  the  most  scientific  medical  care. 


WOMEN’S  SOCIETIES 


635 


But  the  tragic  physical  need  of  the  women 
of  the  East  can  never  be  met  except  by 
rapidly  increasing  the  number  of  native 
doctors  and  trained  nurses.  The  next  im¬ 
perative  task  is  to  strengthen,  staff  and 
equip  the  North  China  Medical  School, 
which,  in  spite  of  every 
handicap,  has  sent  out 
trained  Christian  grad¬ 
uates  who  are  helping  to 
save  the  loss  as  well  as  the 
lost.  One  half  the  babies 
in  China  die  before  they  are 
a  year  old.  There  are  but 
ninety-three  women  physi¬ 
cians  in  China  to  200,000,- 
000  women.  The  Vellore 
Medical  School  in  India  is 
training  its  girls  not  only 
in  medical  science  but  in 
social  service  among  the 
outcastes. 

The  Society  hopes, 
through  community  nurses, 
training  in  the  schools,  pop¬ 
ular  literature,  pictures, 
lectures,  and  public  dem¬ 
onstrations  to  lessen  the 
mortality  by  epidemics, 
plagues,  tuberculosis  and 
preventable  diseases.  “Itin¬ 
erant  dispensaries”  are 
needed  to  accompany  evangelists 
the  villages,  and  malnutrition  must  be  off¬ 
set  by  the  teaching  of  food  conservation 
and  domestic  science  adapted  to  the  life  of 
the  East. 

Summary  of  medical  work: 

Hospitals  .  20 

Missionary  doctors  . 

Missionary  nurses  . 

Native  doctors  . 

Native  nurses  . 


Phulmoni-bai,  the  first  pupil  in  the 
Johnson  Girls’  High  School  of 
our  mission  at  Jubbulpore, 
India — Shown  here  with 
two  of  her  daughters 


into 


27 

24 

27 

56 


Total  staff  .  438 

Number  of  hospital  beds  .  1,254 

Number  of  hospital  patients  .  12,381 

Dispensary  and  out-patient  treatments . 260,520 

VI.  THE  ADVANCE  PROGRAM 
1.  For  the  Foreign  Field 
Opportunities  are  varied  and  endless. 
The  advance  program  contemplates  work 
along  usual  lines  but  with  new  emphasis 


on  the  creation  of  native  literature  and 
on  the  development  of  native  support  and 
leadership.  Schools  in  Manchuria;  co¬ 
operation  in  college  work  in  West  China; 
establishment  of  a  social  center  in  Tokyo; 
and  in  Seoul ;  a  hostel  for  students  in  Sofia ; 

housing  of  seventy-five  ex¬ 
isting  day  schools  in  West 
China;  participation  in 
North  China  Medical 
School ;  entirely  new  plant 
for  school  of  more  than  two 
hundred  at  Nagasaki; 
community  house  with  kin¬ 
dergarten  at  Hakodate, 
Japan ;  kindergartens  for 
hundreds  of  eager  little 
Korean  “kiddies”  (we  have 
800  in  schools  in  one  city 
alone)  ;  high  school  at  Kong 
Ju  which  will  minister  to 
one-third  of  Methodist  pop¬ 
ulation  of  Korea ;  new  plant 
at  Bombay,  hostel  for  nor¬ 
mal  at  Godhra,  India ;  Edith 
Jackson  Memorial  at  Dar¬ 
jeeling;  patients’  hostel  in 
Baroda,  India ;  enlarged 
plant  in  Lovetch,  Bulgaria; 
dispensaries  and  industrial 
equipment  for  Africa ;  new 
building  for  overcrowded 
school  in  Lima,  Peru ;  scholarship  fund 
for  advance  work  of  promising  graduates; 
adequate  salaries  for  trained  nationals; 
increased  endowment  for  our  retired  mis¬ 
sionaries — these  are  among  the  new  proj¬ 
ects  under  consideration.  Better  housing 
for  our  missionaries,  prevention  of  disease, 
public  health  programs  are  to  receive  in¬ 
creased  emphasis. 

2.  For  the  Home  Base 
The  advance  program  on  the  home  base 
contemplates  for  each  year  not  less  than 
a  ten  per  cent  increase  in  members,  sub¬ 
scribers,  tithers,  intercessors,  and  money. 
It  aims  also  at  erasing  the  words  “daugh¬ 
terless”  and  “childless”  from  before  aux¬ 
iliaries  in  churches  which  now  have  no 
organization  for  the  training  of  children 
and  young  people  through  the  Little  Light 


636 


WORLD  SERVICE 


Bearers,  King’s  Heralds,  Standard  Bear¬ 
ers,  and  Young  Women’s  organizations.  A 
new  group  which  promises  much  for 
the  future  of  both  the 
foreign  and  the  home 
societies,  is  the  Wes¬ 
leyan  Service  Guild,  an 
organization  of  business 
and  professional  women, 
affiliated  with  both  socie¬ 
ties.  In  some  one  of  these 
groups  there  is  a  place  for 
every  Methodist  woman 
and  child  to  assist  in 
carrying  the  good  news  to 
the  “uttermost  parts.” 

Forty -eight  missionaries 
are  supported  by  the  chil¬ 
dren’s  organizations.  Even 
shut-ins  and  those  who  live 
where  they  can  join  no 
auxiliary,  may  have  a  share 
in  this  work,  through  Ex¬ 
tension  circles.  There  are 
30,000  Extension  members, 
and  they  support  thirty- 
three  missionaries. 

3.  The  Call  for 
Volunteers 

The  present  field  force: 

Missionaries  in  active  service . 

New  missionaries  sent  out,  1922 
New  missionaries  accepted,  1922. 

Native  workers  in  all  departments . 5,000 

Recruits  needed  at  home  and  afield. — 
The  Society  pleads  for  more  members, 
more  tithers,  more  intercessors.  A  French 
writer  has  said,  “American  women  are 
the  most  favored  in  the  world,  and  also 
the  most  selfish.”  May  it  not  be  said  of 
American  Methodist  women !  Even  so,  if 
they  give  to  the  world  the  best  they  have, 
the  best  comes  back  to  them.  Commit¬ 
ment  to  such  a  world  task  lifts  one’s  hori¬ 
zon,  challenges  one’s  latent  talents,  in¬ 
creases  one’s  fellowship  with  choice  spirits 
and  makes  one  a  co-worker  with  the  Lord 
of  the  harvest. 

The  Society  imperatively  needs  more 
than  consecration  of  time  and  means  on 


the  part  of  women  at  home.  It  needs  the 
giving  of  life  itself  in  investment 
which  promises  greatest  possible  returns. 

Trained,  consecrated  Chris¬ 
tian  women  to  go  as  teach¬ 
ers,  social  workers,  super¬ 
visors,  doctors,  nurses, 
evangelists — these  are  its 
constant  and  crying  need. 
Two  hundred  and  seventy- 
nine  women  are  an  imme¬ 
diate,  specific  need. 

The  task.  —  Seventy-five 
million  women  in  foreign 
lands  have  been  assigned 
to  Methodist  women  as 
their  “responsibility.”  The 
task  of  evangelizing  them 
is  humanly  impossible,  but 
is  slowly  being  achieved 
through  the  power  of 
prayer  and  of  consecrated 
lives.  Help  is  coming  from 
unreckoned  sources.  Every 
Methodist  church  in  Den¬ 
mark  has  an  auxiliary; 
Finland  reports  800  mem¬ 
bers;  and  Sweden,  6,000. 
Bulgarian  churches  are 
well  organized  and  publish 
their  own  Woman’s  Foreign  Missionary 
Society  paper.  Three  thousand  and  eighty- 
three  women  in  the  Orient  desiring  to  bear 
witness  to  the  uttermost  parts,  have  joined 
the  Society.  “He  hath  set  the  world  in 
their  hearts.”  They  are  lifting  themselves 
beyond  the  bounds  of  racialism  and  nation¬ 
alism  into  sympathy  with  the  common 
needs  of  humanity.  They  are  using  the 
Society’s  study  books ;  teaching  their  chil¬ 
dren  world  friendship;  supporting  schol¬ 
arships  in  Africa;  sending  Christmas 
boxes  to  new  fields ;  filling  mite  boxes  and 
bringing  out  of  their  penury  tithes  and 
thank-offerings  in  order  to  extend  to 
other  lands  the  blessings  Christ  has 
brought  to  them.  This  is  the  true  genius 
of  Christianity.  Could  there  be  a  finer  bond 
of  international  understanding  than  this 
common  purpose  to  make  known  to  all  the 
earth  Him  who  prayed  that  His  followers 
should  be  “one”? 


Mother  dead,  father  unloving, 
Sundni  was  drifting  on  the 
streets  of  Bowringpet,  In¬ 
dia,  when  your  missionary 
found  her 


677 

77 

90 


MEXICAN  GIRLS,  FRANCIS  DE  PAUW  SCHOOL,  LOS  ANGELES,  CALIFORNIA 

Lord  our  all,  as  through  the  years 
We  plant  with  joy,  or  sow  with  tears. 

Help  us  to  serve,  ’ mid  praise  or  blame. 

For  love  of  Christ,  and  in  his  name. 

Mary  A.  Lathbury 


WOMAN’S  HOME  MISSIONARY  SOCIETY 


1.  HISTORICAL  AND  LEGAL 

1.  Origin  and  Aim 

The  Woman’s  Home  Missionary  Society 
of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  was 
organized  in  1880  in  Trinity  Church,  Cin¬ 
cinnati,  Ohio.  Its  aim  is  stated  in  the 
constitution  of  the  Society:  “To  enlist 
and  organize  the  interest  of  Christian 
women  in  behalf  of  the  needy  and  desti¬ 
tute  in  all  sections  of  our  country.” 

2.  Management 

The  work  of  the  Society  is  managed  by 
a  Board  of  Trustees  who  are  elected  an¬ 
nually  by  a  Board  of  Managers,  itself 
composed  of  representatives  from  the 
various  units  of  the  organization. 

3.  Finances 

The  funds  of  the  Woman’s  Home  Mis¬ 
sionary  Society  are  secured  through  its 
constituency  which  is  organized  into  units 
for  women,  young  people,  and  children. 
In  addition  to  the  dues  paid  by  members, 


the  local  organizations  pledge  to  raise 
other  sums  which  may  be  needed  for  the 
promotion  of  the  work. 

Special  gifts  from  individuals  are  re¬ 
ceived  through  the  regular  channels  of 
the  organization. 

The  organization  is  permitted  to  pre¬ 
sent  its  work  to  the  public  congregation 
once  each  year,  and  this  public  meeting  is 
frequently  the  opportunity  for  thank  offer¬ 
ing  collections,  the  proceeds  of  which  are 
applied  to  the  payment  of  missionary 
salaries. 

II.  SCOPE  OF  ACTIVITIES 

1.  Schools 

The  Woman’s  Home  Missionary  Society 
has  established  schools  for  Negroes,  Indi¬ 
ans,  Eskimos,  Orientals,  Mexicans,  and 
also  for  whites  in  those  localities  where 
educational  opportunity  is  otherwise  lack¬ 
ing.  It  is  significant  that  America,  sup¬ 
posedly  one  of  the  most  civilized  nations 
in  the  world,  stands  eleventh  in  the  line 

637 


638 


WORLD  SERVICE 


of  literacy.  Ten  of  the  leading  nations  of 
the  world  have  less  illiteracy  than  has  the 
United  States! 

2.  Orphanages  and  Homes 
The  Society  has  erected  orphanages; 
homes  for  girls  whose  wages  are  in¬ 
adequate  to  provide  them  wholesome  quar¬ 
ters  elsewhere  (Esther  and  Friendship 
Homes)  ;  hospitals  and  dispensaries;  day 
nurseries;  kindergartens;  city  missions; 
houses  of  refuge  and  protection  for  immi¬ 
grants  at  our  ports  of  entry;  and  training 
schools  for  those  who  wish  to  prepare  for 
life  service  in  the  home  land  or  in  foreign 
fields. 

3.  Deaconesses 

In  all  the  great  cities  of  our  land,  dea¬ 
conesses  of  the  Woman’s  Home  Mission¬ 
ary  Society  serve  as  “Travelers’  Aids,”  as 
nurses,  as  pastor’s  assistants,  as  teachers, 
as  preachers,  and  as  general  burden- 
bearers. 

4.  Supplies 

Through  the  Department  of  Supplies, 
the  Society  carries  aid  to  frontier  churches 
and  to  the  poor  and  needy  everywhere. 
Had  it  not  been  for  the  aid  received 
through  this  Supply  Department,  many 
preachers  in  the  far  West  could  not  have 
remained  on  their  charges. 

5.  Work  for  Young  People 
Through  its  organizations  for  young 
people  and  children,  this  Society  assists  in 
the  training  of  an  army  of  Methodist 
young  people  to  carry  the  ideals  of  Christ 


Fourth  year  cooking  class,  Thayer  Home, 
Clark  University 


into  the  daily  living  of  thousands  of 
American  families. 

III.  INSTITUTIONS  OF  THE  SOCIETY 

The  Woman’s  Home  Missionary  Society 
is  carrying  on  the  following  forms  of  work 
through  its  national  organization : 

Alaskan  Work 

Nome — Home,  school,  and  hospital. 

Unalaska — Home,  school,  and  hospital. 

Children’s  Homes 

Illinois,  Polo — Peek  Orphanage. 

Louisiana,  Baldwin — Sager-Brown  Orphanage. 
Nebraska,  York— Mother’s  Jewels. 

New  York,  Tivoli — Watts  De  Peyster. 

Chinese  Home 
San  Francisco,  California. 

City  Work 

Illinois,  Chicago- — Marcy  Center. 

Illinois,  East  St.  Louis — East  St.  Louis  Settlement. 
Indiana,  Gary — Campbell  Settlement. 
Massachusetts,  Boston— Boston  Medical  Mission. 
Oregon,  Portland — Portland  Center. 

Pennsylvania,  Hazelton  and  Berwick — Anthracite 
Slavonic  Missions. 

Vermont,  Barry — Barry  Settlement. 

Deaconess  Department 

Thirty-three  Homes,  many  including  settlement 
work. 

Epworth  School  for  Girls 
St.  Louis,  Missouri. 

Esther  Home  and  Mother’s  Memorial  Social  Center 
Cincinnati,  Ohio. 

Hospitals 

California,  Los  Angeles — Methodist  Hospital  of 
Southern  California. 

Florida,  Jacksonville — Brewster  Hospital. 

Iowa,  Keokuk — Graham  Hospital. 

Missouri,  Carbondale — Holden  Memorial  Hospital. 
Missouri,  Springfield — Ellen  A.  Burge  Hospital. 
New  Mexico,  Albuquerque — Methodist  Deaconess 
Sanitarium. 

South  Dakota,  Rapids  City — Methodist  Deaconess 
Hospital. 

Immigrant  Homes 

California,  San  Francisco — Angel  Island. 
Massachusetts,  Boston — East  Boston  Immigrant 
Home. 

New  York,  New  York — New  York  Immigrant 
Girls’  Home. 

Indian  Work 

Arizona,  Yuma — Yuma  Mission. 

California,  Greenville — Greenville  Mission. 

Kansas,  Lawrence — Esther  Home. 

Kansas,  Lawrence — Religious  Director  at  Haskell 
Institute. 

Kansas,  Mayetta — Potawatami  Missions. 

Navajo  Reservation — Field  Missionary. 

New  Mexico,  Farmington — Navajo  Industrial 
Home  and  School. 

Oklahoma,  Whiteagle — Ponca  Mission. 
Washington,  Everson— Nooksack  Mission. 
Wisconsin,  Odanah — Odanah  Home  and  Mission. 
Japanese  and  Korean  Work 

California,  Los  Angeles — Bible  Women  for  Settle¬ 
ment  Work. 


WOMEN’S  SOCIETIES 


639 


California,  Los  Angeles,  Jane  Couch  Memorial 
Home. 

California,  San  Francisco — Ellen  Stark  rord 
Home. 

California,  San  Francisco — Two  Bible  Women  for 
.Settlement  Work. 

Honolulu,  T.  H. — Susannah  Wresley  Home. 
Washington,  Seattle— Catherine  Blaine  Home. 
Negro  Work 

Arkansas,  Little  Rock— Adeline  Smith  Home. 
Florida,  Jacksonville— Boylan  Home  and  School. 
Georgia,  Atlanta — Thayer  Home  and  School. 
Georgia,  Savannah— Haven  Home  and  School. 
Louisiana,  New  Orleans— Kindergartens  at  At¬ 
lanta,  Georgia. 

Louisiana,  New  Orleans — Peck  Home. 

Mississippi,  Holly  Springs — E.  L.  Rust  Home. 
North  Carolina,  Asheville — Allen  Home  and 
School. 

North  Carolina,  Greensboro — Kent  Home. 

South  Carolina,  Camden— Browning  Home  and 
School. 

Tennessee,  Morristown — New  Jersey  Conference 
Home. 

Texas,  Austin — Eliza  Dee  Home. 

Rest  Home  for  Retired  Workers 

New  Jersey,  Ocean  Grove — Bancroft-Taylor  and 
Sunset  Rest  Homes. 

Spanish  Work 

Arizona,  Tucson— Mary  J.  Platt  Home  and  School. 
California,  Los  Angeles— Frances  DePauw  Home 
and  School. 

New  Mexico,  Albuquerque — Harwood  Home  and 
School. 

Porto  Rico — Four  Day  Schools. 

Porto  Rico — George  O.  Robinson  Orphanage  and 
Orvis  Hall. 

Santo  Domingo— Co-operation  in  Santo  Domingo 
and  the  Leper  Colony. 

Texas,  El  Paso — Rose  Gregory  Houchen  Settle¬ 
ment  and  Dispensary. 

Training  Schools 

California,  San  Francisco — San  Francisco  Train¬ 
ing  School. 

Connecticut,  New  Haven — Dwight  Wr.  Blakeslee. 
District  of  Columbia,  Washington — Lucy  Webb 
Hayes  and  Sibley  Hospital. 

Iowa,  Des  Moines — Iowa  Bible. 

Missouri,  Kansas  City — Kansas  City  Training 
School. 

New  York,  Herkimer — Folts  Mission  Institute. 
Pennsylvania,  Uniontown  —  McCrum  Slavonic 
Training  School. 

Utah 

Bingham  Canyon — Bingham  Canyon  Settlement. 
Ogden — Esther  Home. 

Salt  Lake  City — Davis  Deaconess  Home. 

White  Work  in  Southern  States 
Alabama,  Boaz — Rebecca  McClesky  Home. 

Georgia,  Cedartown — McCarty  Home  and  Settle¬ 
ment. 

Kentucky,  Olive  Hill — Aiken  Hall  and  Erie  Home. 
Mississippi,  Mathiston — Bennett  Academy  and 
Home. 

North  Carolina,  Misenheimer — Mitchell  Home  and 
School. 

Tennessee,  Athen — Ritter  Home. 

In  addition  to  the  work  being  carried 
on  by  the  national  Society  there  are  many 


Baby  clinic  at  Marcy  Center,  Chicago 


institutions  such  as  children’s  homes,  set¬ 
tlements  and  kindergartens  under  the  con¬ 
trol  of  the  local  conference  organizations. 


IV.  REPORT  OF  PROGRESS 

1.  Membership 

At  the  annual  meeting  of  the  Woman’s 
Home  Missionary  Society  in  Pittsburgh, 
October,  1922,  it  was  reported  that  ninety 
conferences  were  organized  for  home  mis¬ 
sionary  work,  with  the  following  member¬ 


ship  : 

Adults  or  auxiliary . 256,282 

Young  people .  66.815 

Children  . 122,396 


Total .  445,493 

These  figures  show  a  total  net  gain  of 
17,334  members  over  the  report  of  the  pre¬ 
ceding  year. 

2.  Field  Workers 

The  forces  on  the  field  are : 


Missionaries  .  550 

Deaconesses  .  468 

Associate  workers  .  44 


Total  . 1,062 

3.  Students 

The  students  in  the  homes  and  schools 
number  6,267.  Those  who  receive  the 
ministry  of  settlements  through  deacon¬ 
esses  and  community  workers  number 
many  thousands  more. 

4.  Buildings 

Under  our  five-year  building  program, 
one  new  building  has  been  completed  at 


640 


WORLD  SERVICE 


G.  O.  Robinson  Girls’  Orphanage, 
San  Juan,  P.  R. 


each  of  the  following  National  Training 
Schools: 

California,  San  Francisco — San  Fran¬ 
cisco  Training  School. 

Iowa,  Des  Moines — Iowa  Bible. 

Missouri,  Kansas  City  —  Kansas  City 
Training  School. 

New  York,  Herkimer — Folts  Mission  In¬ 
stitute. 

In  addition  to  these,  Thayer  Home,  At¬ 
lanta,  Georgia,  the  Society’s  first  Indus¬ 
trial  Home  in  the  Southland,  has  been  en¬ 
tirely  made  over  and  enlarged.  This  is 
located  on  Clark  University  campus.  The 
Training  School  for  Negro  Young  Women 
will  be  housed  there  in  the  early  fall. 

A  Community  House  at  Leisingring, 
Pennsylvania,  among  Slavonic  people  not 
only  aids  the  betterment  of  the  mining 
community,  but  also  gives  opportunity  for 
training  in  Christian  social  service  to  the 
young  women  of  our  McCrum  Slavonic 
Training  School  at  Uniontown,  Pennsyl¬ 
vania. 

The  Frances  De  Pauw  Home  and  School, 
one  of  the  industrial  institutions  for  Span- 
ish-American  girls  has  completed  a  new 
building  which  has  doubled  the  capacity 
of  the  home.  The  bishop  who  dedicated 
this  splendid  building  said,  “It  is  a  bridge 
into  Old  Mexico.” 

The  Rose  Gregory  Houchen  Settlement 
House  for  young  people  and  children  in 
El  Paso,  Texas,  has  added  another  prop¬ 


erty  and  building  for  the  dispensary  and 
clinic. 

The  Gertrude  Orvis  Hall,  San  Turce, 
Porto  Rico,  has  recently  been  dedicated. 
The  new  building  at  the  Susannah  Wesley 
Home,  Honolulu,  also  has  been  completed. 

The  hospital  at  Nome,  Alaska,  is  com¬ 
pleted  and  ministers  comfort  to  many  in 
that  far-away  land. 

The  school  house  at  the  Navajo  Indian 
Mission,  Farmington,  New  Mexico,  pro¬ 
vides  better  educational  facilities  for  the 
Navajo  children  of  whom  several  thousand 
are  reached  by  no  school  at  all. 

The  E.  L.  Rust  Industrial  School  for 
Negro  girls  has  been  enlarged  to  provide 
room  for  additional  pupils. 

The  Administration  Building  at  Mitchell 
Home,  Misenheimer,  North  Carolina,  is 
now  being  built  at  an  approximate  cost  of 
$75,000  and  will  be  an  asset  to  the  entire 
community.  This  institution  is  for  the 
Southern  Highlanders. 

Spurlock  Hall  is  a  much  needed  addition 
to  the  Mother’s  Jewels  Home,  York,  Ne¬ 
braska,  our  largest  orphanage. 

Sager-Brown  Orphanage  for  Negro  chil¬ 
dren  is  at  last  a  fulfillment  of  the  South’s 
long  and  earnest  desire  to  help  these  needy 
children,  and  was  made  possible  at  this 
time  by  the  transfer  of  property  by  the 
Board  of  Education  for  Negroes. 

Many  buildings  have  been  erected,  pur¬ 
chased  or  received  by  special  gift  for  local 
conference  work.  The  maintenance  of 
these  institutions  is  authorized  and  ap¬ 
proved  by  the  national  Woman’s  Home 
Missionary  Society. 


Kindergarten  at  Bingham  Canyon,  Utah 


WOMEN’S  SOCIETIES 


641 


The  new  buildings  which  will  be  com¬ 
pleted  before  the  close  of  this  building 
campaign  are  the  following: 

Alaska,  Unalaska — Jesse  Lee  Home, 
hospital  and  chapel. 

Florida,  Jacksonville — Brewster  Hospi¬ 
tal  for  Negroes. 

Georgia,  Cedartown — McCarty  Home. 

Illinois,  Chicago — Marcy  Center. 

Illinois,  Polo — Peek  Orphanage,  Shum- 
way  Cottage. 

Indiana,  Gary — Campbell  Settlement. 

Iowa,  Keokuk — Graham  Hospital. 

Kentucky,  Olive  Hill — Erie  Home  for 
Mountaineers. 

Louisiana,  Basile — Evangeline  College. 

New  Mexico,  Albuquerque — Methodist 
Deaconess  Sanitarium. 

New  York,  Tivoli — Watts  DePeyster 
Recreational  Hall. 

Oregon,  Portland — Portland  Industrial 
Center. 

Pennsylvania,  Philadelphia  —  Philadel¬ 
phia  Deaconess  Home. 

Tullalip  Indian  Reservation  Community 
House. 

Wisconsin,  Odanah  —  Indian  Mission 
House. 

Virginia,  Lynchburg  —  Negro  Girls’ 
Seminary. 

Carrie  Barge  Negro  Orphanage. 

In  addition  to  these  buildings  for  which 
funds  are  being  accumulated  by  the  na¬ 
tional  organization,  several  local  confer- 


Christmas  fun  in  the  Mexican  Mission,  Kansas 
City,  Missouri,  led  by  students  from  the 
Kansas  City  Training  School 

M 


The  hour  of  prayer — Jane  Couch  Japanese 
Home,  Los  Angeles 


ence  buildings  have  been  approved.  The 
Methodist  Deaconess  Hospital,  Rapid 
City,  South  Dakota,  a  number  of  Esther 
and  Friendship  Homes  which  furnish  a 
safe  Christian  home  for  young  women 
who  receive  a  small  wage,  and  Community 
Houses  are  to  be  erected  and  controlled 
by  conference  organizations  which  will 
furnish  milk  stations,  dispensaries,  day 
nurseries,  kitchengartens,  kindergartens, 
recreation  and  playgrounds,  besides  many 
activities  which  may  be  helpful  in  the  life 
of  the  community. 

V.  ADVANCE  PROGRAM 

To  carry  out  the  plans  laid  for  1922  and 
1923  the  Society  needs  a  twenty  per  cent 
increase  over  its  receipts  of  the  year 
1921-22.  All  nationalities  in  the  home 
land  receive  this  helpful  uplift  which 
makes  for  Christian  citizenship.  The 
Society  believes  that  in  the  evangelization 
of  the  world,  a  large  part  must  be  played 
by  Christian  America.  The  example  of 
America  among  the  nations  as  illiterate, 
indifferent  to  the  teachings  of  Christ, 
fostering  racial  and  national  antagonisms, 
growing  richer  every  day  regardless  of  the 
poverty  among  the  nations  and  within  its 
own  borders — the  example  of  such  an 
America  is  a  hindrance  to  the  evangeliza¬ 
tion  of  the  world. 


Institutions  and  summer  conferences  of  the  Woman’s  Home  Missionary  Society 


Part  Three— FINANCIAL  NEEDS 


iMiimmmimiiiiiimmmmiiii 


The  No-Growth  or  Present-Work  Basis 
The  Approved  Needs 
The  Apportionment  to  the  Churches 
Designated  Gifts 

The  Report  of  the  Committee  of  Twenty-Five 


i 


INTRODUCING  THE  FINANCIAL  NEEDS 


Council  of  Boards  of  Benevolence  in  session  in  Chicago, 
January  23-25,  1923  at  the  time  when  the  W orld  Service 
Program  was  adopted. 


In  order  that  the  members  of  our 
church  may  have  first-hand  knowledge 
regarding  the  financial  activities  of  the 
boards  and  commissions  which  are  benefi¬ 
ciaries  of  the  Centenary  Fund,  a  detailed 
statement  appears  on  the  following  pages. 
The  .reports  cover  the  operations  of  the 
last  fiscal  year  of  each  of  our  benevolent 
organizations. 

The  first  statement  shows  the  receipts 
and  disbursements  of  the  Treasurer  of  the 
Committee  on  Conservation  and  Advance 
which  is  succeeded  by  a  report  of  the  ex¬ 
penditures  of  the  Committee  on  Conserva¬ 
tion  and  Advance.  Thereafter  appear 
the  receipts  and  disbursements  of  the  vari¬ 
ous  benevolent  organizations.  To  com¬ 
plete  the  report,  the  financial  statements 
of  the  Woman’s  Foreign  Missionary  Soci¬ 
ety  and  the  Woman’s  Home  Missionary 
Society  are  also  included.  These  two  or¬ 
ganizations  raise  and  disburse  their  own 
funds  and  are  not  beneficiaries  of  the 


Centenary.  For  the  purpose  of  making  it 
possible  to  visualize  quickly  the  propor¬ 
tion  of  amount  expended  under  various 
headings,  each  statement  is  followed  by  a 
graphic  representation. 

Each  statement,  except  those  of  the 
women’s  organizations,  has  been  carefully 
annotated  so  that  a  reader  may  be  able 
to  understand  the  purpose  for  which  the 
funds  were  disbursed. 

An  effort  has  been  made  to  employ  a 
uniform  classification  for  disbursements. 
However,  it  has  been  difficult  to  achieve 
a  satisfactory  result  because  of  the  lack 
of  a  uniform  system  of  accounting  in  the 
boards.  This  is  the  first  attempt  at  a 
classification  of  expenditures;  it  is  hoped 
that  in  the  future  a  more  satisfactory  re¬ 
sult  may  be  obtained.  The  classification 
covering  the  disbursements  of  the  boards 
has  been  prepared  by  their  treasurers. 

It  will  be  observed  that  the  fiscal  years 
of  the  boards  vary.  Hence  the  amount 


645 


646 


WORLD  SERVICE 


shown  under  disbursements  of  the  Com¬ 
mittee  on  Conservation  and  Advance  will 
not  harmonize  with  the  amount  of  receipts 
by  boards.  Furthermore,  several  of  the 
boards  have  sources  of  income  aside  from 
the  receipts  from  the  Committee  on  Con¬ 
servation  and  Advance.  The  American 
Bible  Society,  which  is  an  interdenomina¬ 
tional  organization,  also  receives  support 
from  other  Protestant  communions. 

The  question  of  overhead  expenses  is 
frequently  raised  by  interested  donors.  In 
the  report  of  the  Committee  on  Conserva¬ 
tion  and  Advance  the  expenses  are  divided 
into  two  general  divisions :  Administra¬ 
tion,  and  Education  and  Promotion.  Ad¬ 
ministration  covers  the  general  organiza¬ 
tion  of  the  office  under  the  direction  of  the 
corresponding  secretary  and  the  treas¬ 
urer.  Under  Education  and  Promotion 
are  listed  all  the  salaries  and  traveling 
expenses  of  those  who  are  giving 
their  time  to  education  in  the  field. 
Also  the  work  of  publicity  and  the  manu¬ 
facture  and  distribution  of  lantern  slides. 
The  conclusion  can  easily  be  reached  that 
the  activities  of  the  Committee  on  Con¬ 
servation  and  Advance  are  wholly  for  the 
purpose  of  educating  the  Church  concern¬ 
ing  its  benevolent  work. 

It  should  also  be  stated  that  the  aim  of 
several  of  the  boards  is  almost  wholly  edu¬ 
cational.  Hence,  appropriations  for  mis¬ 
sionary  work  are  small.  Among  these  are 
included  the  Board  of  Sunday  Schools; 
the  Board  of  the  Epworth  League;  the 
Board  of  Conference  Claimants ;  the 
Board  of  Temperance,  Prohibition,  and 
Public  Morals ;  the  General  Deaconess 
Board ;  the  Board  of  Hospitals  and  Homes ; 
the  Commission  on  Courses  of  Study;  and 
the  Commission  on  Life  Service. 

The  Board  of  Foreign  Missions,  the 
Board  of  Home  Missions  and  Church  Ex¬ 
tension,  the  Board  of  Education,  the  Board 
of  Education  for  Negroes,  and  the  Ameri¬ 
can  Bible  Society,  in  addition  to  their  ex¬ 
penses  for  administration,  promotion,  and 


education,  make  large  appropriations  to 
missionary  work. 

In  all  of  the  statements  submitted,  an 
effort  has  been  made  to  classify  overhead 
under  administration;  and  yet  the  result 
has  been  far  from  satisfactory  because  in 
any  system  of  accounting  it  is  not  possi¬ 
ble  to  introduce  sufficient  details  to  clas¬ 
sify  every  expenditure.  In  the  minds  of 
some,  education  and  promotion  may  be 
considered  overhead.  If  so  this  amount 
should  be  added  to  administration.  How¬ 
ever,  if  every  local  church  would  accept 
the  responsibility  of  keeping  its  members 
and  constituents  informed  concerning  the 
benevolent  program  of  our  church,  with¬ 
out  any  stimulation  from  without,  the 
overhead  would  be  reduced  to  a  minimum. 
The  percentage  of  overhead  is  determined 
by  the  missionary  spirit  which  prevails  in 
the  local  churches. 

In  the  space  available  it  has  not  been 
possible  to  supply  complete  details.  If 
readers  wish  a  more  elaborate  statement 
concerning  the  financial  operations  of  any 
of  the  boards  and  commissions,  a  request 
by  mail  to  any  of  the  organizations  will 
bring  the  information  desired. 

In  the  World  Service  Program  each 
church  will  determine  when  the  canvass 
for  the  disciplinary  apportioned  benevo¬ 
lences  is  to  be  made.  No  simultaneous 
campaign  is  planned  and  no  outside  finan¬ 
cial  agents  will  be  employed. 

It  should  be  clearly  understood  that  the 
World  Service  Program  is  not  primarily  a 
financial  campaign.  It  is  a  clarion  call  to 
the  local  churches  to  strengthen  them¬ 
selves  by  evangelism  and  by  the  develop¬ 
ment  of  their  lay  activities  in  the  local 
communities  for  service  at  home  and 
abroad. 

Morris  W.  Ehnes, 

Treasurer,  Committee  on 
Conservation  and  Advance. 

Chicago,  Illinois,  May  15,  1923. 


THE  NO-GROWTH  OR  PRESENT-WORK  BASIS 

These  amounts  are  absolutely  necessary  lor  the  fiscal  year,  1924-23,  it  the 
general  benevolent  boards  are  to  carry  on  their  work  on  the  same  basis  as  on 
January  1,  1923  or  the  fiscal  year  ending  nearest  that  date.  They  are  “no-growth 
figures  in  the  sense  that,  without  the  receipts  indicated  below,  our  W  orld  Sei  \  ice 
cannot  have  a  greater  expansion  than  it  had  during  the  last  reported  year,  1922. 


Board  of  Foreign  Missions . 

Board  of  Home  Missions  and  Church  Extension.  .  .  . 

Board  of  Education  for  Negroes . 

Board  of  Education . 

Board  of  Sunday  Schools . 

Board  of  Conference  Claimants . 

Board  of  the  EpAvorth  League . 

American  Bible  Society . 

Board  of  Temperance,  Prohibition,  and  Public  Morals 

General  Deaconess  Board . 

Board  of  Hospitals  and  Homes . 

Commission  on  Courses  of  Study . 

Commission  on  Life  Service . 

Committee  on  Conservation  and  Advance . 


$  5,426,129.03 
5,082,723.07 
782,077.14 
801,227.40 
346,387.75 
55,000.00 
118,827.30 
142,957.04 
149,284.10 
50,414.06 
.  39,527.88 
45,000.00 
54.677.00 
792,000.00 

$13,886,231.77 


647 


648 


WORLD  SERVICE 


THE  DISCIPLINARY  APPORTIONED  BENEVOLENCES 

The  general  benevolent  boards  and  related  agencies,  in  order  to  maintain  their  work  on  the  present 
basis  (January  1,  1923),  must  have  $13,886,231.77  for  the  year  1924-25. 

For  the  fiscal  year  ending  October  31,  1922,  the  receipts  and  distribution  of  the  general  benevolent  funds 
by  the  Treasurer  of  the  Committee  on  Conservation  and  Advance  were  as  follows : 


RECEIPTS 


Centenary  Receipts  . . . - . - . - . - . - . - . .  $13,907,746.18 

Received  direct  from  the  churches  in  payment  of  Centenary  subscriptions, 
including  estate  notes,  and  as  freewill  offerings  to  our  general  benevolences. 


Other  Receipts  . . . . . - . . . . - . - . - .  278,330.78 

Annuity  bonds  issued  by  the  Board  of  Home  Missions  and  Church  Extension 
and  the  Board  of  Foreign  Missions,  for  which  Centenary  credit  is  given  at  75 
per  cent  of  the  face  value. 

Income  from  trust  funds  on  which  Centenary  credit  is  given. 


Total  Receipts 


$14,186,076.96 


DISTRIBUTION 

TO  THE  GENERAL  BENEVOLENT  BOARDS  AND  OTHER  AGENCIES 

Funds  distributed  from  the  central  Centenary  treasury  to  the  treasurers  of  the 
general  benevolent  boards  and  to  other  agencies  as  authorized  by  the  Council 


of  Boards  of  Benevolence. 

Board  of  Foreign  Missions . - . - .  $  5,184,751.80 

Board  of  Home  Missions  and  Church  Extension. . . . . . .  5,184,751.82 

Board  of  Education  for  Negroes . . . . . . .  616,239.03 

Board  of  Education . - . - . - . - . . - . . - .  936,718.14 

Board  of  Sunday  Schools  . - . . - . - . - . - .  321,810.56 

Board  of  Conference  Claimants . - . . . . . .  9,530.30 

Board  of  the  Epworth  League . - . . .  96,887.98 

American  Bible  Society . . - . - .  142,957.04 

Board  of  Temperance,  Prohibition,  and  Public  Morals  . . .  142,990.31 

General  Deaconess  Board . . . - . — . - .  42,902.37 

Board  of  Hospitals  and  Homes . . . . . . .  33,371.77 

Commission  on  _  irs^s  of  Study . - .  55,098.82 

Commission  on  Life  Sendee . . . . . . . . . .  54,776.01 

Federal  Council  of  Churches  of  Christ  in  America  (Temporary)  .  7,000.00 

Committee  on  Conservation  and  Advance . . . . ..... .  787,463.76 

to  other  interests . - .  290,496.47 


During  the  Centenary  campaign,  several  institutions  and  agencies  were  included 
by  conference  vote  and  special  agreement,  and  all  funds  paid  on  these  sub¬ 
scriptions  received  Centenary  credit. 


ANNUITIES  AND  TRUST  FUNDS 

The  funds  noted  above,  paid  to : 

Board  of  Foreign  Missions . . . . . . .  $  243,548.42 

Board  of  Home  Missions  and  Church  Extension . . . .  34,782.36  278,330.78 

Total  Distribution  _ ..._ . . . . . . . . . .  $14,186,076.96 


PRESENT  WORK 


649 


THE  BENEVOLENT  DOLLAR 


EDUCATION  for  NEGROES  4Scents 

EDUCATION  6^ent§ 

SUNDAY  SCHOOLS  2Scents 
CONFERENCE  CLAIMANTS  Scent 
EFWORTH  LEAGUE  Scent 
BIBLE  SOCIETY  1  Scents 


ANNUITIES  and 
TRUST  FUNDS 
Home  Missions  Scent 
Foreign  Missions  IS  cents 

cOTHER  INTERESTS  2S  cents 
NSERVATION  and  ADVANCE  5S cents 
FEDERAL  COUNCIL  Scent 
LIFE  SERVICE  Scent 
COURSES  of  STUDY  Scent 
HOSPITALS  and  HOMES  Scent 
DEACONESS  Scent 
TEMPERANCE  IScents 


650 


WORLD  SERVICE 


BOARD  OF  FOREIGN  MISSIONS 

The  Board  of  Foreign  Missions,  in  order  to  maintain  its  work  on  the  present  basis  (January  1,  1923), 
and  to  retire  further  outstanding  obligations,  must  have  $5,426,129.03  for  the  year  1924-25. 

For  the  fiscal  year  ending  October  31,  1922,  the  receipts  and  expenditures  of  the  Board  of  Foreign  Mis¬ 
sions  were  as  follows: 


RECEIPTS 

Centenary  Receipts  . . . . . . . . . . . - . — . —  $5,181,864.21 

From  the  Centenary  Treasurer  or  directly  from  the  churches, 
both  designated  and  undesignated  gifts,  for  which  Centenary 
vouchers  were  given. 

Other  Receipts  . - . . - . . .  244,264.8 2 

Income  from  annuities,  legacies,  permanent  funds,  and  non- 
Centenary  gifts. 

•Total  Receipts  . . . .  - . — .  $5,426,129.03 


DISBURSEMENTS 


APPROPRIATIONS  DIRECT  TO  FIELDS 

Chargeable  directly  to  the  treasurers  on  the  fields  for  all 
purposes  involved  in  the  foreign  missionary  enterprise,  includ¬ 
ing  contributions  toward  the  support  of  national  workers  and 
support  of  missionaries  and  their  traveling  expenses  to  and 
from  their  fields  and  on  the  fields ;  for  purchase  or  rent  and 
repair  and  insurance  of  all  types  of  buildings,  including  resi¬ 
dences,  hospitals,  dispensaries,  schools  of  all  grades,  and  local 
churches. 

China  . - . 

Japan  and  Korea . . . 

Southern  Asia  . - . - . 

Southeastern  Asia  . - . . . 

Latin  America  . 

Africa  . . . - . 

Europe  and  North  Africa. . - . 

Interest  on  European  Advances . . . - . - . 

Loss  in  Exchange . - . 

Miscellaneous  . - . - . 


$  860,343.33 
383,022.45 
887,227.48 
214,081.68 
595,746.37 
253,907.16 
903,065.44 
60,496.95 
430,339.19 
14,534.72 


Total  Direct  to  Fields 


$4,602,764.77 


INDIRECT  APPROPRIATIONS  TO  FIELDS 

Items  that  are  involved  in  field  costs  but  which  it  is  not 
feasible  to  charge  to  their  direct  work  budgets. 

Retired  Missionaries . - . - . - . 

Allowances  for  retired  missionaries,  their  widows  and  orphans, 
on  the  basis  of  the  average  claim  of  retired  members  of  con¬ 
ferences  in  the  United  States. 

Personnel  and  Medical  Departments.... . . — . . — 

Salaries  and  clerical  help  involved  in  the  selection,  medical 
examination  and  final  approval  of  all  candidates  for  the  mis¬ 
sion  field;  medical  examination  of  all  missionaries  arriving  on 
furlough  and  before  returning  to  their  fields ;  examination  ot 
written  health  reports  sent  regularly  from  missionaries  on  the 
field ;  and  one-half  the  expense  of  the  Chicago  and  San 
Francisco  offices  of  the  Board. 

Personnel  Preparation  . . . 

For  co-operation  with  theological  seminaries  and  departments 
of  religious  education  in  certain  universities,  for  the  training 
of  prospective  foreign  missionaries,  and  for  scholarships. 

Purchasing,  Shipping,  and  Transportation .  . . . . 

Proportion  of  cost  properly  charged _  to  the  Pe.,,s.  for  * 
purchase  of  personal  supplies  for  missionaries,  building  mate¬ 
rials  and  supplies  for  churches, _  educational  institutions  and 
hospitals,  involving  every  conceivable  sort  of  article  from  a 
pin  to  a  central  heating  plant. 

Co-operation  . - . : . - . 

The  Board’s  share  of  the  cost  of  co-operating  committees,  like 
the  Foreign  Missions  Conference  Committee  on  Co-operation 
in  Latin  America,  and  the  China  National  Christian  Council. 

Total  Indirect  to  Fields . - . 


$  57,158.64 

25,514.72 


80,883.00 

17,118.42 


14,858.24 


195,533.02 


Total  for  the  Fields. 


$4,798,297.79 


PRESENT  WORK 


651 


SPECIAL 

Board’s  Obligations  . - . - . - . . . . •••  . —  $  240,000.00 

Final  payment  on  the  debt  of  the  Columbus  Celebration  and 
a  partial  payment  on  the  Interchurch  World  Movement  under¬ 
writing. 


Interest  Paid  . - .  . . . . 

Interest  on  bank  loans,  made  necessary  by  the  board  s  obliga- 
tions,  and  on  funds  borrowed  to  maintain  the  necessary  cur¬ 
rent  work  of  the  board  because  of  delay  in  forwarding  funds 
from  the  churches. 


125.268.17 

365.268.17 


LESS  Interest  Received— . . . - . ---- — ------ - - 

On  bank  balances  and  on  advances  to  mission  fields. 

Total  Special  Appropriations . - . . - . 


45,607.36 

_ _  319,660.8! 


ADMINISTRATION 

Corresponding  Secretaries  . .  ? 

Salaries  of  the  two  corresponding  secretaries  for  the  general 
supervision  of  all  the  work  of  the  board. 

Foreign  Department  . - . - . - . — . - . 

Salaries  of  associate  secretaries,  stenographic  help  of  cor- 
responding  secretaries  and  associate  secretaries,  and  office 
expense.  The  associate  secretaries  co-operate  with  the  cor¬ 
responding  secretaries  and  under  their  direction  aid  in  con 
ducting  correspondence  with  all  the  fields  and  the  business 
related  thereto.  They  are  also  constantly  engaged  in  the 
public  presentation  of  foreign  missions. 

Records  and  Surveys . . . . . - . .  . .  - . 

Salary  and  office  expense  of  the  assistant  recording  secretary, 
stenographic  and  clerical  help,  for  keeping  the  minutes  of  the 
board  and  its  committees  and  staff ;  preparation  and  editing 
of  the  annual  report  and  all  forms  and  schedules  of  reports 
from  the  fields;  editing  and  revising  the  surveys;  research 
for  the  church  at  large,  the  editors,  the  secretaries,  and  the 
missionaries. 

Education  and  Literature  on  the  Foreign  Field . . . - . 

The  unifying  and  developing  of  the  educational  policies  and 
the  educational  institutions  of  all  grades  and  maintaining  a 
complete  record  thereof,  and  the  stimulating  and  promoting 
of  a  Christian  literature  on  all  the  fields,  the  latter  in 
co-operation  with  the  editor  of  Sunday-school  publications. 

Office  of  the  Treasurer,  Accountant  and  Cashier . 

Salaries  of  treasurer,  assistant  treasurer,  cashier,  bookkeepers, 
clerks  and  stenographers. 

This  Department  receives  all  funds  and  disburses  and  keeps 
the  accounts  of  all  appropriations  to  the  fields.  The  treasurer 
and  assistant  treasurer  supervise  all  the  receipts  and  expendi¬ 
tures  of  the  board  under  the  board’s  direction,  including  culti¬ 
vation  of  annuities,  legacies,  and  the  general  management  of 
the  office.  , 

Under  the  direction  of  the  treasurer,  the  cashier  handles  the 
cash,  the  bank  accounts,  and  the  records  of  investments  and 
reinvestments  of  the  permanent  and  annuity  funds. 

The  accountants  handle  the  bookkeeping  connected  with 
receipts  and  disbursements  of  both  designated  and  undesig- 
nated  funds  to  the  various  treasurers  throughout  the  world ; 
deal  with  exchange,  letters  of  credit,  and  payment  of  bills  for 
purchases  made  in  the  United  States  by  individual  missionaries 
and  institutions. 


12,250.00 

39,436.77 

12,221.41 

3,833.37 

62,236.21 


Purchasing  and  shipping . — . - . - - . — ; — 

Proportion  of  expense  of  purchasing  and  shipping  supplies, 
properly  charged  against  office  administration. 

Stenographic  and  Filing  Departments . . . . 

Salaries  of  stenographers  and  clerks  not  assigned  to  special 
departments,  telephone  exchange,  incoming  and  outgoing  mail, 
filing  of  all  correspondence. 

Board  Meetings  . - . 

Travel  expense  and  entertainment  of  the  members  of  the 
board  for  the  annual  meeting  and  its  special  committees. 


For  offices  of  the  board  at  150  Fifth  Avenue,  New  York  City. 

General  Office  and  Miscellaneous . . 

Salaries  of  information  clerks  and  porters;  general  office  sup¬ 
plies,  postage  and  telephone;  foreign  field  visitation  and 
administrative  travel. 


8,559.21 

16,633.87 

8.714.50 

33,204.18 

26,521.89 


Total  Administration 


$  223,611.41 


652 


WORLD  SERVICE 


Education  and  promotion 


Designated  Income  . . . . . . . . . . . 

Preparing  and  sending  out  information  regarding  objects  for 
designated  gifts  and  keeping  in  touch  with  all  persons,  organi¬ 
zations  and  churches  that  through  the  years  have  maintained 
designated  objects  for  their  foreign  missionary  giving.  Secur¬ 
ing  from  the  uelds  and  distributing  reports  of  the  work  made 
possible  by  designated  gifts. 

Legal  Department  . . . . . . . — . 

Watching  over  the  legal  status  of  all  phases  of  the  board’s 
work;  the  direction  of  all  cases  of  contested  wills;  the  settle¬ 
ment  of  estates  ;  the  investigation  of  the  value  and  title  of  all 
property  offered  the  board  on  the  annuity  or  other  plan  ;  the 
repair,  rent,  taxes  and  sale  of  real  estate  received  by  gift  or 
will;  and  the  collection  and  tabulation  of  data  on  the  legal 
status  of  all  property  held  by  the  board  or  by  the  missions  in 
all  the  mission  fields. 

Cultivation  Department  . 

One-half  the  salaries  and  maintenance  of  the  offices  of  the 
board  in  San  Francisco  and  Chicago;  supplementary  allow¬ 
ances  for  missionaries  on  furlough  assigned  to  special  field 
work ;  the  travel  of  secretaries  of  the  board  in  attendance 
upon  educational  and  inspirational  meetings,  and  special 
expense  involved  in  preparation  of  World  Service  surveys. 

Publication  Department  . - . - . . 

Printing  and  distribution  of  the  annual  report  and  special 
foreign  missionary  literature ;  one-half  the  cost  of  Missionary 
News. 

Miscellaneous  . . . . . . . . . . . . 

Annual  conference  visitation ;  one-half  annuity  cultivation ; 
telegrams,  exchange  on  checks. 

Total  Education  and  Promotion . . . - . 


$  24,016.44 


10,062.49 


27,731.32 


13,740.67 

9,008.10 


84,559.02 


Total  Administration,  Education  and  Promotion 


308,170.43 


Total  Disbursements 


$5,426,129.03 


THE  BOARD  OF  FOREIGN  MISSIONS  DOLLAR 


EDUCATION  and  PROMOTION 
1&  cents 


PRESENT  WORK 


653 


BOARD  OF  HOME  MISSIONS  AND  CHURCH  EXTENSION 

The  Board  of  Home  Missions  and  Church  Extension,  in  order  to  maintain  its  work  on  the  present  basis 
(January  1,  1923),  must  have  $5,082,723.07  for  the  year  1924-25.  .  ,  „  ,  ,  „  ,f.  . 

For  the  fiscal  year  ending  October  31,  1922,  the  receipts  and  expenditures  ot  the  Board  of  Home  Missions 
and  Church  Extension  were  as  follows.  These  figures  do  not  represent  any  of  the  permanent  fund  invest¬ 
ments  or  income,  which  fund  is  used  for  the  purpose  of  making  loans  to  churches  and  investments  as  a 
protection  for  annuitants. 


Balance  Beginning  of  Year 

Cash  . . . . - - - 

U.  S.  Liberty  Bonds . — . — . - . — — - - 

Accepted  as  payment  on  Centenary  subscriptions 
as  cash  and  held  for  a  more  favorable  market. 


$  379,788.46 

1,190,600.00  $1,570,388.46 


RECEIPTS 

Centenary  Receipts  . . 

From  the  Centenary  Treasurer  or  directly  from 
the  churches,  both  designated  and  undersignated 
gifts,  for  which  Centenary  vouchers  were  given. 

Other  Receipts  . . - . — . 

Gifts  for  other  than  Centenary  purposes  made 
directly  to  the  board  and  bequests,  donations 
returned,  and  the  income  and  profit  on  the  sale  of 
Liberty  Bonds. 

Total  Receipts 


$5,186,812.28 


127,828.79 


5,314,641.07 


Beginning  Balance  plus  Receipts 


$6,885,029.53 


DISBURSEMENTS 

APPROPRIATIONS  DIRECT  TO  FIELDS 

Administered  through  the  conference  board  of 
home  missions,  district  superintendents,  and  city 
and  rural  societies  for  maintenance  and  church 
extension. 

For  maintenance  - - - - - - 

For  the  salaries,  in  whole  or  in  part,  of  home 
missionaries,  pastors,  and  other  religious  workers 
in  missionary  territory. 

For  church  extension  - . - . . 

For  the  erection  of  parsonages,  churches,  Sunday- 
school  buildings,  community  houses,  social  centers. 
Goodwill  Industries,  and  for  the  purchase  of 
building  sites. 

Total  Direct  to  Fields. - - 


$2,259,209.86 

2,264,146.48 


$4,523,356.34 


APPROPRIATIONS  FOR  SPECIAL  WORK 

Work  which  cannot  be  properly  related  to  any 
one  annual  conference  or  district. 

Scholarships  and  aid  to  students... - -  $ 

For  advance  specialized  training  to  fit  students 
for  various  home  mission  tasks. 

Chaplain’s  Fund . - . - . - 

Incidental  funds  for  the  forty-one  Methodist  Lpis- 
copal  army  and  navy  chaplains,  for  office  supplies, 
music,  flowers  and  reading  matter  not  furnished 
by  the  government. 

Summer  training  conferences . 

Program  and  travel  expense  for  the  seventeen 
rural  summer  schools,  four  city  summer  confer¬ 
ences,  three  Negro  summer  conferences,  and  four 
special  groups  of  foreign-speaking  leaders. 

Co-operation  with  theological  schools  and 
colleges . . . - . - . . . - 

For  the  partial  support  of  departments  of  rural 
leadership  in  thirty  of  our  Methodist  schools  in 
recruiting  and  training  for  service  in  rural,  tielas 
and  for  co-operation  with  theological  seminaries 
and  departments  of  religious  education  in  certain 
universities  in  the  training  of  students  preparing 
for  special  types  of  home-mission  work. 

Co-operation  with  war  communities . . . . . 

For  ministering  to  soldiers  and  sailors  in  canton¬ 
ments  and  naval  stations  continuing  war-time 
efforts  and  not  duplicating  the  work  of  any  other 
church  or  welfare  agency. 


45,909.11 

4,532.89 


39,490.64 


88,772.48 


11,334.69 


654 


WORLD  SERVICE 


Joint  Committee  on  Indian  Work . . . 

i  he  board's  share  in  conducting  our  work  among 
the  American  Indians  under  the  direction  of  a 
joint  committee  of  the  board  and  the  Woman’s 
Home  Missionary  Society. 

Foreign-Language  Commission . . . 

Advances  made  for  the  expense  of  the  General 
Conference  Foreign-Language  Commission,  which 
is  to  report  to  the  General  Conference  of  1924 
on  the  present  status  and  future  tendencies  in  our 
foreign-language  conferences. 

Bureau  of  Architecture . . . . . 

For  the  board’s  share  of  co-operation  with  the 
Board  of  Sunday  Schools.  This  bureau  offers  sug¬ 
gestions  and  criticizes  plans  of  all  kinds  of  new 
and  remodelled  church  buildings  and  parsonages 
and  gives  the  required  approval  to  all  home-mis¬ 
sion  building  enterprises. 

Joint  Committee  on  State  Schools . 

One-half  of  the  budget  of  this  work  being  devel¬ 
oped  by  the  board  in  connection  with  the  Board 
of  Education  in  fifty-five  institutions,  employing 
twenty-eight  full-time  workers — the  Wesley  Foun¬ 
dation  program. 

Interdenominational  work  . . . . . 

The  board’s  share  of  the  cost  of  co-operating 
committees,  like  the  Home  Missions  Council,  the 
Committee  on  Co-operation  in  Latin  America,  and 
the  Inter  racial  Commission  of  the  Federal  Coun¬ 
cil  of  Churches. 

Foreign-language  literature  . . . . . . . . 

For  writing,  translating,  printing,  and  distributing 
pamphlets  and  Sunday-school  lesson  helps  in  dif¬ 
ferent  languages  under  the  direction  of  the  Com 
mittee  of  Six  on  Foreign-Language  Publications 
authorized  by  the  General  Conference  of  1916. 

Moving  expenses,  home  missionaries . . . 

Advance  Program  expense . . . 

Provision  for  assembling  data  and  surveys  for  the 
Committee  of  Twenty-five  on  Advance  Program. 

Total  for  Special  Work 


32,673.17 

8,816.07 

19,795.15 

54,367.10 

12,176.38 

13,567.87 

1,872.38 

2,135.02 


335,442.95 


Total  Appropriations 


$4,858,799.29 


ADMINISTRATION 

Executive  Department 

Salaries  and  travel  expenses  of  corresponding 
secretary,  department  superintendents  and  assist¬ 
ants  required  for  the  administration  of  the  board’s 
funds. 

Salaries  . $  57,706.14 

Travel  expense  .  27,622.71 


General  Office  . . . 

Salaries,  postage,  printing  and  stationery,  tele¬ 
grams  and  telephones,  supplies  and  miscellaneous 
items  for  the  general  office,  including  the  work 
of  surveys,  records,  filing,  multigraphing,  mailing, 
and  shipping. 

Stenographic  Department . 

Salaries,  supplies,  and  sundries  for  the  steno¬ 
graphic  help  of  all  departments  of  the  board. 

Treasury  Department  . ... . ... . 

Salaries  of  the  treasurer,  auditor,  cashier,  account¬ 
ants,  bookkeepers,  and  clerks ;  stationery  and 
printing ;  auditor’s  fee ;  travel  and  sundry  expense 
incident  to  the  handling  of  the  board's  receipts 
and  disbursements  of  regular,  appropriations, 
investment  and  re  investment  of  permanent  funds, 
including  loans  to  churches  and  annuities;  and  the 
management  of  the  office  and  Wesley  building. 

Interest  paid  on  bank  loans . $  6,737.79 

Borrowings  made  necessary  to  carry  on  the  cur¬ 
rent  work  of  the  board  because  churches  fail  to 
remit  regularly,  thereby  depriving  the  board  of 
a  steady  and  dependable  income. 

less  interest  received  on  bank 
balance  . . . .  2,923.74 


85,328.85 

41,648.77 


29,791.52 

27,773.04 


Net  Interest  and  Discount 


3,814.05 


PRESENT  WORK 


655 


Board  Meetings . . - . - . 

The  necessary  travel  and  hotel  expense  of 
members  of  the  board  for  attendance  upon  regu 
lar  and  special  meetings. 

Legal  Expense  . . . - . - . 

Office  rent  — . - . . * 

Paid  to  the  permanent  fund  for  the  rental  of 
offices  in  the  Wesley  Building. 

Total  Administrative  Expense. — . . 

EDUCATION  AND  PROMOTION — - - 

Salaries,  travel  and  miscellaneous  expense  inci¬ 
dent  to  the  preparation  of  home-mission  pamphlet, 
and  publicity  material  and  the  board’s  share  of  the 
publication  of  Missionary  News. 

Total  Administration,  Education  and 
Promotion  . — . — . — . - . 

Total  Disbursements  . . . - . 


6,808.70 

2,943.29 

10,000.00 

.  $  208,108.22 


223,923.78 

. .  5.082,723.07 


Balance  End  of  Year 

Cash  . - . 

U.  S.  Liberty  Bonds. 


$1,239,706.46 

562.600.00  $1,802,306.46 


Unpaid  on  Appropriations  and  Special  bunds  . < 

Net  deficit  — . - . - . - . . 


2,090,700.46 
$  288,394.00 


THE  BOARD  OF  HOME  MISSIONS  AND  CHURCH  EXTENSION  DOLLAR 


656 


WORLD  SERVICE 


BOARD  OF  EDUCATION  FOR  NEGROES 

The  Board  of  Education  for  Negroes,  in  order  to  maintain  its  work  on  the  present  basis  (January  1, 
1923)  must  have  $782,077.14,  for  the  year  1924-25. 

For  the  fiscal  year  ending  December  31,  1922,  the  receipts  and  expenditures  of  the  Board  of  Educa¬ 
tion  for  Negroes  were  as  follows : 

Balance  Beginning  of  Year .  .  $  198,896.92 


RECEIPTS 

Centenary  Receipts  . 

The  amount  guaranteed  to  the  Board  of  Educa¬ 
tion  for  Negroes  including  special  guarantees  for 
endowment,  new  buildings,  grounds  and  equipment, 
less  its  proportionate  share  of  the  expense  of  the 
Committee  on  Conservation  and  Advance. 

Other  Receipts  . 

Income  from  trusts,  endowments,  bequests,  leg¬ 
acies,  lapsed  annuities  and  miscellaneous  credits. 

Total  Receipts  . 

Beginning  Balance  plus  Receipts  . 

DISBURSEMENTS 

APPROPRIATIONS 

Appropriations  Direct  to  Schools 

Salaries  . 

For  the  presidents,  principals  and  teachers  in  our 
nineteen  Negro  schools. 

Student  labor  . 

Wages  paid  to  students  in  our  schools  for  campus 
work. 

Buildings  and  equipment  . 

For  real  estate,  new  buildings,  repairs  and  equip- 
ment. 

Educational  equipment  . 

For  scientific  apparatus  and  library  equipment. 

Meharry  Medical  College . 

For  new  buildings  and  equipment  exclusive  of 
salaries. 

Scholarships  and  aid  to  students . 

Total  Appropriations  Direct  to  Schools.— 

Indirect  Appropriations 

Interdenominational  Co-operation  . 

The  board’s  share  in  the  support  of  co-operative 
organizations  such  as  the  Home  Missions  Council 
and  the  Inter-racial  Commission  of  the  Federal 
Council  of  Churches. 

Total  Appropriations  . 

EDUCATION  AND  PROMOTION 

Salaries  . 

For  part  time  field  worker  and  two  writers. 

Travel  . - . 

The  travel  and  hotel  expense  of  staff  helpers  and 
special  representatives. 

Printing  . 

For  the  preparation,  printing  and  distribution  ot 
special  literature  and  periodical 


$  598,345.89 

377,551.63 

.  975,897.52 

.  $1,174,794.44 


$302,611.67 

68,370.08 

415,551.57 

5,774.99 

339,321.13 

827.00 

. . .  $1,132,456.44 

1,533.28 

. .  $1,133,989.72 

.  $  2,290.00 

.  2,875.94 

.  11,131.79 


Total  Education  and  Promotion 


16,297.73 


PRESENT  WORK 


657 


Administration 

Salaries  of  officers  . 

For  corresponding  secretaries. 

General  office  salaries  . . 

Stenographers,  bookkeepers  and  clerks. 

Travel  . 

The  travel  and  hotel  expense  of  the  corresponding 
secretaries. 

Rent  . . . 

For  the  offices  of  the  board  at  420  Plum  Street, 
Cincinnati,  Ohio. 

Board  meetings  . . 

The  travel  and  hotel  expense  of  the  members  of 
the  board  for  the  annual  meeting  and  its  com¬ 
mittees. 

General  office  expense . . 

Stationery,  office  supplies,  letter  postage,  telephone, 
telegraph,  cartage,  and  express. 

Attorney’s  fees  . . 

Total  Administration  . . . 


$  10,000.00 
6,700.46 
2,635.36 


1,500.00 


1,122.37 


1 ,573.80 


975.00 


24.506.99 


Total  Disbursements 


$1,174.794.44 


THE  BOARD  OF  EDUCATION  FOR  NEGROES  DOLLAR 


43 


658 


WORLD  SERVICE 


BOARD  OF  EDUCATION 

The  Board  of  Education,  in  order  to  maintain  its  work  on  the  present  basis  (January  1,  1923,)  in 
addition  to  other  receipts,  must  have  $801,227.40  from  the  general  benevolences  of  the  church  for  the  year 
1924-25. 

For  the  fiscal  year  ending  November  30,  1922,  the  total  receipts  and  expenditures  of  the  Board  of 
Education  were  as  follows.  It  is  not  possible  to  make  a  separate  detailed  report  of  the  expenditure  of  the 
general  benevolence  funds  out  of  the  total  receipts  of  the  board. 

RECEIPTS 

Centenary  Receipts  . . . - . - . - . — . . . . . - . - .  $  913,224.46 

The  amount  guaranteed  to  the  Board  of  Education  less  its  pro¬ 
portionate  share  of  the  expense  of  the  Committee  on  Conserva¬ 
tion  and  Advance. 


Other  Receipts  . . . - - - - - — . - ••• 

Interest  from  Investments  and  Trust  Funds . — . . 

(1)  From  annuity  funds  designated  in  some  cases  for  the 
Student  Loan  Fund  and  in  other  instances  undesignated. 

(2)  From  trust  funds  held  by  the  board  for  institutions. 

(3)  From  investments  accumulating  from  Centenary  gifts  for 
missionary  schools  in  the  United  States. 

(4)  From  “The  Centenary  Education  Fund  of  1866.” 

(5)  From  “The  Sunday-school  Children’s  Fund  of  1866.” 

Children’s  Day  Collection . - . — . — - . 

From  the  collection  taken  annually  in  the  churches  on  Children’s 
Day. 

Student  Loans  Repaid . . . - . 

Educational  Jubilee  . - . --••••• . 

From  the  board’s  share  of  the  campaign  of  1915-18,  used  for 
emergency  school  appropriations. 

Total  Receipts  — . . - . . - . . — 


.  368,802.67 

$  88,617.94 


161,107.40 

115,983.53 

3,093.80 


$1,282,027.13 


DISBURSEMENTS 

APPROPRIATIONS 

Educational  Institutions  . . . . . . . — . — . . . . .  $  560,699.71 

For  salaries,  current  expense  and  emergency  grants  for  the  aid 
of  forty  colleges  and  universities,  thirty-four  secondary  schools, 
and  a  share  of  the  aid  for  Wesley  Foundations. 


Southern  and  Missionary  Schools . . . . - . . . - . - . 

Advancement  of  Education . . . . . - . — .  $  99,900.00 

For  current  expense,  property  and  equipment  and  for  raising  the 
standards  of  academic  work  in  southern,  frontier  and  missionary 
schools. 


Investments  . . - . . - . - . — - . . . 

For  a  permanent  fund,  the  interest  of  which  is  to  be  used  for 
southern,  frontier  and  missionary  schools. 


171,616.18 


Conference  Loan  Societies. . . . . . 

By  special  agreements  with  several  of  the  older  conferences 
having  Loan  Societies,  a  share  of  their  public  education  collec¬ 
tion  is  returned  to  them  for  student  loans,  scholarships  and 
student  work. 


271,516.18 


12,643.55 


Work  in  Methodist  and  Non-Methodist  Institutions . .  .  55,848.35 

The  board’s  share  of  the  Wesley  Foundations  now  being  con¬ 
ducted  in  fifty-five  institutions  with  thirty  full-time  workers,  and 
for  the  support  of  general  religious  activities  in  Methodist  insti¬ 
tutions,  supplemented  by  the  support  of  local  churches  and  insti¬ 
tutions. 


Interdenominational  Work  .  3,000.00 

The  board’s  share  of  the  expense  of  co-operation  in  the  Council 
of  Church  Boards  of  Education. 


Student  Loans  . . . . . . — . - .  252,456.89 

For  the  aid  of  2,600  students  for  maintenance  expenses  in  college 
and  university. 

Interest  Paid  on  Trust  and  Annuity  Funds . . . . .  2,645.00 


Total  Appropriations 


$1,158,809.68 


PRESENT  WORK 


659 


EDUCATION  AND  PROMOTION 

Publicity  - - - - - - - - - . — . 

For  weekly  news  letters  sent  to  the  Associated  Press  and  other 
press  associations,  to  Methodist  college  papers  and  newspapers  in 
college  towns,  the  Clipping  Bureau  and  special  publications  and 
general  advertising. 

The  Christian  Student . : . r . . 

The  entire  cost  of  cuts,  printing,  and  mailing  to  bishops,  district 
superintendents,  pastors,  colleges,  and  all  persons  subscribing  one 
dollar  or  more  to  the  Children’s  Day  Fund. 

Children’s  Day  Program . . . . - . . -■ 

Distributed  free  in  sufficient  quantities  for  the  celebration  of 
Children’s  Day. 

Total  Education  and  Promotion - - - . . . . - . 

administration 

Salaries  . . . . . - - - - - - — - - - •; . 

For  the  corresponding  secretary  and  associates  in  the  executive 
and  general  work  of  the  board. 

Board  Meetings  . — - - - 

For  the  travel  and  hotel  expense  for  members  of  the  board 
for  the  annual  meeting  and  its  committees. 

T ravel  . . . . - - - - - - 

The  travel  and  hotel  expense  of  the  secretaries  and  special 
commissions. 

For  the  offices  of  the  board  at  150  Fifth  Avenue,  New  York  City. 

General  Office  Expense . - . . . .  . 

For  stationery,  supplies,  postage,  telephone,  telegraph,-  audit,  and 
miscellaneous  items. 

Equipment  . . . - — . - . - . 

Office  furniture,  equipment,  repairs,  and  alterations. 

Contingent  Fund  Expenses . . . . - . 

Set  aside  annually  for  emergency  cases. 


Total  Administration 
Total  Disbursements 


$  3,441.12 


7,781.80 


19,081.77 


30,304.69 


$  55,427.50 

7.197.05 

6,274.96 

9,019.98 

11,071.69 

2,522.27 

1,399.31 

92,912.76 

. . .  $1,282,027.13 


THE  BOARD  OF  EDUCATION  DOLLAR 


660 


WORLD  SERVICE 


BOARD  OF  SUNDAY  SCHOOLS 

The  Board  of  Sunday  Schools,  in  order  to  maintain  its  work  on  the  present 
must  have  $346,387.75  for  the  year  1924-25. 

For  the  fiscal  year  ending  December  31,  1922,  the  receipts  and  expenditures 
Schools  were  as  follows : 


Balance  Beginning  of  Year  . . - 

RECEIPTS 

Centenary  Receipts  . ■••••■- . . . ••••-■- . . . . . y-~; . 

The  amount  guaranteed  to  the  Board  of  Sunday  Schools  Irorn 
Centenary  funds  less  its  proportionate  share  of  the  expense  of  the 
Committee  on  Conservation  and  Advance. 

Other  Receipts  . - . . . . . . . ;r~ 

Gifts  for  other  than  Centenary  purposes  made  directly  to  the 
board  and  income  from  permanent  funds. 

Total  Receipts  . - . —  - 

Beginning  Balance  plus  Receipts . 


DISBURSEMENTS 

EDUCATION  AND  PROMOTION 

Extension  in  Foreign  Fields . . . ------ . . . ••• . . . 

The  salaries,  travel  and  office  expense  of  Sunday-school  secre¬ 
taries  in  fifteen  different  foreign  countries,  and  the  salary,  travel 
and  office  expense  of  the  Superintendent  of  Foreign  Work. 

Extension  in  the  United  States . . . - . 

The  salaries,  travel  and  office  expense  of  eighteen  field  workers 
for  general  promotion  of  religious  education,  the  conducting  oi 
institutes  and  teacher  training  conferences  and  the  organization 
of  new  Sunday  schools;  grants  of  Sunday-school  lesson  helps  to 
needy  schools;  and  the  salary,  travel  and  office  expense  of  the 
Superintendent  of  Extension  Work. 

Institutes  . - . . - . - . . . . . ■■■ . - . . . y: . ;v 

The  program  and  promotion  expense  for  the  Sunday-school  insti¬ 
tutes  and  summer  schools,  and  the  salary,  office  and  travel 
expense  of  the  Superintendent  of  the  Institute  Department. 

Teacher  Training  . . . . ; 

Preparation  of  teacher  training  courses,  promoting,  recording  and 
supervising  teacher  training  classes  in  local  Sunday  schools, 
co-operating  with  the  Institute  Department  in  teacher  training 
institutes,  and  the  salary,  travel  and  office  expense  of  the 
Superintendent  of  Teacher  Training. 

Missionary  Education  . : . . . . -■■ . . . 

The  printing  and  distribution  of  missionary  material  for  Sunday- 
school  missionary  superintendents  and  for  all  grades,  promoting 
missionary  education,  stewardship  and  giving  through  the  Sunday 
school,  and  the  salary,  travel  and  office  expense  of  the  Super¬ 
intendent  of  Missionary  Education. 

Elementary  Department  . . -; . ■— . . ryyr 

Creating  the  standards  of  organization,  methods  and  curnculum 
for  the  cradle  roll,  beginners’,  primary  and  Junior  departments, 
and  the  salary,  travel  and  office  expense  of  the  Superintendent 
of  Elementary  Work. 

Young  People’s  Department . - . . . . . y . 

Creating  the  standards  of  organization,  methods  and  curriculum 
for  the  intermediate,  senior  and  young  people  s  departments  the 
promotion  of  week-day  schools  of  religion  and  dalU  vac.at!°" 
Bible  schools,  and  the  salary,  travel  and  office  expense  of  the 
Superintendent  of  Young  People  s  W  ork. 

Adult  Department  . . - . . . . . 

Creating  the  standards  of  organization,  methods  and  curnculum 
for  the  Adult  Department,  the  promotion  of  the  famtly  worship 
league  and  parent  training  classes,  and  the  sa  ary,  travel  and 
office  expense  of  the  Superintendent  of  Adult  Work. 

Bureau  of  Architecture . - . . . . •-•-■-■• . ; . y; 

This  bureau  offers  suggestions  and  criticises  submitted  plans 
all  kinds  of  new  and  remodeled  Sunday-school  and  church  build- 
ings  and  shows  the  educational  basis  for  the  same. 

^^’imer^Tn5  bank' loans"' 'eipeHme'ntatffin'  in'  weS''^  religious 
education  and  rural  Sunday  schools,  daily  vacation  Bible  schools 
life  service  appeals,  surveys,  evangelism,  research  and  library 
supplies  and  books. 

Total  Education  and  Promotion . 


$  58,621.57 

70,547.73 

24,000.00 

15,251.03 

33,569.22 

5,479.32 

17,000.00 

14.000.00 

7,500.00 

16,950.77 


basis  (January  1,  1923), 
Of  the  Board  of  Sunday 

.  $  32,961.72 

$  320,609.93 
16,884.18 

.  337,494.11 

. . .  $  370,455.83 


$  262,919.64 


PRESENT  WORK 


661 


administration 

Salaries  . . . - . - - - - - - — 

For  the  corresponding  secretary,  treasurer, 
research  secretary,  and  stenographers  and 
general  administration. 


cashier,  bookkeeper, 
clerks  attached  to 


T ravel  . - — . - . - . — . 

The  travel  and  hotel  expense  of  the  general  officers. 


Rent  . . . . . . 

For  the  offices  of  the  board  at 
Chicago,  Illinois. 


58  East  Washington  Street, 


General  Office  Expense...- . - - - 

For  stationery,  postage,  telegraph  and  telephone. 


Printing 


The  preparation,  printing  and  distribution  of  the  yearbook .  and 
leaflets  concerning  the  general  organization  and  work  of  Sunday 
schools. 


Board  Meetings  . . - . - . . . - . . . ~;"~ 

The  travel  and  hotel  expense  of  members  of  the  board  for  the 
annual  meeting  and  for  its  various  committees. 


Miscellaneous 


Items  approved  for  expenditure  which  are  not  properly  charged 
to  the  above  budget  classifications. 


19,325.03 


2,195.37 

5,745.00 

3,049.54 

1,667.19 


2,229.80 

9,656.66 


Total  Administration  . . 


43,868.59 


SPECIAL 

Payment  on  Bank  Loan . 

Total  Disbursements  ... 
Balance  End  of  't  ear 


15,000.00 


THE  BOARD  OF  SUNDAY  SCHOOLS  DOLLAR 


321,788.23 

48,667.60 


662 


WORLD  SERVICE 


BOARD  OF  CONFERENCE  CLAIMANTS 

The  Board  of  Conference  Claimants,  in  order  to  maintain  its  work  on  the  present  basis  (January  1, 
1923),  must  have  $55,000.00  for  the  year,  1924-25. 

For  the  fiscal  year  ending  December  31,  1922,  the  receipts  and  disbursements  of  the  Board  of  Con¬ 
ference  Claimants  were  as  follows: 


RECEIPTS 

Centenary  Receipts  . - . — . - . . - . - . 

The  amount  guaranteed  to  the  Board  of  Conference  Claimants  for  distribution  to 
disabled  supply  pastors,  less  its  proportionate  share  of  the  expense  of  the  Committee 
on  Conservation  and  Advance. 

Other  Receipts  . - . - . -- . ;  - . 

Received  from  annual  conferences  direct,  according  to  General  Conference  action. 

Total  Receipts  . . - . - . 

DISBURSEMENTS 

APPROPRIATIONS 

Direct  to  disabled  supply  pastors . — . - . - . 

administration 

Salaries. . - . — . - . — - - - - - . - . : . - . . 

Corresponding  secretary,  business  representative,  and  assistant  treasurer. 

General  Office  Salaries . . . - . - . . - . 

Stenographers,  clerks,  bookkeepers  and  part-time  salaried  survey  and  research  workers. 

Travel  . - . . - . - . . - . . 

The  travel  and  hotel  expense  of  the  officers  of  the  board  and  special  representatives. 

General  Office  Expense . - . : . -- . . . 

Stationery,  printing,  postage,  telephone,  telegraph,  legal  advice,  and  miscellaneous. 

For  the  office  of  the  board  at  58  East  Washington  Street,  Chicago,  iilinois. 

Board  Meetings  . . - . ••••••• . . . . . . 

The  travel  and  hotel  expense  of  the  members  of  the  board  for  the  annual  meeting 
and  its  various  committees. 

Total  Administration  . - . •• . - . - . - . 


$  9,530.31 

48.208.70 

.  $57,739.01 

. . .  $  9,792.00 

$14,000.00 

14.248.70 
4,302.38 
5,179.86 
2,667.00 

593.21 


40,991.15 


education  and  promotion 
Conference  Agents  . . . . - . . . 

Allowances  and  expenses  of  special  agents  for  raising 
ment  funds  in  the  weaker  conferences. 

Printing  and  Publicity . 

For  special  publicity  and  for  preparing,  printing  and 
PREACHER,  and  the  annual  report  of  the  board. 
Total  Education  and  Promotion . 


Conference  Claimants'  endow- 


distributing  the  VETERAN 


$  2,654.70 
1,563.13 

.  4,217.83 


Total  Disbursements 


$55,000.98 


THE  BOARD  OF  CONFERENCE  CLAIMANTS  DOLLAR 

EDUCATION  and 
PROMOTION 
,  cents 


ADMINISTRATION 


53  cents 


PRESENT  WORK 


663 


BOARD  OF  THE  EPWORTH  LEAGUE 

The  Board  of  the  Epworth  League,  in  order  to  maintain  its  work  on  the  present  basis  (January  1, 
1923),  must  have  $118,827.30,  for  the  year  1924-25. 

For  the  fiscal  year  ending  October  31,  1922,  the  receipts  and  expenditures  of  the  Board  of  the 
Epworth  League  were  as  follows : 


Balance  Beginning  of  Year 


$  1,839.78 


RECEIPTS  _ : - 

A  guaranteed  amount  and  a  proportionate  allowance  from  Cen¬ 
tenary  funds,  less  the  board's  share  of  the  expenses  of  the 
Committee  on  Conservation  and  Advance. 

Beginning  Balance  plus  Receipts - - - 


117,394.84 


$  119,234.62 


DISBURSEMENTS 

administration 

For  the  corresponding  secretary,  business  manager,  stenogra¬ 
phers  and  bookkeepers. 

General  Office  Expense . - . - . . . - . - . . . . 

For  stationery,  supplies,  postage,  telephone,  telegraph,  cartage, 
express,  auditing,  office  equipment,  and  miscellaneous. 

Travel  . - . , . . ■; . vp . 

For  travel  expenses  of  the  administrative  officers. 

For  the  offices  of  the  board  at  740  Rush  Street,  Chicago,  Illinois, 
and  at  150  Fifth  Avenue,  New  York  City. 

Board  Meetings  . , . . . . t~; . rr~ 

For  the  travel  and  hotel  expense  of  members  of  the  board  tor  tne 
annual  meeting  and  its  various  committees. 

Total  Administration  . - . — . - . 


$  20,889.84 

10,327.76 

5,619.20 

3,704.66 

3,592.75 


$  44,134.21 


EDUCATION  AND  PROMOTION 


Salaries  of  officers . . 

For  departmental  secretaries  and 
institutes,  life  service,  mission 
League,  Negro  and  German  work, 
research. 


field  workers  in  charge  of 
study,  stewardship,  Junior 
and  necessary  promotion  and 


General  office  salaries . — - - - - - . — 

For  stenographers  and  clerks  for  all  departments  except 
Administration. 


General 


T  ravel  . . . . . . . — . .  . . - . 

Travel  expense  of  the  department  secretaries  and  held  workers. 


Literature 

Printing 
work  of 
League. 


all  leaflet  literature  dealing  with  the  organization  and 
the  various  departments  and  activities  of  the  Lpwortn 


Training  Conferences . — - . — . rt . 

Necessary  travel  and  other  expense  for  the  training  of  mission 
study,  stewardship,  and  life  service  leaders. 


Institute  Council  . - . . ; . ;v . 

Travel  expense  and  entertainment  for  the  annual  meeting 
deans  and  other  officers  of  the  institutes. 


of 


Supplies  and  Miscellaneous . ------ . 

Stationery  and  office  supplies  for  the  several  departments. 

Total  Education  and  Promotion - 


$  18,099.23 


10,633.45 

6,761.12 

13,695.67 


775.50 

3,655.53 

2,284.61 


55,905.11 


APPROPRIATIONS 


Home  Fields,  for  Intensive  Work... . . . . . . . - 

The  whole  or  part  time  support  and  expenses  of  held  workers, 
mostly  refunds  from  Twenty-four-Hour-Day  receipts  by  special 
agreements  with  district  and  area  organizations. 


Foreign  Work 


The  whole  or  partial  support  and  travel  expense  of  Epworth 
League  secretaries  in  various  foreign  fields. 

Total  Appropriations  . . . . *• 


Total  Disbursements 


$  6,826.72 

12,368.58 


19.195.30 

.  $  119.234.62 


664 


WORLD  SERVICE 


THE  BOARD  OF  THE  EPWORTH  LEAGUE  DOLLAR 


AMERICAN  BIBLE  SOCIETY 


The  American  Bible  Society,  in  order  to  maintain  its  work  on  the  present  basis  (January  1,  1923), 
needs  from  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  above  all  its  other  income,  $142,957.04,  for  the  year  1924-25. 

For  the  fiscal  year  ending  December  31,  1922,  the  total  receipts  and  disbursements  of  the  American 
Bible  Society  were  as  follows.  It  is  not  possible  to  make  a  separate  detailed  report  of  the  expenditure  of 
our  share  in  the  total  support  of  this  society. 


RECEIPTS 

Centenary  Receipts  . . . . . . - . - . — . .  $  142,815.71 

The  amount  guaranteed  to  the  American  Bible  Society,  less  its  proportionate 
share  of  the  expense  of  the  Committee  on  Conservation  and  Advance. 

Other  Receipts  . . - . - . - .  960,350.29 

From  sales  of  Scriptures,  contributions  from  other  churches,  gifts  from  indi¬ 
viduals  and  legacies. 


Total  Receipts 


$1,103,166.00 


DISBURSEMENTS 

APPROPRIATIONS  DIRECT  TO  FIELDS 

For  the  translation,  manufacture  and  distribution  of  Bibles  and  Scripture  portions 
aggregating,  in  1922,  4,659,371  copies  in  176  different  languages  and  dialects. 

In  the  United  States  of  America .  $  546,275.69 

420,716.39 


In  the  Foreign  Fields . 

Total  Appropriations 


$  966,992.08 


PRESENT  WORK 


665 


administration 

$ 

Salaries  of  Officers - - - - - - . . 7  . . . 7 

p..  a.  secretaries  in  charge  of  raising  and  administering  funds;  for  directing 
The  Tine  homearland  twelve®  foreign  agencies;  for  the  recording  secretary  in 
charge  of  all  records,  and  for  the  treasurer. 

General  Office  Salaries . - . - . . - . 7 . 

For  the  cashier,  stenographers,  bookkeepers,  accountants,  and  clerks. 

General  Office  Expense  . - . - . 7 . - . ~  "7 . 7”V‘ 

For  travel  stationery  and  supplies,  postage,  telephone  and  telegraph,  board  and 
Committee ’meetings,  legal  expense,  auditor's  fees,  and  miscellaneous  items. 

Total  Administration  . - . . 

FINANCIAL  . . . - . - . 

Payments  to  annuitants  in  excess  of  interest  from  investments. 

$ 

Education  and  promotion . - . - . 7 . 7 . 7““ . ; . . 

T0  create  interest  on  the  part  of  the  general  public  to  whom  the  American  Bible 
Society  mikes  special  appeal,  and  to  stimulate  interest  in  the  churches. 

Salaries  of  stenographers  and  clerks . 

Pamphlet  literature  and  the  Bible  Society  Record  . . 

Charts,  slides,  and  posters . - . . - . 

Advertising  . - . - . . . . 

Miscellaneous  Promotion  . — . . - . 

Total  Education  and  Promotion . - . . 

Total  Disbursements  . - . . 


29,500.00 

24,174.50 

21,858.32 


2,400.01 

14,595.67 

14,743.72 

1,317.19 

38,408.91 

2,398.55 


75,532.82 

8,337.92 


73,864.05 

$1,124,726.87 


THE  AMERICAN  BIBLE  SOCIETY  DOLLAR 


666 


WORLD  SERVICE 


BOARD  OF  TEMPERANCE,  PROHIBITION,  AND  PUBLIC  MORALS 

Board  of  Temperance,  Prohibition,  and  Public  Morals,  in  order  to  maintain  its  work  on  the  present 
basis  (January  1,  1923),  must  have  $149,284.10  for  the  year  1924-25. 

For  the  fiscal  year  ending  October  31,  1922,  the  receipts  and  expenditures  of  the  Board  of  Temperance, 
Prohibition,  and  Public  Morals  were  as  follows : 


Balance  Beginning  of  Year .  $  25,898.45 

RECEIPTS 

Centenary  Receipts  .  $  142,648.96 

The  amount  guaranteed  to  the  Board  of  Temperance,  Prohibition, 
and  Public  Morals  less  its  proportionate  share  of  the  expense 
of  the  Committee  on  Conservation  and  Advance. 

Other  Receipts  . .  1,853.07 

Interest  on  bank  balance  and  miscellaneous  credits.  - • 

Total  Receipts  .  144,502.03 

Beginning  Balance  plus  Receipts .  $170,400.48 


DISBURSEMENTS 

APPROPRIATIONS 

For  work  in  the  United  States . . - .  $  41,935.88 

For  surveys  and  special  assistance  in  dealing  with  notorious  local 
situations,  publicity  material  for  foreign  language  press,  exhibits 
for  child  welfare  expositions,  fairs  and  occasional  meetings  and 
special  propaganda  material. 

For  work  in  Foreign  Countries . .  34,835.00 

For  salaries,  office  and  travel  expense,  and  for  education  and  - • 

propaganda  work  in  South  America,  Austria,  Hungary,  Germany, 

Baltic  States,  Switzerland,  Italy,  India,  France,  Mexico,  and 
Japan. 

Total  Appropriations  .  $  76,770.88 


EDUCATION  AND  PROMOTION 

Salaries  . .. . - . 

For  research,  publicity  and  field  secretaries  and  their  necessary 
stenographic  and  clerical  help. 

Travel  . . . . . . . . 

Travel  and  hotel  expense  of  the  secretaries  in  the  United  States 
and  for  occasional  visits  to  foreign  fields  and  the  travel  of 
certain  foreign  secretaries. 

Literature  and  Periodicals . 

For  the  preparation,  printing  and  circulation  monthly  of  the 
Clipsheet  and  The  Voice  and  certain  publications  to  impress 
people  of  marked  leadership  and  influence. 

Charts  and  Lantern  Slides . . 

Illustrative  material  for  Sunday-school  lesson  helps,  plated  car¬ 
toons  for  rural  papers,  charts  for  schools  and  posters  for  general 
propaganda.  For  the  production  and  circulation  of  technical 
slides  and  popular  and  scientific  motion  picture  films,  especially 
for  use  among  foreign  language  groups. 

Total  Education  and  Promotion . 


$  26,401.40 
10,796.94 

17,371.56 

739.65 


55,309.55 


ADMINISTRATION 

Salaries  . . . . .  $  10,000.00 

For  the  corresponding  secretary,  stenographers  and  clerks. 

General  Office  Expense .  7,203.76 

Stationery,  office  supplies,  postage,  rent,  telephone,  telegraph,  - ■ 

cartage,  express,  equipment,  repairs,  alterations,  taxes,  insur¬ 
ance  and  miscellaneous. 

Total  Administration  .  17,203.76 


Total  Disbursements  .  149,284.19 

Balance  End  of  Year . , . . . . . . . .  . . . . .  $  21,116.29 


PRESENT  WORK 


667 


THE  BOARD  OF  TEMPERANCE,  PROHIBITION,  AND  PUBLIC  MORALS 

DOLLAR 


GENERAL  DEACONESS  BOARD 

The  General  Deaconess  Board,  in  order  to  maintain  its  work  on  the  present  basis  (January  1,  1923), 
must  have  $50,414.06  for  the  year  1924-25. 

For  the  fiscal  year  ending  December  31,  1922,  the  receipts  and  expenditures  of  the  General  Deaconess 
Board  were  as  follows: 

Balance  Beginning  of  Year . . . - . .  . . . -  $  10,151.60 


RECEIPTS 

Centenary  Receipts  . - . . . - . - . . 

The  amount  guaranteed  to  the  General  Deaconess  Board  less  its 
proportionate  share  of  the  expense  of  the  Committee  on  Con¬ 
servation  and  Advance. 

Other  Receipts  . - . - . 

Interest  on  bank  balances. 

Total  Receipts  . . . - . - . — 

Beginning  Balance  plus  Receipts - - 


$  42,731.73 


708.39 


43,440.12 
$  53,591.72 


DISBURSEMENTS 


APPROPRIATIONS 

Pension  Fund  . - . - .  $  15,000.00 

For  retired  deaconesses. 

Interest  to  Endowment  Fund . . . .  578.67 

Interest  accrued  on  bank  balances  is  annually  transferred  to  the 
Endowment  Pension  Fund. 

Special  Gifts  . . .  7,800.00 

Grants  made  to  special  deaconess  work,  America  and  in  Europe.  - ’ 

Total  Appropriations  . , . . . . . . — . . . .  $  23,378.07 


668 


WORLD  SERVICE 


Education  and  promotion 

Literature  and  Publicity . . . .  $  3,518.83 

Preparation  and  printing  of  leaflets  describing  deaconess  work 
and  collecting  special  material  for  publicity. 


Stereopticon  . - . - . 

Special  lantern  slide  lectures  on  General  Deaconess  work. 

Total  Education  and  Promotion . . . 


426.89 


3,945.72 


administration 

Salaries 


Corresponding  secretary,  field  workers,  stenographers  and  clerks. 

Travel  . . . . - . 

Travel  and  hotel  expense  for  the  corresponding  secretary  and 
field  workers  and  general  field  representatives. 

Board  Meetings  . - . - . 

Travel  and  hotel  expense  of  the  members  of  the  board  for  the 
annual  meeting  and  its  various  committees. 

Rent  . - . - . - . - . - . 

For  the  offices  of  the  Board  at  675-77  Ellicott  Square,  Buffalo. 
New  York. 

General  Office  Expense . . . . . - . - . 

Telephone,  telegraph  and  office  equipment. 

Miscellaneous  . . . 

Postage,  stationery,  office  supplies  and  other  items  not  properly 
charged  to  above  budget  classifications. 


$  13,035.00 

4,447.78 

3,093.06 

1,200.00 

159.88 

1,153.95 


Total  Administration  .... 
Total  Disbursements  .... 
Balance  End  of  Year. 


23,089.67 


THE  GENERAL  DEACONESS  BOARD  DOLLAR 


50,414.06 

3,177.66 


PRESENT  WORK 


669 


BOARD  OF  HOSPITALS  AND  HOMES 

The  Board  of  Hospitals  and  Homes,  in  order  to  maintain  its  work  on  the  present  basis  (January  1, 

1923),  must  have  $39,527.88.  r  n  n  u  r  u  •<.  t  j 

For  the  fiscal  year  ending  May  31,  1922,  the  receipts  and  expenditures  of  the  Board  of  Hospitals  and 

Homes  were  as  follows: 

RECEIPTS 

Centenary  Receipts  . - . . ••••••- . ■■—■■■ . — . 

The  amount  guaranteed  to  the  Board  of  Hospitals  and  Homes  less 
its  proportionate  share  of  the  expense  of  the  Committee  on 
Conservation  and  Advance. 

Other  Receipts  . - . - . - . . . - 

Refunds  from  institutions  for  service  rendered. 

Total  Receipts  . - . - . — . . — 

DISBURSEMENTS 

ADMINISTRATION 

Salaries 


$  35,636.45 


3,707.95 


$  39,344.40 


tele- 


Corresponding  secretary,  stenographers,  and  bookkeeper. 

General  Office  Expense . . . 

Travel,  stationery  and  office  supplies,  postage,  telephone, 
graph,  legal  advice,  office  equipment,  and  miscellaneous. 

Rent  . . — - . . — - . 

For  the  offices  of  the  Board  at  740  Rush  Street,  Chicago,  Illinois. 

Board  Meetings  . . . . . . . --••• 

For  the  travel  and  hotel  of  the  members  of  the  board  for  the 
annual  meeting  and  its  special  committees. 

Total  Administration  . - . — 

FINANCIAL 

Notes  and  Interest . - . — . . . ■•■••••••••• . - 

Advances  made  for  the  opening  of  the  office  of  the  board  before 
regular  receipts  were  available. 

EDUCATION  AND  PROMOTION 

Salaries  . . . . . — •; 

Field  workers  for  the  promotion  of  the  White  Cross  movement 
and  the  financial  and  publicity  campaigns  of  local  institutions. 

Expenses  of  field  workers . - . - . 

Literature  and  periodicals . — . . •••••■■ . -  ,  , 

Printing  and  distributing  the  technical  pamphlets  of  the  board  and 
the  regular  News-Letter  sent  to  all  institutions  and  church  leaders. 

Slides,  graphs,  and  charts . . - . . 

Total  Education  and  Promotion . - . . . - . 


8,950.40 

6,617.20 

1,116.00 

2,308.00 


18,991.60 

4,652.13 


$  6,854.13 

4,303.86 

1,762.28 

1,069.88 


13,990.15 


Total  Disbursements 


$  37,633.88 


THE  BOARD  OF  HOSPITALS  AND  HOMES  DOLLAR 


670 


WORLD  SERVICE 


COMMISSION  ON  COURSES  OF  STUDY 

The  Commission  on  Courses  of  Study,  in  order  to  maintain  its  work  on  the  present  basis  (January  1, 
1923),  must  have  $45,000,  for  the  year  1924-25. 

For  the  fiscal  year  ending  November  30,  1922,  the  receipts  and  disbursements  of  the  Commission  on 
Courses  of  Study  were  as  follows : 


RECEIPTS 


Centenary  Receipts  . 

The  amount  guaranteed  to 
expense  of  the  Committee 


. . . . . . . . . . $39,711.28 

the  Commission  on  Courses  of  Study  less  its  proportionate  share  of  the 
on  Conservation  and  Advance. 


DISBURSEMENTS 

EDUCATION  AND  PROMOTION 

Salaries  . - . - . — . - . . . - . - . - . $  7,804.83 

Salaries  of  educational  director,  stenographers  and  clerks. 

Commission  meetings  . — . — . . . . — - . — . — ; . .  1,391.10 

For  the  travel  and  hotel  expense  for  members  of  the  commission  for  the  annual  meeting  and  its 
committees. 

Summer  schools  . . . -■■■•: . — . . . - . - . . . -  19,125.19 

The  travel  and  other  program  expense,  printing,  postage  and  all  items  involved  in  the  summer  schools 
of  theology. 

Literature  . . — * . . . — . . — . . — — ................. „ - - - .............  1,339.5 1 

The  printing  of  the  necessary  leaflet  literature  and  the  annual  report  of  the  commission. 


T  ravel  . . . ; . . - . - . 

The  travel  and  hotel  expense  of  the  educational  director. 

^etjror  the  office  of  the  commission  at  150  Fifth  Avenue,  New  York  City. 

Texts  . - . - . 

For  the  expense  of  preparing  study  texts. 

Conferences  . . . . . : . , . . . : -y . -. . . 

For  meetings  of  boards  of  examiners  and  summer  school  leaders. 

Accounting  . . . . . . yy . ; . r~7 . . 

For  auditor  and  part  time  salary  of  bookkeeper  and  accountant. 

Office  Expense  . - . ■■■•; . . - . . - . y . v . ;y . r; . 

Postage,  telegraph,  telephone,  multigraph,  office  equipment  and  miscellaneous  items. 
Total  Disbursements  . - . — 


...  897.02 

...  1,500.00 
_  317.50 

..  504.40 

..  800.00 
..  3,913.68 
..$37,593.23 


THE  COMMISSION  ON  COURSES  OF  STUDY  DOLLAR 


PRESENT  WORK 


671 


COMMISSION  ON  LIFE  SERVICE 


The  Commission  on  Life  Service,  in  order  to  maintain  its  work  on  the  present  basis  (January  1,  1923), 
must  have  $54,677.00  for  the  year  1924-25. 

For  the  fiscal  year  ending  October  31,  1922,  the  receipts  and  expenditures  of  the  Commission  on  Life 
Service  were  as  follows: 


RECEIPTS 

Centenary  Receipts  . - . — . — . . . - . . . — . . . —$54,7761 

Received  from  the  treasurer  of  the  Committee  on  Conservation  and  Advance  for  a  budget  approved 
by  the  Commission  on  Life  Service  and  the  Council  of  Boards  of  Benevolence. 

DISBURSEMENTS 

EDUCATION  AND  PROMOTION 

Salaries  of  officers  . . . - . - . — . - . — . . . . . . $12,743.. 

For  executive  secretary,  director  of  vocational  guidance,  director  of  college  conferences,  research 
secretary,  who  with  the  representatives  allocated  by  the  co-operating  boards  constitute  the  complete 
staff  of  the  commission. 

General  office  salaries  . - . - . — . . - . - . . - . — . —  22,163. 


Salaries  for  stenographers  and  filing  clerks. 


Travel  .  

Travel  and  hotel  expense  of  the  staff  officers  and  other  team  members  for  life  work  conferences. 


8,431.09 


Literature 


7,750.05 


The  bulletin  of  personnel  needs  published  quarterly,  and  pamphlets  describing  different  vocations 
within  the  church,  candidates’  information  blanks  and  card  indexes. 


Office  expense  . — . 

Postage,  telegrams,  stationery  and  multigraphing. 


3,687.60 


Total  Disbursements 


$54,776.01 


THE  COMMISSION  ON  LIFE  SERVICE  DOLLAR 


EDUCATION 

and 

PROMOTION 


672 


WORLD  SERVICE 


COMMITTEE  ON  CONSERVATION  AND  ADVANCE 

The  Committee  on  Conservation  and  Advance,  in  order  to  maintain  its  work  on  the  present  basis 
(January  1,  1923),  must  have  $792,000.00  for  the  year  1924-25. 

For  the  fiscal  year  ending  October  31,  1922,  the  receipts  and  disbursements  of  the  Committee  on  Con¬ 
servation  and  Advance  were  as  follows : 


RECEIPTS 

Centenary  Receipts  . — — . . . : . .  $  787,463.76 

Retained  by  the  treasurer  of  the  Committee  on  Conservation  and  Advance  ■ 

out  of  Centenary  funds,  on  a  budget  authorized  by  the  Council  of  Boards  of 
Benevolence  and  expended  under  the  immediate  direction  of  the  Adminis¬ 
trative  Committee. 


DISBURSEMENTS 


EDUCATION  AND  PROMOTION 

Salaries  of  officers . 


For  the  educational  secretary,  and  directors  of  publicity,  church  training, 
stereopticon  and  lantern  slide,  pageants  and  plays,  and  stewardship  divisions. 

Salaries  of  special  workers . . . . . 

For  the  field  workers,  returned  missionaries,  and  others  employed  for  full  or 
part  time  for  the  presentation  of  our  benevolences  to  the  churches. 

General  office  salaries . — . — . . 

Stenographers  and  clerks  for  all  departments  of  education  and  promotion. 

Travel  . - . - . - . . - . 

The  travel  ancf  hotel  expense  of  all  department  heads  and  field  workers 
for  education  and  promotion. 

Literature  . . - . - . - . - . . — . - . — 

The  preparation  and  printing  of  all  leaflets,  including  stewardship,  church 
training  night,  lists  of  accredited  pageants  and  plays 
lectures  and  equipment,  Centenary  art  calendar,  the 
monthly,  and  all  leaflets  for  free  distribution 

Publicity  supplies  . . . - . : . . - . . 

For  publicity  photographs,  electrotypes,  special  articles  and  press  clippings. 

Christmas  Offering,  1921 


and  lantern  slide 
Pastor's  Bulletin  issued 
the  churches. 


Preparation  and  distribution  of  the  special  appeal  for  the  unprivileged  child¬ 
hood  of  the  world. 

Lantern  slides  and  lectures . . . ; . 

Collecting  photographs  and  negatives  from  all  over  the  world,  making  cap¬ 
tions,  cataloging  and  safely  preserving  the  same,  the  preparation  and  editing 
of  illustrated  lectures,  the  manufacture  and  distribution  of  lantern  slides 
through  the  area  offices,  and  the  rent  of  the  lantern  slide  factory  and  offices. 

Area  offices  . - . -.--■■■■  — - . - . 

Salaries  of  area  secretaries,  stenographers,  clerks,  and  special  field  workers 
attached  to  area  offices ;  rent,  office  supplies,  postage,  telegraph,  telephone, 

stationery,  printing,  travel  expense,  for  twenty-three  area  offices,  as  follows : 

Atlanta  (White)  . .  $ 

Atlanta  (Negro)  . . 

Buffalo  I;;;;;:;::::;;;;:;;;::::;::::::::;::: . ::::::::::::  ::::::::: ::::::::::  ::::::::::::::::::::::::  ftS&Ss 

Chattanooga  (White)  .  ^o’zoo’er 

Chattanooga  (Negro)  . 

Chicago  13,922.18 

Cincinnati  :: . . .  - . . .  20,807.15 

Denver  9,617.5^ 

Detroit  . .i.!.. .  14,729.35 

Helena  . .  '0,512.08 

Indianapolis  . • . .  . . 

New  Orleans  . . 

New  York  . 1q’nfit'n5 

Philadelphia  .  Jr’vna'ji 

San  Francisco  . . . .  . . . . 

Miscellaneous  . - . - . . . - . . . . . 

For  miscellaneous  items  not  properly  charged  to  any  of  the  above  classi¬ 
fications. 

Total  Education  and  Promotion . : . 


$  45,704.68 

42,343.82 

21,621.34 

54,271.39 

53,566.99 

9,073.30 

11,541.07 

40,238.68 

269,201.37 


1,416.77 


LESS  Centenary  Calendar  Credit . . . 

Receipts  from  Centenary  art  calendars  sold  through  the  churches  covering 
cost  of  printing  and  distribution. 


$  548,979.41 
7,371.23 


$  541,608.18 


PRESENT  WORK 


673 


administration 

Salaries  of  officers . . .  $  34,773.18 

For  corresponding  secretary,  treasurer,  assistant  treasurer,  cashier,  book- 
keepers,  accountants,  office  secretary,  and  staff  helpers  for  statistics  and 
apportionments  division. 

General  office  salaries .  66,505.10 

For  stenographers,  bookkeepers  and  clerks,  for  the  general  office. 

Travel  . - . - . - . - . . .  4,251.04 

For  travel  and  hotel  expense  on  matters  of  general  administration. 

Rent  . - . - . • . - .  10,645.00 

For  the  offices  of  the  Committee  on  Conservation  and  Advance  at  740  Rush 
Street,  Chicago,  Illinois. 

Repairs  and  equipment . 1,168.89 

For  the  necessary  adjustments  in  space  and  equipment  for  office  efficiency. 

Office  supplies  .  25,360.07 

For  stationery,  card  indexes,  correspondence  files,  records,  forms,  and 
stenographers’  supplies. 

Telephone  and  telegraph .  3,499.88 

Postage  and  express .  69,325.00 

For  general  correspondence  from  all  departments;  monthly  communications 
to  17,000  pastors  and  church  officers;  for  all  samples  and  parcels  of  literature 
for  distribution  to  4,000,000  members,  and  for  all  literature,  lantern  slides, 
costumes  and  curios  sent  to  area  offices. 

Office  service  . - .  . — -  —  14,139.02 

For  multigraphing,  folding,  addressing  form  letters  and  all  items  of  shipping 
and  forwarding. 

Insurance  . . . . . .  3,020.76 

For  policies  covering  insurance  on  all  office  equipment  in  Chicago  and 
twenty-three  area  offices ;  liability  insurance  on  all  employes  in  the  Chicago 
office,  and  the  area  secretaries. 

Committee  meetings  .  .  16,853.76 


For  the  travel  and  hotel  expense  for  members  of  the  Council  of  Boards  of 
Benevolence,  the  Executive  Committee,  the  Committee  on  Conservation  and 
Advance,  and  for  the  Administrative  Committee  which  meets  monthly  and 
special  committees  created  by  the  Council. 

For  professional  service .  9,174.55 

Attorneys’  and  auditors’  fees. 

Total  Administration . - . . . . .  258,716.25 


Total  Disbursements  . . . .  $  800,324.43 

less  Interest  on  Bank  Ralances  and  Miscellaneous  Credits  .  12,860.67 

Net  Disbursements  .  $  787,463.76 


THE  COMMITTEE  ON  CONSERVATION  AND  ADVANCE  DOLLAR 


44 


674 


WORLD  SERVICE 


WOMAN’S  FOREIGN  M  ISSIONARY  SOCIETY 

The  askings  and  the  needs  for  the  enlarged  program  of  the  Woman’s  Foreign  Missionary  Society  are 
indicated  on  page  629.  Their  receipts  and  expenditures  for  the  year  ending  September  30,  1922,  follow. 

This  statement  is  included  here  in  order  that  there  may  be  a  complete  review  of  the  financial  opera¬ 
tions  of  the  general  benevolent  work  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church.  It  must  be  remembered ^however, 
that  the  financial  requirements  of  the  Woman’s  Foreign  Missionary  Society  are  not  included  in  the  official 
World  Service  askings  and  apportionments. 


RECEIPTS 

From  all  sources 


$2,255,740.88 


DISBURSEMENTS 

appropriations 

Direct 

Salaries  and  transportation  of  missionaries . 

Schools,  scholarships,  hospitals,  evangelistic 

work  and  taxes  . 

Buildings  and  improvements  . 

Total  Direct  Appropriations . 


$  646,028.55 

822,287.97 

567,723.05 


$2,036,039.57 


Indirect 

Scholarships  and  aid  to  students,  candidates 

and  missionaries  . 

Foreign  students  in  U.  S.  A. . 

Pensions,  Retirement  Fund  Endowment . 

Denominational  co-operation,  consultations  with 

Board  of  Foreign  Missions . 

Interdenominational  co-operation  . 

Total  Indirect  Appropriations . 


$  5,256.56 

3,350.00 
56,049.08 

510.85 

2,829.25 


67,995.74 


Special 

Loans  repaid,  amounts  reserved  for  future 

expenditure,  annuity  interest,  etc . 

Designated  gifts,  Interchurch  World  Movement 
underwriting  . 

Total  Special  Appropriations . 

Total  Appropriations  . 


$  28,616.88 
10,182.68 

.  38,799.56 

.  $2,142,834.87 


Education  and  promotion 

Salaries  and  travel  expense  of  field  workers.... .  $  11,559.15 

Literature  and  periodicals  .  28,062.27 

Charts,  slides,  etc .  25.00 

Summer  conferences  . 94Z38 


Total  Education  and  Promotion . .  $  40,588.80 


administration 

Salaries 

Officers  and  department  heads . 

Stenographers,  Bookkeepers  and  clerks . 

Travel  expense  . 

Stationery,  office  expense,  postage,  telephone,  telegraph, 

cartage  and  express,  equipment,  etc . 

Rent  . 

Board  and  committee  meetings . 

Attorney’s  and  auditing  fees . 

Miscellaneous  . 


$  3,800.00 

10,157.70 
824.98 

21,416.88 

4,649.26 

25,541.08 

250.77 

9,398.61 


Total  Administration 


76,039.28 


PRESENT  WORK 


675 


FINANCIAL  EXPENSE 

Interest  on  loans  . . .  $  3.574.85 

Unclassified  expenses  .  15,612.08 

Total  Financial  Expense  . . . .  $  19,186.93 

Total  Administration,  Education  and  Pro¬ 
motion,  and  Other  Expense . 

Total  Disbursements  . 


THE  WOMAN’S  FOREIGN  MISSIONARY  SOCIETY  DOLLAR 


1,^  cents 


135,815.01 

$2,278,649.88 


676 


WORLD  SERVICE 


WOMAN’S  HOME  MISSIONARY  SOCIETY 

The  askings  and  the  needs  for  an  enlarged  program  for  the  Woman’s  Home  Missionary  Society  are 
indicated  in  their  statement  on  page  637.  Their  receipts  and  expenditures  for  the  year  ending  July  31, 
1922,  follow. 

This  statement  is  included  here  in  order  that  there  may  be  a  complete  review  of  the  financial  operations 
of  the  general  benevolent  work  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church.  It  must  be  remembered,  however, 
that  the  financial  requirements  of  the  Woman’s  Home  Missionary  Society  are  not  included  in  the  omciai 
World  Service  askings  and  apportionments. 


Balance  Beginning  of  Year 


$  108,899.89 


RECEIPTS  . . . 

Includes  all  receipts  from  conferences,  special 
offerings,  student  aid,  lapsed  annuities,  funds 
for  permanent  missionaries  and  deaconesses,  per¬ 
petual  memberships,  for  soldiers’  work,  for  build¬ 
ings  and  current  expenses,  and  income  from 
investments. 


2,837,866.67 


Beginning  Balance  plus  Receipts 


$2,946,766.56 


DISBURSEMENTS 

APPROPRIATIONS  AND  VOUCHERS 

Direct  to  Homes  and  Schools 

Salaries  for  missionaries . 

Scholarships  and  aid  to  students . 

Buildings  . 

Interest  . 

Soldiers’  and  sailors’  work . 

Insurance  and  taxes . 

Missionaries  and  deaconesses’  travel.. 
Net  from  Homes  and  Schools  Fund 
Miscellaneous  . 

Total  Direct  Appropriations . 


$221,482.41 

391,081.28 

167,577.88 

6,845.01 

3,880.00 

22,124.10 

8,325.47 

32,781.78 

65,926.08 


$  920,024.01 


Indirect  Appropriations 

Interdenominational  co-operation . 

Government  schools  . 

Emergency  for  K.  C.  N.  T.  (Refunded) . 

Emergency  for  Sus.  Wesley  (Refunded) . 

Allowance  to  retired  missionaries . 

Net  investment,  annuity  and  bequest  expense 


$  502.92 

500.00 
6,500.00 
5,000.00 
5,763.73 
187,569.49 


Total  Indirect  Appropriations 


205,836.14 


Total  Appropriations 


$1,125,860.15 


Vouchers 

Representing  receipts  and  expenditures  raised 
and  expended  locally  and  reported  to  the  na¬ 
tional  treasurer  by  vouchers. 

Deaconess  institutions  . 

Expended  on  voucher  credit  . 

Self  help  as  reported . 

Value  of  supplies  furnished . 


$  775,812.75 
462,868.33 
137,194.76 
246,671.51 

.  1,622,547.35 


Total  Appropriations  and  Vouchers 
Total  Vouchers  . 


$2,748,407.50 


PRESENT  WORK 


677 


EDUCATION  AND  PROMOTION 

Salaries  .  $  13,913.92 

Travel,  rent  and  other  expenses .  6.9C9.80 


Total  Education  and  Promotion 


$  20,823.72 


administration 

Salaries  .  $  5,880.00 

Travel  and  other  expenses  for  officers  and 

secretaries  .  24,344.67 

Salaries  and  stenographic  help  (Deaconess 

Dept.)  . 2,149.92 

Travel  and  other  expenses  (Deaconess  Dept.)  1,836.98 

Printing  . 7,843.75 

Board  of  Managers — Expenses .  8,307.38 

Board  of  Trustees — Expenses .  6,017.48 

Attorney  and  audit  fees .  2,524.70 

Miscellaneous  travel  and  general  expense .  867.82 

Bureau  work,  rent  .  500.00 


Total  Administration  .  60,272.70 


Total  Administration,  Education  and 
Promotion  . 


81,096.42 


Total  Disbursements 


Balance  End  of  Year. 


THE  WOMAN’S  HOME  MISSIONARY  SOCIETY  DOLLAR 


2,829,503.92 
$  117,262.64 


THE  APPROVED  NEEDS 

These  figures  represent  the  actual  needs,  as  reported  in  the  extensive  and  care¬ 
fully  made  surveys  of  our  World  Service,  which  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church 
ought  to  meet  in  1924-25.  The  present-work  basis  is  included.  These  projects 
are* all  realizable  pieces  of  work,  that  is,  they  are  located  and  described,  and  the 
program  can  be  administered  effectively  as  the  funds  are  made  available. 


Board  of  Foreign  Missions . ^ . . 

Board  of  Home  Missions  and  Church  Extension  .... 

Board  of  Education  for  Negroes . 

Board  of  Education . 

Board  of  Sunday  Schools . 

Board  of  Conference  Claimants . 

Board  of  the  Epworth  League . 

American  Bible  Society . . 

Board  of  Temperance,  Prohibition,  and  Public  Morals 

General  Deaconess  Board . 

Board  of  Hospitals  and  Homes . 

Commission  on  Courses  of  Study . 

Commission  on  Life  Service . 

Committee  on  Conservation  and  Advance . 


$12,015,900 

9,805,040 

950,000 

2,802,683 

810,000 

150,000 

176,800 

250,000 

319,750 

90,000 

175,000 

60,000 

75,000 

865,000 

$28,045,173 


678 


APPROVED  NEEDS 


679 


BOARD  OF  FOREIGN  MISSIONS 


The  needs  revealed  by  the  surveys  within  the  scope  of  the  Board  of  Foreign  Missions  and  approved  by 
the  Council  of  Boards  of  Benevolence,  after  careful  scrutiny  and  revision  by  the  Committee  of  Twenty-five 
and  its  Sub-committee  on  New  Studies,  are  $12,015,900. 

These  needs  are  described  in  Parts  One  and  Two  of  this  volume  and  are  classified  as  follows : 


direct  appropriations 


Missionary 

W  ork 

Total  for 

Costs 

Operations 

Property 

each  Field 

China  . 

$555,936 

$1,186,378 

$2,368,964 

Japan  and  Korea . 

.  219,800 

298,993 

549,859 

1,068,652 

Philippine  Islands  . . 

.  68,150 

54,179 

151,830 

274,159 

Malaysia  Group  . . 

.  137,700 

105,963 

309,360 

553,023 

India  and  Burma . . 

.  546,500 

896,770 

1,140,476 

2,583,746 

Africa  . 

.  298,500 

164,589 

295,730 

758,819 

South  America  . 

.  299,700 

261,994 

462,880 

1,024,574 

Mexico  and  Central  America . 

.  101,000 

190,738 

157,300 

449,038 

The  Balkans  . 

.  21,750 

64,940 

33,250 

119,940 

Southern  Europe  . . 

.  30,300 

212,044 

313,180 

555,524 

Northern  and  Central  Europe . 

255,736 

288,650 

544,386 

Russia  and  Baltic  Provinces . 

.  33,350 

84,600 

190,000 

307,950 

Europe  . 

. .  3,000 

41,000 

34,000 

78,000 

North  Africa  . . . . 

.  50,000 

92,538 

85,787 

228,325 

Total  Direct  Appropriations . . 

.  $2,436,400 

$3,280,020 

$5,198,680 

$10,915,100 

indirect  appropriations  . . . . . . . . . _____ .  550,800 

Items  involved  in  field  costs,  but  which  it  is  not  feasible  to  charge  to  their  direct  work 
budgets  such  as,  the  cost  of  co-operating  committees,  allowances  for  retired  ministers, 
their  widows  and  orphans,  the  expense  of  the  selection,  medical  examination  and 
approval  of  candidates,  educational  and  scholarship  grants  for  the  training  of  mission¬ 
aries  and  certain  purchasing,  shipping  and  transportation  items.  See  page  650 
for  detailed  statement  of  these  expenditures  for  the  year  ending  October  31,  1922. 


Total  Appropriation  for  the  Fields . . . . . . . .  _  ,  $11,465  900 

Endowment  for  Relief  and  Pensions . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  100.000 

To  create  a  permanent  fund  to  yield  ultimately  $100,000  a  year  for  the  relief  of  widows 
and  orphans  of  missionaries  and  for  the  allowances  for  retired  missionaries,  the  pres¬ 
ent  cost  of  $60,000  being  borne  chiefly  by  the  Indirect  Appropriations.  Within  the 
next  ten  years,  $2,000,000  must  be  accumulated. 


general  expense . . . - _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _  450,000 

Administration 

Corresponding  Secretaries 

Foreign  department,  records  and  survey  departments,  education  and  literature  on  the 
foreign  field,  office  of  the  treasurer,  accountant  and  cashier,  purchasing  and  shipping, 
stenographic  and  filing  departments,  board  meetings,  rent,  general  office  and  miscel¬ 
laneous. 


Education  and  Promotion 

Designated  income,  legal  department,  cultivation  department,  miscellaneous. 


TOTAL  NEEDS 


$12,015,900 


680 


WORLD  SERVICE 


BOARD  OF  HOME  MISSIONS  AND  CHURCH  EXTENSION 


The  needs  revealed  by  the  surveys  within  the  scope  of  the  Board  of  Home  Missions  and  Church 
Extension  and  approved  by  the  Council  of  Boards  of  Benevolence,  after  careful  scrutiny  and  revision  by 
the  Committee  of  Twenty-five  and  its  Sub-committees  on  New  Studies  are  $9,805,040. 

These  needs  are  described  in  Parts  One  and  Two  of  this  volume  and  are  classified  as  follows: 


Porto  Rico  . - . 

Santo  Domingo  . - . - . 

Hawaii  . . . 

Alaska  . — . — . - . 

The  North  American  Indian . ■- . 

Mormon  territory  — . ■■■- . - . 

Negro  city . . . - . 

Negro  agricultural  . - . - . - . 

Negro  industrial  . . . . - . 

Rural  industrial  . 

City  industrial  . — .  - . 

The  downtown  church . 

Semi-downtown  neighborhood  parishes . 

Older  changing  city  residential . . - 

Newly  developing  city  residential . . . 

Suburban  development  . . . - . - . 

Orientals  . - . . - . 

Mexican  and  Spanish-speaking  Americans. 

Older  immigration  . - . . 

Newer  immigration 

a.  Racial  . - . . 

b.  Polyglot  . — . . - . - . . 

c.  Immigrant  port  work . - . 

Medium-sized  towns  . - . - . 

Village  agricultural  . - . . 

Open  country  . - . 

Isolated  and  range  populations . - . 

Transient  and  tenant  agricultural . - . 

Cut-over  lands  . — . - . — . 

Irrigation  and  drainage . — . - . 

Highlanders  of  the  South . - . 

Summer  and  winter  resorts . 

Student  centers  . - . . - . 

Military  and  naval  camps . . - . . 

Goodwill  industries  . - . 

Leadership  . - . . 

Evangelism  . - . . 

Rural  demonstration  and  parish  work . 

Foreign  language  literature . . 


Administrative  expense  . . - . 

Executive  . . — . 

General  Office  . - . . . 

Treasury  . . - . - . 

Stenographic  . - . . - . 

Publicity  . - . 

Board  Meetings . . 

Legal  Expense  . 

Emergency  fund  . — . - . 

Contingent  fund  . - . ■■ . 

Moving  expenses  of  missionaries . 

Bureau  of  architecture 
Co-operation  with  interdenominational 


$90,000 
.  40,000 
.  29,500 
.  30,000 
.  25,000 

. 7,500 

.  3,000 


agencies 


Totals 


TOTAL  NEEDS 


General 


$215,000 
.  200,000 
.  105,000 
.  20,000 
.  225,000 


75,000 

10.000 

5,000 

25,000 

15,000 


$895,000 


Maintenance 
....  $  54,000 

15,000 
45,000 
18,700 
50,250 
23,550 
.  156,200 

87.400 
44,000 

.  167,200 

.  205,000 

53.500 
87,300 
66,000 
23,200 

51.500 

48.500 

.  115,000 

.  100,900 

.  328,550 

.  211,900 

10,600 

34,850 

.  246,650 

.  109,770 

.  128,050 

80,860 

68,000 

50.400 
66,900 

23.500 
80,650 
10,800 
25,000 


Church 
Extension 
$  37,500 

20.500 
45,000 
15,000 
49,000 

54.500 

480.250 
373,140 
177,000 

289.500 

595.500 

318.500 

371.400 
212,350 

158.600 
152,000 
61,450 
155,000 
144,470 

308,700 

252,450 

82,200 

314.400 
125,000 

205.600 
65,400 

73.200 
113,300 
137,000 

85,000 

352.250 

26.200 
170,000 


$2,888,680  $6,021,360 

'  . $9,805,040.00 


APPROVED  NEEDS 


681 


BOARD  OF  EDUCATION  FOR  NEGROES 

The  needs  revealed  by  the  surveys  within  the  scope  of  the  Board  of  Education  for  Negroes  and 
approved  by  the  Council  of  Boards  of  Benevolence,  after  careful  scrutiny  and  revision  by  the  Committee 
of  Twenty-five  and  its  Sub-Committees  on  New  Studies  are  $960,000. 

These  needs  are  described  in  Parts  One  and  Two  of  this  volume  and  are  classified  as  follows  : 
APPROPRIATIONS 

Salaries  in  nineteen  schools . . . . _ . $1316,000 

Repairs  on  present  property  .  46  000 

New  buildings  imperatively  needed  because  of  new  program  begun  under  the  Centenary  and 

partially  completed  . 300  000 

Equipment,  including  science  laboratories,  supplies,  apparatus  and  reference  libraries .  63,000 

Northern  school  for  Negroes . . . . .  100,000 

Increased  scientific  equipment  and  better  qualified  teachers  in  order  to  advance  the  rating  of 

_  schools  . . . .  . . . . .  28,000 

fior  upkeep  and  repairs  on  new  buildings  and  increased  operating  expenses .  50,000 

ADMINISTRATION 

Salaries  and  travel  expense  of  secretaries  and  educational  director  and  salaries  of  stenogra¬ 
phers  and  clerks  .  30  000 

Rent,  heat,  light,  postage,  printing  and  general  office  expense  .  20,000 

Interest  to  annuitants  .  7  000 

TOTAL  NEEDS . ....$960,000 

BOARD  OF  EDUCATION 

The  needs  revealed  by  the  surveys  within  the  scope  of  the  Board  of  Education  and  approved  by  the 
Council  of  Boards  of  Benevolence,  after  careful  scrutiny  and  revision  by  the  Committee  of  Twenty-five 
and  its  Sub-committee  on  New  Studies,  are  $2,302,683.00. 

These  needs  are  described  in  Parts  One  and  Two  of  this  volume  and  are  classified  as  follows: 

Current  expenses,  regular  colleges . . . . . . . . . . . .  $1,519  969 

The  amount  needed  immediately  by  our  Methodist  colleges  to  apply  on  current  expenses 
until  adequate  endowments  can  be  obtained. 

Current  expenses,  southern  schools _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _  _  100  000 

For  the  maintenance  of  accredited  work  in  our  schools  established  in  what  will  be  for 
many  years  missionary  territory. 

Buildings,  southern  schools . . . . _ . . . . . . . . . .  100  000 

For  the  erection  of  absolutely  necessary  buildings. 

Frontier  and  missionary  schools . . . _ . . . . . . . .  . .  100  000 

To  supplement  the  maintenance  and  building  expense  of  schoois  now  being  established 
in  new  sparsely  populated  frontier  regions. 

Theological  schools  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  _  150  000 

A  minimum  requirement  for  the  successful  maintenance  of  work  already  begun  in  ten  theo¬ 
logical  schools  hitherto  unaided  by  any  of  the  general  funds  of  the  church. 

Graduate  schools  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  .  150  000 

For  current  expenses  for  graduate  schools  in  connection  with  our  universities  for  the 
preparation  of  teachers  for  colleges  and  preparatory  schools  and  for  the  training  of 
leaders,  especially  lay  leaders  for  community  service,  Wesley  Foundations,  missionary 
work,  and  specialized  church  vocations. 

Religious  training  in  non-Methodist  institutions _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _  75,000 

One-half  the  present  minimum  total  required  for  the  Wesley  Foundation  program  for  the 
religious  care  of  Methodist  students  at  non-Methodist  institutions. 

Religious  training  in  Methodist  institutions . . . . . . . . . .  20,000 

Additional  funds  for  our  Methodist  colleges,  for  pastoral  religious  activities,  supplement¬ 
ing  the  contributions  of  local  churches  and  institutions. 

Conference  loan  societies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  .  12  714 

Refunds  to  certain  annual  conferences  having  loan  societies  for  aid  to  students,  especially 
candidates  for  the  ministry  from  within  their  own  borders,  an  arrangement  made 
by  special  agreement. 

Administration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  _  _  . .  75  qqq 

The  administrative  budget  of  the  Board  of  Education  is  divided  among  severai  funds. 

This  amount  represents  that  which  should  come  from  general  benevolent  funds.  In  addi¬ 
tion  to  administration  it  covers  financial,  academic,  and  other  points  of  contact  with  insti¬ 
tutions  and  great  educational  foundations. 

..$2,302,683 


TOTAL  NEEDS 


682 


WORLD  SERVICE 


BOARD  OF  SUNDAY  SCHOOLS 

The  needs  revealed  by  the  surveys  within  the  scope  of  the  Board  of  Sunday  Schools  and  approved  by 
the  Council  of  Boards  of  Benevolence,  after  careful  scrutiny  and  revision  by  the  Committee  ot  i  we  y 
five  and  its  Sub-committee  on  New  Studies,  are  $810,000. 

These  needs  are  described  in  Parts  One  and  Two  of  this  volume  and  are  classified  as  follows: 

Extension  in  the  United  States  . - . - . . . . . . . . •; . V . ^  ^  ^ 

The  salaries,  travel  and  office  expense  of  thirty-five  held  workers  for  general  promotio 
religious  education,  the  conducting  of  institutes  and  teacher  training  conferences,  and  tie 
organization  of  new  Sunday  schools;  grants  of  Sunday-school  lesson  helps  to  needy  schools, 
and  the  salary,  travel  and  office  expense  of  a  special  field  worker  and  the  Superintendent  ot 
Extension  Work. 

Extension  in  Foreign  Fields  .  . 

The  salaries,  travel  and  office  expense  of  Sunday-school  secretaries  in  fifteen  foreign  coun¬ 
tries,  and  the  salary,  travel  and  office  expense  of  the  Superintendent  of  Foreign  Work. 

Korea  . - . - . - . - . * . — . — . 

Japan  . - . . - . . . . . 

China  . . - . - . - . - . . . . . 

Malaysia  . - . - . . ; . ~ . . . " 

Netherlands  Indies  . . - . - . - . - . - . . 


8.400 

3.400 
16,200 

3,400 
1,000 

Philippine  Islands  . - . . - . . - . . .  o’q'w 

India  and  Burma . . . . - . . - .  . “ . ~  o’n/v\ 

Africa  . - . - . - . - . - .  . . . . 

Mexico  . - . - . - . - . - . . . . .  . 

Central  America  . - . . . - . - . - . - . 

South  America . . - . - . . . - . - . - . - . - .  . 

Europe  and  North  Africa . - . - . - . - . 

Hawaii  . - . — . - . - . - . - . - . . . . 


8,000 

4.300 
400 

20.300 

52.300 

6.300 

„  ,  T1.  . . .  400 

ono  R,.CI’  . . . - . . . . .  .  14,750 

Foreign  Office  . - . .  . 


Institutes 


200,530 

73,800 


The  program  and  promotion  expense  for  the  Sunday-school  institutes  and  summer  sch°°Is> 
and  the  salary,  office  and  travel  expense  of  the  Superintendent  of  the  Institute  Department 
and  a  staff  of  four  specialists. 

Teacher  Training  f  training  courses,  promoting,  recording  and  supervising  teacher  train¬ 

ing  classes  in  local  Sunday  schools,  co-operating  with  the  Institute  Department  in  tocher 
training  institutes,  and  the  salaries  of  examiners  and  the  clerical  forces  f°r  c°^ 
study  and  the  salary,  travel  and  office  expense  of  the  Superintendent  of  Teacher  Training. 

M 1 S  The* pr i  nt  in  g &a nd* distribution  of  missionary  material  for  Sunday-school  missionary  superin¬ 
tendents  and  for  all  the  grades,  promoting  missionary  education,  stewardship  .  and  giving 

through  the  Sunday  school,  World  Friendship  correspondence  essay  and  oratorical  contests, 
work  through  annual  conference  boards  of  Sunday-schools,  and  the  salaries,  travel  and  office 
expense  of  four  field  men  and  the  Superintendent  of  Missionary  Education. 

17101  Creating  the  standards  of  organization,  methods  and  curriculum  for  the  cradle  roll,  begin-> 
ners’  primary  and  junior  departments;  for  staff  conferences,  training  schools,  and 
children’s  week;  and  for  the  salary,  travel  and  office  expense  of  held  representatives,  special 
workers,  volunteer  workers,  and  the  Superintendent  of  Elementary  Work. 

^  OUCreatffigl0he  Standards* ^f  organization,  methods  and  curriculum  for  the  intermediate,  senior 
and  young  people’s  departments ;  for  study  and  experiments,  summer  camps,  older  boy  and 
older  girl  conferences,  industrial  conferences,  college  campus  and  life  service,  young  peoples 
institutes,  inter-denominational  co-operation,  community  projects,  special  conferences  ot 
young  peoples,  field  work  and  camp  leaders ;  and  the  salary,  travel  and  office  expense  of 
boys’  work  and  girls’  work  assistants  and  the  Superintendent  of  Young  People  s  Wo  . 

AdUCr£tmgtXentstandards  'of  organization,  methods  and  curriculum  for  the  Adult  Department  ; 
the  promotion  of  the  Methodist  Brotherhood ;  and  the  promotion  and  program,  of  adult 
conferences;  and  the  salary,  travel  and  office  expense  of  a  womens  work  assistant,  of 
field  and  survey  workers  and  of  the  Superintendent  of  Adult  Work. 

FaiT1For  the^equipment,  supplies  and  expense  of  a  new  office  and  for  surveys,  the  preparation 
and  distribution  of  slides,  charts  and  literature  on  parent  training  and  the  family  worship 
league,  and  the  salary,  travel  and  office  expense  of  field  workers,  a  parent  training  spec¬ 
ialist  and  an  editorial  assistant. 


26,700 


69,550 


34,630 


50,000 


35,800 


43,800 


APPROVED  NEEDS  683 

Week-Day  and  Vacation  Church  School  Work . _ . . _ . . . . . . . . . . .  35,000 


For  the  construction,  preparation  and  promotion  of  curricula;  for  field  study,  exhibits, 
tabulation  and  charts ;  for  supervision  of  local  experiments ;  for  training  schools  and  special 
courses  in  other  schools  and  institutes;  for  co-operation  in  community  enterprises;  and  for 
the  salary,  travel  and  office  expense  of  a  Superintendent  of  Week-Day  and  Vacation  Church 
Schools  and  field  workers. 

Evangelism  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  10,000 

Co-operation  with  interchurch  agencies,  other  boards,  special  literature  and  church-wide 
special  campaigns. 

Research  and  Special  Projects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  25,000 

General  survey  world  Sunday-school  conditions,  research,  tabulations,  statistics,  Interna¬ 
tional  Sunday-school  Council,  International  Lessons  Committee,  and  Board  of  Sunday 
Schools  experimentation. 

Contingent  Fund  . . . . — _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _  25,000 

Unexpected  charges,  General  Conference  Exhibit  and  Commissions,  special  assigned  cam¬ 
paigns,  e.  g.  Near  East  and  Christmas  Fund.  Variations  in  general  charges. 

Administration  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  114,600 

Salaries  for  the  corresponding  secretary,  treasurer,  cashier,  bookkeeper,  research  secre¬ 
tary,  stenographers,  clerks,  travel  and  hotel  expense,  rent,  equipment,  alterations,  printing, 
postage,  and  Bureau  of  Architecture. 


TOTAL  NEEDS  - - - - - - - $899,660 


BOARD  OF  CONFERENCE  CLAIMANTS 

The  needs  revealed  by  the  surveys  with  the  scope  of  the  Board  of  Conference  Claimants,  and 
approved  by  the  Council  of  Boards  of  Benevolence,  after  careful  scrutiny  and  revision  by  the  Committee 
of  Twenty-five  and  its  Sub-committee  on  New  Studies,  are  $150,000. 

These  needs  are  described  in  Parts  One  and  Two  of  this  volume  and  are  classified  as  follows: 


Equalization  Fund  . . . j$  25,000 

For  the  purpose  of  enabling  all  the  conferences  to  bear,  in  a  connectional  way,  the  burden 
that  now  falls  on  certain  conferences  because  of  the  large  number  of  transfers  for 
climatic  and  other  reasons. 

Fund  for  Aged  and  Disabled  Supply  Pastors . .. .  20,000 

For  pensions  and  relief  for  these  worthy  men  when  they  can  no  longer  continue  in  active 
work. 

Sustentation  Fund  .  25,000 

For  the  emergencies  of  ministerial  life  especially  in  the  weaker  conferences. 

Connectional  or  General  Work  of  the  Board .  20,000 

For  the  promotion  of  campaigns  in  annual  conferences,  and  for  endowment  for  conference 
claimants. 

Administration  . 60,000 

For  the  salaries,  travel  and  general  office  expense,  rent,  and  board  meetings. 


TOTAL  NEEDS 


$150', 000 


684 


WORLD  SERVICE 
BOARD  OF  THE  EPWORTH  LEAGUE 

The  needs  revealed  by  the  surveys  within  the  scope  of  the  Board  of  the  Ep worth  League  and  approved 
by  the  Council  of  Boards*^  of  Benevolence,  after  careful  scrutiny  and  revision  by  the  Committee  of  Twenty- 
five  and  its  Sub-committee  on  New  Studies  are  $176,800. 

These  needs  are  described  in  Parts  One  and  Two  of  this  volume  and  are  classified  as  follows : 


FOR  THE  PRESENT  PROGRAM 

. $18,010 

'salaries  of  tii^  General  Secretary,  stenographers  and  clerks.  20  440 

General  ®®^er^XP„ppfieSj  postage,  telephone,  telegraph,  rent  and  miscellaneous  items.  ^ 

DC^  salary^travel1  exp^s^  and  the  proportiona  te  share  oT  general  office'  expense  or  the'  sTcretary  '  for 

German  Work.  6250 

^P^X1  8°lfar^eS5el'«pen^'' and  "the' ^pVoponionate"share ’of ‘ien^ai-^e-^ cHhe's^ 

Negro  Work.  25  000 

MlSE  <PrPPorHonate>Sshare 'ofge^l 

office  expense  of  the  Secretary  for  Mission  Study  and  Stewardship. 

'“"Sr ' 

the  Junior  League  Division.  ^ 

pense  of  the  Secretary  of  the  Institute  Department.  15150 

and  tine  proportionate  share  of  general  office  expense  of  the  Promotion  Secretary. 


FOR  NEW  DEPARTMENTS 


Bible  Study  and  Evangelism . . . . 

For  the  preparation,  printing  and  distribution  ol  the 
hotel  expense  of  a  staff  helper  and  the  proportionate 


necessary  new  literature,  the  salary,  travel  and 
share  of  general  office  expense. 


Social  Service  . . 

For  the  preparation,  printing 
hotel  expense  of  a  staff  helper 


and  distribution  of  the  necessary  new  literature,  the  salary,  travel  and 
and  the  proportionate  share  of  general  office  expense. 


Education^  standardize  and  co-ordinate  the  educattona1  work 

of  all  the  departments  of  the  League,  and  the  proportionate  share  of  general  o  P 


7,000 

7,000 

7,000 


CHECK 


backs  . 

An  arrangement  entered  into  between  the  Central  Office 
for  a  field  is  given  full  credit  and  part  of  it  is  returned 


and  local  fields  in  which  the  support  provided 
for  intensive  cultivation  in  that  territory. 


8,000 


.  35,800 


FOREIGN  FIELDS  .  , 

For  full  or  part  time  salaries  of  special  League  workers  and  for  the  necessary  trave  an 
expense  for  the  Epworth  League  Program. 

Japan  . .  . 

Malaysia  .  . 

Philippines  . .  . . 

South  America  . 

Italy  and  France  . . 

Scandinavia  .  .  . 

Austria,  Hungary  and  Switzerland . . . 

Germany  . 


literature 


..$  500 

3,000 
450 
..  8,400 

500 

.  1,000 

.  8,400 

.  2,500 

.  4,550 

...  2,000 

400 

.  2,000 

.  2,100 


$35,800 


TOTAL  NEEDS 


.$176,800 


APPROVED  NEEDS 


685 


AMERICAN  BIBLE  SOCIETY 

The  total  needs  revealed  by  the  surveys  within  the  scope  of  the  American  Bible  Society  led  the  Council 
of  Boards  of  Benevolence,  upon  the  recommendation  of  the  Committee  of  Twenty-five  and  its  Sub-com¬ 
mittee  on  New  Studies,  to  indicate  $250,000  as  the  share  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  in  the  total 
budget  of  this  society. 

These  needs  are  described  in  Parts  One  and  Two  of  this  volume  and  are  classified  as  follows.  It  is  not 
possible  to  make  a  separate  analysis  of  our  share  in  these  total  needs. 


APPROPRIATIONS 


Publication 

Scriptures  printed  for  the  society’s  work  in  the 
and  press  work,  binding,  general  manufacturing 
plates,  Scriptures  purchased,  depository  charges. 


United  States  and  Latin  America  chiefly ;  paper 
expenses,  superintendence,  care  and  repair  of 


Home  agency  secretaries 

Salaries  of  nine  secretaries,  and  general  office  and  travel  expense. 


Home  agencies 

Nine  agencies  including  work  among  the  Negro  people  throughout  the  United  States,  and  appropria¬ 
tions  for  distribution  of  Scriptures  in  the  fields. 


Foreign  agencies 

Secretaries’  salaries,  twelve  agencies,  West  I  ndies,  Mexico,  Caribbean,  Upper  Andes,  La  Plata, 
Brazil,  Levant,  Arabic-Levant,  Philippines,  Siam,  China,  Japan,  and  contingent  expense. 

Foreign  agencies,  covering  Latin  America,  the  Near  East,  and  the  Far  East  as  already  named;  ex¬ 
penditures  for  the  manufacture  and  purchase  of  Scriptures  and  the  expense  connected  with  their 
distribution  by  colporteurs  and  correspondents. 


General 

Extending  life  memberships  and  auxiliary  Bible  societies;  providing  Scriptures  for  the  blind;  mis¬ 
cellaneous  home  expenses,  emergencies,  and  home  grants  in  books  or  funds;  miscellaneous  foreign, 
furlough  and  traveling  expenses,  foreign  agency  secretaries,  pensions,  grants  in  funds  or  books  to 
fields  not  included  in  agencies,  countries  in  Europe,  Asia,  Africa,  Micronesia,  etc.,  and  co-operative 
movements;  translation  and  revision,  and  plates  of  new  versions  not  charged  in  the  cost  of  the 
books,  and  contingent. 


administration 

General  administration  including  salaries  of  two  general  secretaries,  a  treasurer,  a  recording  secre¬ 
tary  and  an  assistant  secretary. 

Salaries  and  wages  of  office  force. 

Travel,  postage,  telephone,  telegraph  and  cables,  supplies,  and  office  equipment. 

Bible  Society  Record,  annual  report,  pamphlets  and  leaflets,  library  expenses,  meeting  of  the  Ad¬ 
visory  Committee  and  contingent. 

Treasurer’s  office,  including  bookkeeper  and  cashiers. 

Pensions,  interest  on  loans,  legacy  expenses,  annuity  expenses,  payment  of  costs  over  income;  capi¬ 
tal  charges,  real  estate  (not  Bible  House  in  New  York)  ;  audits  and  special  accounts,  United 
States  Trust  Co.  as  assistant  treasurer  and  cc flections  of  checks. 


Education  and  promotion 

Salaries  and  wages,  news  releases,  general  advertisement,  Bible  Sunday,  pamphlets,  lantern  slides, 
exhibits  and  posters;  annuity  program,  following  up  donors  and  new  prospects,  and  contingent 
expense. 


686 


WORLD  SERVICE 


BOARD  OF  TEMPERANCE,  PROHIBITION,  AND  PUBLIC  MORALS 

The  needs  revealed  by  the  surveys  within  the  scope  of  the  Board  of  Temperance,  Prohibition,  and  Public 
Morals  and  approved  by  the  Council  of  Boards  of  Benevolence,  after  careful  scrutiny  and  revision  by  t  le 
Committee  of  Twenty-five  and  its  Sub-committee  on  New  Studies,  are  $316,750.00. 

These  needs  are  described  in  Parts  One  and  Two  of  this  volume  and  are  classified  as  follows. 


Surveys  and  Special  Assistance . . - . . ; . 

For  dealing  with  notorious  situations  in  cases  where  investigation  and  advice  are  imper¬ 
ative,  and  the  publication  of  reports  for  the  basis  for  corrective  legislation,  publicity,  court 
action,  but  not  “law  enforcement.” 

Printing  and  Propaganda . ; . . 

For  the  preparation,  printing  and  circulation  monthly  of  the  Clipsheet  and  The  Voice 
and  certain  publications  to  impress  people  of  marked  leadership  and  influence. 

Research  and  Record  . - . 7 . 

For  the  compilation  with  proper  files  and  card  indexes  of  the  results  of  surveys,  and  other 
data  of  value,  for  publicity  addresses,  college  and  university  lectures  and  sociological  study. 

Charts  and  Illustrations . - .  . . 

Illustrative  material  for  Sunday-school  lesson  helps,  plated  cartoons  for  rural  papers, 
charts  for  schools  and  posters  for  general  propaganda. 


$  10,000 


35,000 

5,000 

3,000.00 


Foreign  Language  Literature . . . 7T‘7.' . 7' 

For  regular  periodical  publications  in  South  America,  Switzerland,  Italy  and  India,  also 
for  posters,  charts,  leaflets  in  many  foreign  languages  and  for  publicity  material  in  the 
foreign-language  press  in  the  United  States. 

Lantern  Slides  and  Moving  Pictures . - . . . . . . . ; . 

For  the  production  and  circulation  of  technical  slides  and  popular  and  scientific  motion 
picture  films,  especially  for  use  among  foreign-language  groups. 


Exhibits  . . - . . - ----- . . - 

For  child  welfare,  expositions,  fairs,  occasional  meetings  both  in  America  and  abroad. 


Appropriations  for  Foreign  Work . ----- . . . . --•• 

For  salaries,  office  and  travel  expense,  and  for  education  and  propaganda  work  in  South 
America,  Austria,  Flungary  Germany,  Baltic  States,  Switzerland,  Italy,  India,  France, 
Mexico  and  Japan. 


International  Co-operation  . . . . . 

For  reasearch  and  propaganda  at  Lausanne,  Switzerland,  especially  through  the  public  press. 


Mass  Propaganda  . . . . . .7 . .' 

For  the  preparation  and  distribution  of  vital  pamphlets  to  every  telephone  subscriber  in 
certain  cities  at  critical  times  in  the  fight  for  prohibition. 

General  Administration  . . . . ----- 

Salaries  of  corresponding  secretary,  field  helpers,  stenographers  and  clerks,  postage,  sta¬ 
tionery,  miscellaneous  supplies,  telephone,  telegraph,  rent,  taxes,  and  insurance. 


Travel  and  hotel  expense  of  the  secretaries  in  the  United  States  and  for  occasional  visits 
to  foreign  fields  and  the  travel  of  certain  foreign  secretaries. 


16,000 

1,000 

15,000 

45,000 

10,000 

100,000 

64,750 

15,000 


TOTAL  NEEDS 


$319,750 


APPROVED  NEEDS 


687 


GENERAL  DEACONESS  BOARD 


The  needs  revealed  by  the  surveys  within  the  scope  of  the  General  Deaconess  Board  and  approved  by 
the  Council  of  Boards  of  Benevolence,  after  careful  scrutiny  and  revision  by  the  Committee  of  Twenty-five 
and  its  Sub-committee  on  New  Studies,  are  $90,000.00. 

These  needs  are  described  in  Parts  One  and  Two  of  this  volume  and  are  classified  as  follows: 


Informing  the  Church  . - . - . - . $  14,100 

Salaries,  share  of  office  rent,  necessary  travel  expense,  printing,  clerical  help,  postage 
and  lantern  slides. 

Securing  Candidates  . - . - . — . ; .  6,600 


Salaries,  share  of  office  rent,  travel  expense,  clerical  help,  postage,  and  for  co-operation 
with  the  Life  Service  Commission. 


Training  Candidates  . - . — - . 

Share  of  office  rent,  travel  expense,  clerical  help  and  postage,  for  raising  the  standards  of 
instruction  in  training  schools. 

Scholarships  . - . - . 

Available  for  a  limited  number  of  young  women  of  unusual  promise. 

Rest  Homes  and  Pensions . - . . . . - . 

Grants  in  aid  to  rest  homes  and  pensions  for  retired  deaconesses,  with  share  of  general 
office  expense. 

Administration  . 

Salaries  of  corresponding  secretary,  field  workers  and  office  force,  travel  and  general 
office  expense,  and  travel  and  hotel  expense  of  the  members  of  the  board  for  the 
annual  and  other  meetings. 


3,500 

8  000 
30,600 

27,200 


TOTAL  NEEDS 


.$  90,000 


BOARD  OF  HOSPITALS  AND  HOMES 


The  needs  revealed  by  the  surveys  within  the  scope  of  the  Board  of  Hospitals  and  Homes  and 
approved  by  the  Council  of  Boards  of  Benevolence,  after  careful  scrutiny  and  revision  by  the  Com¬ 
mittee  of  Twenty-five  and  its  Sub-committees  on  New  Studies  are  $175,000. 

The  needs  are  described  in  Parts  One  and  Two  of  this  volume  and  are  classified  as  follows: 


Field  Promotion  . . . - . - . ------ . -.- . 

For  salaries,  travel  and  office  expense  for  the  corresponding  secretary,,  field  secretaries, 
director  of  finance,  department  of  architecture,  department  of  American  W  h ite  Cross 
and  the  promotion  of  child  welfare. 

Administration  . — . — . :  • - 

For  salaries  of  the  office  secretary,  stenographers  and  bookkeeper,  rent,  office  supplies 
and  equipment,  postage,  telegraph,  telephone,  legal  advice  and  travel  and  hotel  expense 
of  board  members  for  annual  meeting  and  its  committees. 


Publicity  . . . - . ----- . - . •- . . —  : . 

For  printing  and  distributing  the  technical  pamphlets  of  the  board  and  the  News  Letter 
sent  to  all  institutions  and  to  the  leaders  of  the  church,  slides,  graphs,  charts,  and  for 
publicity  counsel  to  local  institutions. 


Maintenance  of  National  Institutions . . . . . - — - . . . 

To  apply  on  the  current  expenses  of  institutions  that  have  a  claim  on  the  general  church 
due  to  the  peculiar  character  of  their  service;  including  the  National  Methodist  Sana¬ 
torium  for  Tuberculosis,  Colorado  Springs,  Colorado;  the  Methodist  Deaconess  Sanato¬ 
rium  for  Tuberculosis  at  Albuquerque,  New  Mexico;  the  Home  for  Retired  Ministers 
at  Eustis,  Florida,  and  for  the  care  of  our  patients  at  homes  for  incurables  (the  location 
of  a  National  Methodist  Home  for  Incurables  is  now  pending). 


Emergency  Loans  and  Grants . . . v . -. . 

For  the  assistance  of  hospitals  and  homes  in  financial  stringency 
be  obtained. 


where  no  local  help  can 


.$  27,000 


18,000 

5,000 

100,000 


25,000 


TOTAL  NEEDS 


.$175,000 


688 


WORLD  SERVICE 


COMMISSION  ON  COURSES  OF  STUDY 

The  needs  revealed  by  the  surveys  within  the  scope  of  the  Commission  on  Courses  of  Study  and^  ap¬ 
proved  by  the  Council  of  Boards  of  Benevolence,  after  careful  scrutiny  and  revision  by  the  Com¬ 
mittee  of  Twenty-five  and  its  Sub-committees  on  New  Studies  are  $60,000. 

These  needs  are  described  in  Parts  One  and  Two  of  this  volume  and  are  classified  as  follows: 

The  salaries  of  the  Executive  Secretary,  staff  directors,  stenographers  and  filing  clerks,  rent,  postage, 
telegraph,  telephone  and  other  office  expense  required  for  the  following  divisions  of  work. 

(1)  For  prescribing  the  courses  of  study  for  those  applying  for  license  to  preach,  for  local  preachers, 
for  reception  on  trial,  for  annual  conference  requirements,  correspondence  study  and  postgradu¬ 
ate  study. 

(2)  For  co-operation  with  the  conference  boards  of  examiners  for  such  assistance  as  may  be 
desired  in  directing  and  aiding  students  in  their  study  and  in  plans  and  methods  of  examination. 

(3)  For  the  summer  schools  of  theology  held  under  the  control  of  the  conference  boards  of 
examiners.  Each  school  is  held  on  the  campus  of  one  of  our  colleges  or  seminaries,  and  every 
undergraduate  is  required  to  be  in  attendance.  The  conference  examiner  is  the  instructor. 
Examinations  and  credits  are  given  and  diplomas  are  issued  to  successful  students. 

(4)  For  the  preparation  and  promotion  of  a  graduate  course  of  study,  textbooks,  manuals  and  col¬ 
lateral  reading  and  for  correspondence  and  supervision. 


COMMISSION  ON  LIFE  SERVICE 

The  needs  revealed  by  the  surveys  within  the  scope  of  the  Commission  on  Life  Service  and  approved 
by  the  Council  of  Boards  of  Benevolence,  after  careful  scrutiny  and  revision  by  the  Committee  of  Twenty- 
five  and  its  Sub-committees  on  New  Studies  are  $75,000. 

These  needs  are  described  in  Parts  One  and  Two  of  this  volume  and  are  classified  as  follows : 

The  salaries  of  the  executive  secretary,  staff  directors,  stenographers  and  filing  clerks,  rent, 
postage,  telegram,  telephone  and  other  office  expense  required  for  the  following  divisions  of 
work  ...’ . $75,000 

(1)  For  the  correlation  of  the  life  service  appeals  of  all  the  agencies  of  the  church. 

(2)  For  conferences  with  faculties,  Christian  Association  secretaries,  pastors  and  students 
in  Methodist  and  non-Methodist  secondary  schools,  colleges,  universities  and  profes¬ 
sional  schools,  in  order  to  secure  definite  decisions  for  full  time  Christian  work. 

(3)  For  registering,  filing  and  making  available  to  bishops,  district  superintendents  and 
all  boards,  detailed  information  regarding  recruits  and  candidates  who  are  preparing 
for  life  service. 

(4)  For  correspondence  with  candidates  on  matters  of  vocational  guidance  and  educational 
requirements  for  preparation  for  different  phases  of  life  work. 

(5)  For  preparing  and  distributing  general  information  regarding  opportunities  for  life 
work  within  the  church  including  specific  opportunities  which  open  from  time  to  time. 

(6)  For  research  and  continuous  surveys  in  order  to  forecast  the  personnel  needs  over  a 
period  of  years. 


COMMITTEE  ON  CONSERVATION  AND  ADVANCE 

The  needs  of  the  Committee  on  Conservation  and  Advance,  as  approved  by  the  Council  of  Boards  of 
Benevolence  after  careful  scrutiny  and  revision  by  the  Committee  of  Twenty-five  and  the  Sub-Com¬ 
mittee  on  New  Studies,  are  $865,000.00. 

These  needs  represent  the  necessary  expansion  of  the  activities  described  on  the  askings  for  the  present 
work  basis  as  found  on  Page  672. 

The  future  budget  of  the  Committee  on  Conservation  and  Advance  depends  entirely  on  the  amount  of 
education  and  promotion  which  the  church  desires  from  a  central  promotional  agency.  Any  modification 
of  the  work  from  the  present  basis  would  result  either  in  added  expense  to  the  benevolent  boards  or  in 
the  elimination  of  types  and  divisions  of  work. 

TOTAL  NEEDS  . . . . $865,000 


THE  APPORTIONMENT  TO  THE  CHURCHES 


A  minimum  requirement  for  maintaining  our  World  Service  on  the  present 
basis  of  expansion  (January  1,  1923),  demands  $13,885,231.77.  The  total  needs 
revealed  in  the  surveys  and  approved  by  the  Council  of  Boards  of  Benevolence  call 
for  an  expenditure  of  $28,045,173.00.  Midway  between  these  minimum  and 
maximum  figures  the  Council  voted  to  apportion  to  the  churches,  $18,500,000, 
distributed  among  the  various  boards  as  f ollows : 

Board  of  Foreign  Missions . $  6,800,000 

Board  of  Home  Missions  and  Church  Extension .  6,800,000 

Board  of  Education  for  Negroes .  760,000 

Board  of  Education .  1,500,000 

Board  of  Sunday  Schools .  600,000 

Board  of  Conference  Claimants .  150,000 

Board  of  the  Ep worth  Eeague .  175,000 

American  Bible  Society .  200,000 

Board  of  Temperance,  Prohibition,  and  Public  Morals .  250,000 

General  Deaconess  Board .  90,000 

Board  of  Hospitals  and  Homes .  175,000 

Commission  on  Courses  of  Study .  60.000 

Commission  on  Life  Service .  75,000 

Committee  on  Conservation  and  Advance .  865,000 


$18,500,000 

In  the  World  Service  Program,  the  income  of  no  board  is  guaranteed: 
all  share  in  the  receipts  in  proportion  to  the  askings  listed  above,  with  the  excep¬ 
tion  of  the  Committee  on  Conservation  and  Advance,  for  which  the  income  is 
necessarily  guaranteed. 


45 


689 


690 


WORLD  SERVICE 


HOW  THE  APPORTIONMENTS  ARE  MADE 


The  apportionments  are  a  goal,  a  stand¬ 
ard  which  must  be  met  if  the  work  which 
the  church  has  undertaken  is  to  be  suc¬ 
cessfully  carried  through.  They  are  not 
a  demand  arbitrarily  imposed  upon  the 
church  from  without.  They  are  rather  an 
attempt,  by  the  agency  which  the  church 
itself  has  established  for  this  purpose,  to 
distribute  fairly  throughout  the  whole 
church  the  opportunity  and  the  responsi¬ 
bility  for  the  support  of  its  general  benev¬ 
olent  activities.  A  perfect  apportionment, 
if  such  could  be  made,  would  do  no  more 
than  register  the  figure  which  each 
church,  if  it  might  study  for  itself  and 
know  the  whole  matter  in  detail,  would 
recognize  and  accept  as  its  just  share  in 
the  whole  task.  When  so  accepted,  the 
benevolence  apportionments  afford  a  rea¬ 
sonable  ground  for  the  expectation  that 
certain  needed  amounts  of  money  will  be 
provided  for  our  varied  missionary  and 
philanthropic  undertakings. 

The  problem  of  the  apportionments  is 
two-fold.  First,  some  way  must  be  found 
equitably  to  distribute  the  whole  task  to 
the  larger  units  of  which  the  church  is 
composed,  that  is,  to  the  several  confer¬ 
ences,  mission  conferences,  and  missions. 
This  distribution  must  be  made  by  some 
central,  authoritative,  co-ordinating  body. 
Second,  some  way  must  be  found  to  dis¬ 
tribute  to  the  pastoral  charges  in  each 
conference  the  total  responsibility  of  the 
conference.  Any  distribution  to  these 
smaller  units  which  the  central  authority 
may  make  ought  to  be  subject  to  what¬ 
ever  revision  may  be  required  to  meet  va¬ 
rious  local  conditions  concerning  which 
no  central  organization  can  have  exact 
and  intimate  knowledge.  This  calls  for 
the  co-operation  of  local  groups  having 
close  and  familiar  contact  with  small 
sections  of  the  church — such  as  the  dis¬ 
trict  superintendent  and  the  district  com¬ 
mittee  on  apportionments.  The  central 
agency  ought  to  exercise  no  further  con¬ 
trol  over  this  redistribution  than  is  needed 


in  order  to  preserve  certain  approved 
totals. 

How  the  new  plan  of  apportionments 
adopted  for  the  World  Service  Program 
attempts  to  meet  this  two-fold  problem  is 
set  forth  in  the  following  paragraphs. 

Apportionments  to  Conferences 

The  annual  conferences,  mission  confer¬ 
ences,  and  missions  are  rated  according  to 
their  ability  to  give.  Their  relative  stand¬ 
ing  in  this  matter  has  been  determined  by 
three  factors: 

1.  The  number  of  members  per  pastoral 
charge.— As  a  rule,  the  larger  the  average 
number  of  members  in  the  pastoral 
charges  of  any  conference,  the  stronger 
the  conference  and  the  greater  the  ability 
of  its  people  to  give. 

2.  The  ministerial  support  payment  per 
pastoral  charge. — As  a  rule,  the  larger  this 
item,  the  stronger  the  conference  and  the 
greater  the  financial  resources  of  its 
people. 

3.  The  per  capita  payment  to  ministerial 
support.— Other  things  being  equal,  the 
larger  the  individual  contribution  for  min¬ 
isterial  support,  the  stronger  the  confer¬ 
ence  and  the  greater  the  ability  of  its  peo¬ 
ple  to  give. 

The  number  of  members  is  always  un¬ 
derstood  in  these  reckonings  to  mean  the 
number  of  full  members,  not  including 
preparatory  or  non-resident  members. 
By  ministerial  support  is  meant,  as  de¬ 
fined  by  the  Discipline,  pastors’  salaries 
(house  rent  included),  and  payments  for 
the  support  of  district  superintendents, 
bishops,  and  conference  claimants. 

The  113  conferences  to  which  appor¬ 
tionments  are  made  are  rated  according  to 
these  three  items.  The  average  for  the 
country  as  a  whole  on  each  item  is  first 
ascertained,  and  with  it  is  compared  the 
average  on  the  same  item  for  each  annual 
conference.  To  find  the  relative  standing 
of  an  annual  conference  as  to  the  number 


APPORTIONMENT 


691 


of  members  per  pastoral  charge,  it  is  nec¬ 
essary  to  compare  it  with  the  average 
number  of  members  per  pastoral  charge 
in  the  country  as  a  whole.  This  is  indi¬ 
cated  by  an  index  or  rating  of  100.  The 
rating  is  then  calculated  for  each  confer¬ 
ence.  If  the  average  number  of  members 
per  pastoral  charge  in  any  conference  is 
above  the  average  for  the  country  as  a 
whole,  that  conference  must  accordingly 
be  rated  at  above  100.  If  the  average 
number  of  members  per  pastoral  charge 
in  any  conference  is  less  than  the  average 
for  the  country  as  a  whole,  that  confer¬ 
ence  must  accordingly  be  rated  at  less 
than  100. 

By  an  exactly  similar  process  the  rela¬ 
tive  standing  as  to  each  of  the  other  two 
items  is  calculated,  in  each  case  the  confer¬ 
ence  being  compared  with  the  church  as 
a  whole.  The  average  of  the  three  index 
numbers  so  calculated,  determines  the 
rating  of  the  conference,  just  as  the  aver¬ 
age  credit  earned  by  a  pupil  in  his  vari¬ 
ous  classes  determines  his  standing  in 
school.  For  instance,  a  certain  con¬ 
ference  has  54  per  cent  as  many  members 
in  each  pastoral  charge  as  the  average 
number  of  members  per  pastoral  charge 
in  the  United  States,  it  pays  78  per  cent 
as  much  to  ministerial  support  per  pas¬ 
toral  charge,  and  147  per  cent  as  much 
per  member  as  the  average  payment  of 
the  church  as  a  whole.  The  average  of 
these  three  percentages  is  93.  This  con¬ 
ference  therefore  is  counted  as  able  to 
pay  about  90  per  cent  as  much  per  mem¬ 
ber  as  a  conference  of  average  ability. 

These  estimates  of  the  relative  ability 
to  give  have  further  been  verified  and  cor¬ 
rected  by  comparison  with  the  relative  in¬ 
come  per  capita  in  each  state  as  calcu¬ 
lated  by  the  National  Bureau  of  Economic 
Research.  When,  for  example,  it  was 
found  that  the  per  capita  income  in  the 
state  in  which  the  conference  above 
cited  is  located  is  exactly  93  per  cent  of 
the  average  income  per  capita  in  the  whole 
United  States,  the  estimate  of  the  Divi¬ 
sion  of  Apportionments  and  Statistics  on 
the  comparative  financial  ability  of  this 
conference  had  received  the  strongest  pos¬ 


sible  confirmation.  In  most  cases  com¬ 
parison  with  these  scientific  estimates  of 
income  clearly  confirms  the  division’s 
rating  of  the  several  conferences ;  in  other 
cases  this  comparison  has  been  used  to 
modify  and  correct  its  estimates  of  com¬ 
parative  financial  ability,  not  in  any  case 
increasing,  but  in  a  few  instances  lower¬ 
ing.  Comparison  was  also  made  with  the 
relative  apportionment  per  member  for 
the  Centenary  and  the  relative  payment 
per  member  in  each  conference. 

The  total  amount  ordered  to  be  appor¬ 
tioned  to  the  whole  church  is  apportioned 
to  the  several  conferences  on  the  basis  of 
the  estimates  so  made  of  comparative 
ability  to  give. 

A  detailed  statement  of  the  methods 
employed,  including  the  rating  of  the  sev¬ 
eral  conferences  and  the  amount  to  be 
apportioned  to  each  conference,  was  sub¬ 
mitted  to  the  administrative  committee  of 
the  Committee  on  Conservation  and  Ad¬ 
vance,  acting  under  the  authority  of  the 
Council  of  Boards;  and  these  methods, 
estimates,  and  apportionments  received 
the  administrative  committee’s  definite 
approval. 

Apportionments  to  Pastoral  Charges 

Thus  far  this  statement  has  dealt  only 
with  the  apportionment  to  each  confer¬ 
ence  as  a  whole.  The  next  step  is  to  dis¬ 
tribute  these  conference  totals  to  pastoral 
charges,  assigning  to  each  charge  its  just 
share  in  the  total  amount  apportioned  to 
the  annual  conference.  A  careful  esti¬ 
mate  must  first  be  made  of  the  compara¬ 
tive  strength  of  the  several  congregations 
in  each  conference  as  indicated  by  the 
statistics  printed  annually  for  all  charges. 

Four  items  in  these  statistical  reports 
are  accepted  as  in  some  degree  an  indi¬ 
cation  of  each  congregation’s  ability  to 
give  to  the  church’s  benevolent  program. 
These  items  are : 

1.  Membership,  the  number  of  full 
members  on  the  roll,  not  including  either 
preparatory  or  non-resident  members. 

2.  Net  property  valuation,  churches  and 
parsonages,  less  indebtedness  on  property. 


692 


WORLD  SERVICE 


3.  Ministerial  support,  pastors’  salaries 
(house  rent  included)  and  payments  to 
the  support  of  district  superintendents, 
bishops,  and  conference  claimants. 

4.  Previous  payments  to  disciplinary 
benevolences.  Centenary  payments  foi  the 
ten  general  benevolent  boards  and  the 
American  Bible  Society,  together  with  the 
Children’s  Day  Loan  Fund  of  the  Board 
of  Education  and  the  women’s  missionary 
societies. 

In  order  to  provide  a  more  adequate 
measure  of  each  church’s  normal  strength, 
not  one  year’s  statistical  report  alone,  but 
the  average  of  three  full  Centenary  years 
is  used  in  all  these  reckonings. 

Expensive  properties  reported  by 
churches  wholly  supported  from  mission¬ 
ary  funds  are  excluded  from  the  reckon¬ 
ing;  and  properties  of  small,  partially 
self-supporting  churches  are  counted  as 
no  more  than  the  average  property  hold¬ 
ing  per  member  in  the  church  as  a  whole. 
The  attempt  is  also  made  to  exclude  from 
the  reckoning  money  received  from  any 
missionary  agency  and  applied  to  minis¬ 
terial  support. 

Redistribution  of  Apportionments 

After  the  above  processes  have  been 
employed  and  the  apportionments  to  the 
local  churches  have  been  calculated,  these 
apportionments  are  mailed  to  the  district 
superintendents  as  required  by  the  Dis¬ 
cipline.  They  in  turn  are  expected  to 
“transmit  the  same  to  pastors,”  not  how¬ 
ever  without  first  the  opportunity  to 


secure,  if  needed,  some  revision.  For,  no 
matter  how  excellent  the  methods  em¬ 
ployed  or  how  accurately  they  may  have 
been  applied,  still  a  perfect  result  will  not 
in  all  cases  have  been  achieved. 

Therefore,  whenever  desirable,  the  dis¬ 
trict  superintendent  is  authorized  to  re¬ 
distribute,  in  co-operation  with  a  district 
committee  on  apportionments,  the  total 
amount  apportioned  to  his  district.  This 
makes  it  possible  through  district  co-oper¬ 
ation  to  overcome  the  most  serious  diffi¬ 
culty  which  a  central  organization  must 
meet  in  any  attempt  to  calculate  the  ap¬ 
portionments  to  the  local  churches. 

No  redistribution  can  be  accepted  by 
which  the  district  total  is  reduced. 

After  the  district  superintendent  has 
reported  to  the  central  office  the  redistri¬ 
bution  recommended  by  the  district  com¬ 
mittee,  and  after  these  figures  are  found 
to  meet  the  conditions  stated  above,  they 
are  recorded  at  the  central  office  as 
the  official  apportionments  to  pastoral 
charges. 

The  apportionments  are  transmitted  to 
local  churches  by  the  district  superintend¬ 
ents,  and  will  not  be  sent  out  directly  from 
the  central  office. 

The  apportionments  to  the  conferences, 
districts,  and  charges  are  calculated  and 
are  announced  for  one  year  and  for  only 
one  year  at  a  time.  One  apportionment  is 
made  distributing  to  conferences,  districts 
and  charges  an  $18,500,000  total.  Sepa¬ 
rate  apportionments  are  not  reckoned  for 
the  individual  boards. 


DESIGNATIONS 


693 


DESIGNATED  GIFTS 


At  its  regular  meeting  in  Chicago,  Jan¬ 
uary  23-25,  1923,  the  Council  of  Boards  of 
Benevolence  upon  the  recommendation  of 
a  subcommittee  and  its  Executive  Com¬ 
mittee  passed  the  following  resolutions  to 
govern  designated  gifts. 

While  it  is  the  earnest  hope  of  all  the 
boards  and  agencies,  that  subscriptions 
and  payments  to  the  World  Service  Pro¬ 
gram  be  made  regularly  through  the  du¬ 
plex  envelope  without  designation,  it  is  re¬ 
alized  that  many  persons  desire  to  give 
large  amounts  for  specific  objects.  For¬ 
tunately,  the  financial  plans  of  the  World 
Service  Program  permit  full  opportunity 
to  realize  both  of  these  desires. 

Resolutions  Adopted  by  the  Council 

1.  The  first  consideration  for  the 
church  is  to  raise  the  regular  apportion¬ 
ment  in  full,  so  that  the  regular  recurring 
obligations  of  its  World  Service  may  be 
faithfully  provided  for. 

2.  The  Committee  on  Conservation  and 
Advance,  through  its  Administrative  Com¬ 
mittee,  shall  in  consultation  with  the 
Boards  make  a  list  of  approved  needs  for 
designated  gifts.  This  list  shall  repre¬ 
sent  such  portion  of  the  work  shown  in 
the  statement  of  needs  in  excess  of  the 
$18,500,000  regularly  apportioned  as  may 
be  determined  upon.  Additional  or  “honor 
roll”  credit  shall  be  given  the  churches 
only  for  such  designated  gifts  as  are  au¬ 
thorized  as  herein  provided. 

3.  Within  the  regular  apportionments 
to  the  churches,  contributors  may  desig¬ 
nate  their  gifts  to  any  board  or  to  any 
of  the  objects  of  the  work  of  any  boards; 


but  such  designation  shall  not  change  the 
ratio  of  receipts  of  the  respective  boards. 

4.  Authorized  designated  gifts  from 
churches  having  met  their  apportionment 
in  full  shall  be  applied  directly  to  the 
boards  or  causes  designated,  and  shall  be 
additional  income  for  such  boards.  But 
all  designated  gifts  shall  bear  their  pro¬ 
portion  of  administration  expenses. 

5.  When  a  church  shall  have  raised  its 
regular  apportionment  in  full,  it  may  re¬ 
ceive  additional  or  “honor  roll”  credit  for 
all  moneys  given  for  authorized  desig¬ 
nated  gifts. 

6.  To  avoid  conflicts,  overlapping  and 
duplication  of  expense  and  effort,  all  solic¬ 
itation  for  designated  gifts  shall  be  under 
the  immediate  direction  of  the  Committee 
on  Conservation  and  Advance  in  co-opera¬ 
tion  with  the  other  constituted  authorities 
of  the  Church. 

7.  The  Treasurers  of  the  several  con¬ 
stituent  boards  shall  make  an  itemized 
monthly  statement  to  the  Treasurer  of  the 
Committee  on  Conservation  and  Advance 
of  the  receipt  of  all  designated  funds  re¬ 
ceived  by  such  board  during  the  preceding 
month. 

8.  None  of  the  donors  of  designated 
gifts  shall  receive  apportionment  or 
“honor  roll”  credit  unless  the  moneys  pass 
through  the  hands  of  the  Treasurer  of  the 
Committee  on  Conservation  and  Advance 
or  are  reported  as  above. 

9.  These  regulations  relating  to  Des¬ 
ignated  Gifts  shall  continue  in  force  until 
modified  by  the  General  Conference  or  by 
the  Council  of  Boards  of  Benevolence. 


. 


The  Committee  of  Twenty-Five  and  the  C  orresponding 
Secretaries  in  Session  at  Chicago , 

January  11-12,  1923 


ADVANCE  PROGRAM 

Report  of  the  Committee  of  Twenty -Five 
to  the  Council  of  Boards  of  Benevolence 


Adopted  by  the  Council  at  its  meeting  in  Chicago,  January  23-25,  1923 


The  Council  of  Boards  of  Benevolence 
at  its  second  annual  meeting  in  Detroit, 
Michigan,  November  22,  1921,  adopted  a 
report  recommending  the  creation  of  a 
Committee  of  Twenty-Five  to  which  the 
boards  should  submit  new  studies  of  their 
needs  as  a  basis  for  a  program  of  advance 
for  presentation  to  this  Council. 

This  Committee  of  Twenty-Five  on 
Advance  Program  was  composed  of  fifteen 
ministers  and  ten  laymen,  with  whom 
were  associated  the  president  of  the  Coun¬ 
cil,  the  chairman  of  the  Executive  Com¬ 
mittee,  the  chairman,  corresponding  sec¬ 
retary,  and  treasurer  of  the  Committee 
on  Conservation  and  Advance,  and  the 
five  members  of  the  Bishops’  Advisory 
Committee.  It  met  in  Chicago  March  1-2, 
1922,  for  organization.  David  G.  Downey 
was  elected  chairman  and  James  R.  Joy, 


secretary.  Standing  committees  were  ap- 
pointed  on  new  studies,  evangelism,  edu¬ 
cational  program,  stewardship,  lay  activ¬ 
ities,  and  tentative  program  of  advance. 
Plans  for  the  prompt  prosecution  of  the 
new  studies  by  the  boards  were  formu¬ 
lated,  and  a  time  schedule  was  worked 
out.  The  committee  held  a  second  meet¬ 
ing  in  Chicago  June  27,  1922,  when  re¬ 
ports  of  progress  in  the  surveys  were 
received.  The  third  session  was  held  in 
Chicago,  January  11-12,  1923.  At  this 
time  the  committee  received  and  acted 
upon  the  results  of  the  new  studies  and 
adopted  the  several  reports  which  it  now 
presents  to  the  Council: 

1.  Lay  Activities 

Your  committee  would  emphasize  the 
importance  of  lay  activities  in  connec- 


695 


696 


WORLD  SERVICE 


tion  with  the  forward  progress  of  church 
benevolences.  Key  laymen  should  be  en¬ 
listed  to  make  intelligent  distribution  of 
the  new  survey  volume,  to  direct  the 
every-member  benevolent  canvass  and  to 
otherwise  educate  and  direct  the  local 
churches  in  the  forward  program. 

We  emphasize  the  importance  of  selec¬ 
tion  of  the  proper  person  in  every  quar¬ 
terly  conference  as  chairman  of  the  com¬ 
mittee  on  apportioned  benevolences. 

The  missionary  societies  in  the  Sunday 
school,  and  the  department  of  World 
Evangelism  in  the  Epworth  League  should 
be  enlisted  for  the  best  possible  service 
in  the  new  program. 

In  the  work  of  promotion  and  education 
through  the  committee  on  apportioned  be¬ 
nevolences,  Sunday-school  missionary  so¬ 
cieties,  Epworth  League  department  of 
World  Evangelism,  and  other  lay  agencies 
we  request  our  educational  department  of 
the  Committee  on  Conservation  and  Ad¬ 
vance  to  take  necessary  steps  in  making 
these  agencies  effective  through  the  regu¬ 
lar  channels  of  the  church. 

We  recommend  the  use  of  district  or 
sub-district  training  conferences  with  lay 
representation  to  be  arranged  through 
the  resident  bishop,  area  secretary,  and 
district  superintendent. 

2.  Educational  Program 

We  recommend  that  the  existing  or¬ 
ganization  of  the  church  be  the  agency 
for  the  carrying  out  of  this  educational 
program  and  that  the  direction  of  it  be 
committed  to  the  Committee  on  Conserva¬ 
tion  and  Advance,  working  through  its 
Department  of  Education. 

This  action  placing  responsibility  for 
the  educational  program  on  the  existing 
organization  of  the  church  means  that 
all  the  persons  involved  in  this  organi¬ 
zation  must  themselves  be  informed  and 
inspired  as  a  prerequisite  for  leading  the 
church  to  whole-hearted  effort. 

The  suggestions  which  follow  are  based 
on  the  use  of  these  connectional  agencies : 

a.  An  inter-board  staff  training  confer¬ 
ence,  to  be  held  immediately  after  the 
January  council  meeting. 


b.  An  adequate  presentation  and  dis¬ 
cussion  in  the  annual  conferences,  begin¬ 
ning  with  the  spring  conferences  of  1923. 

c.  Area  training  conferences,  with 
bishop,  area  secretary,  college  presidents, 
and  district  superintendents  present. 

d.  District  or  group  meetings  using  the 
Survey  Book  as  a  program  basis.  These 
to  be  discussion  groups  with  an  inspira¬ 
tional  evening  meeting. 

e.  In  the  local  church  the  following 
simple  but  absolutely  necessary  program 
is  suggested: 

1.  A  discussion  of  the  world-service 
program  of  the  church  with  an  accept¬ 
ance  of  the  apportionment  by  the  quar¬ 
terly  conference  or  official  board ; 

2.  Public  presentation  by  the  pastor 
from  the  pulpit  at  definite  stated  periods 
when  the  great  causes  represented  by 
the  connectional  boards  will  be  given  to 
the  people ; 

3.  Study  classes,  Church  Training 
Night,  and  unit  groups; 

4.  Instruction  in  the  Sunday  school 
and  in  the  Epworth  League; 

5.  The  use  of  minute  men,  but  not 
necessarily  under  that  name; 

6.  A  copy  of  the  survey  volume  in 
every  home; 

7.  Adequate  preparation  for  the 
every  member  canvass. 

f.  We  urge  an  immediate  enrolment  in 
the  area  offices  of  the  chairman  of  the  com¬ 
mittee  on  apportioned  benevolences  in  each 
local  church. 

g.  The  preparation  of  the  educational 
material  necessary  to  carry  forward  the 
above  program. 

h.  Inspirational  meetings,  area,  dis¬ 
trict,  city- wide,  as  may  be  arranged  in  ac¬ 
cordance  with  the  desires  of  the  various 
areas. 

i.  We  recommend  that  a  new  name  and 
a  slogan  be  adopted.  We  propose 

The  World  Service  of  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church 

“I  am  among  you  as  he  that  serveth .” 

“To  Serve  the  Present  Age.” 


COMMITTEE  OF  TWENTY-FIVE 


69  7 


j.  We  recommend  that  pledges  be 
taken  in  1923  for  the  first  post-Centenary 
year  only,  and  that  we  leave  the  determi¬ 
nation  of  a  permanent  policy  until  later; 
this,  however,  does  not  preclude  any  indi¬ 
viduals  or  churches  from  making  pledges 
for  a  longer  time  if  they  so  desire. 

3.  Stewardship 

In  the  Discipline  no  phase  of  the  Chris¬ 
tian  life  is  more  clearly  stressed  than  that 
of  Christian  stewardship,  stewardship  of 
life,  of  substance  and  of  prayer  as  essen¬ 
tial  to  the  complete  Christian  life  and  not 
merely  as  a  means  for  financing  the  pro¬ 
gram  of  the  church. 

These  principles  of  stewardship  are  so 
fully  set  forth  under  the  head  of  Special 
Advices  in  Paragraph  71  of  the  Discipline, 
that  no  word  of  explanation  is  needed. 

Paragraph  182,  Section  17,  provides 
that  every  pastor  shall  teach  the  duty  of 
Christian  stewardship  in  accordance  with 
these  special  advices. 

Paragraph  108,  Section  4,  provides  for 
a  quarterly  conference  report  from  unit 
leaders  and  class  leaders  with  special  ref¬ 
erence  to  intercession  and  Christian  stew¬ 
ardship. 

The  church  has  been  placing  the  em¬ 
phasis  upon  the  giving  of  the  tenth.  The 
greatest  example  in  all  history  of  a  peo¬ 
ple’s  recognition  of  God’s  claim  upon  their 
possessions  is  found  in  the  tithe  of  the 
Jews,  and  no  better  starting  point  for  the 
Christian’s  recognition  of  God’s  claim 
upon  him  can  be  found  than  in  the  tith¬ 
ing  system,  as  can  be  testified  to  by  almost 
a  half  million  of  enrolled  Methodist  tith- 
ers,  together  with  a  great  company  of 
unenrolled  conscientious  givers,  many  of 
whom  are  tithers.  Some  definite  propor¬ 
tion  of  our  substance  must  be  set  aside 
for  God ;  and  history  and  our  present-day 
experience  point  alike  to  the  tenth  as  a 
wise  minimum  of  endeavor. 

While  recognizing  the  right  of  every 
giver  to  designate  his  tithe,  we  never¬ 
theless  unhesitatingly  express  the  con¬ 
viction  that  for  the  most  part  the  king¬ 
dom  of  God  will  be  more  quickly  advanced 


by  the  dedication  of  the  tithe  to  the  regu¬ 
lar  enterprises  of  the  church. 

A  new  light  is  breaking  and  the  church 
is  coming  back  at  last  to  the  emphasis 
of  Jesus.  God  has  made  us  working 
partners  in  his  plans  for  a  new  world,  and 
he  owns  more  than  a  tenth  interest  in  the 
partnership.  The  other  nine-tenths  also 
belong  to  God.  They  are  as  truly  his 
property  as  the  tithe.  We  are  stewards 
of  all  we  possess.  We  are  trustees  for 
God  Of  all  our  possessions  and  all  our 
personality.  A  recognition  of  this  prin¬ 
ciple  is  necessary  to  the  world’s  redemp¬ 
tion.  The  failure  of  professed  Christian 
nations  to  recognize  and  practice  the  prin¬ 
ciples  of  Christian  stewardship  has  de¬ 
layed  for  centuries  God’s  plans  for  bring¬ 
ing  in  the  fullness  of  his  kingdom. 

God  has  honored  our  Methodism  with 
a  large  share  of  the  responsibility  for  the 
evangelizing  of  the  world.  The  Cen¬ 
tenary,  which  has  been  one  of  the  out¬ 
standing  events  of  the  religious  history 
of  the  world,  is  but  the  index  finger 
pointing  to  the  unmeasured  opportunity 
for  world  conquest  just  ahead.  “Our  God 
is  marching  on”  and  we  march  with  him. 

To  that  end  we  call  upon  our  pastors 
to  preach  and  teach  the  gospel  of  Chris¬ 
tian  stewardship.  We  urge  the  appoint¬ 
ment  of  a  stewardship  committee  and 
the  speedy  adoption  in  all  our  churches 
of  the  unit  system,  or  some  equally  effec¬ 
tive  organization,  with  a  view  to  the 
forming  of  classes  or  units  of  tithing 
stewards.  We  recommend  that  the  Coun¬ 
cil  of  Boards  of  Benevolence  conduct  its 
stewardship  educational  program  through 
the  duly  constituted  agencies  of  the 
church,  and  that  bishops,  district  super¬ 
intendents,  pastors,  quarterly  conferences, 
and  unit  leaders  commit  themselves 
prayerfully  and  whole-heartedly  to  the 
promotion  of  this  movement  so  vital  to  the 
progress  of  the  kingdom  at  this  crucial 
hour  in  the  life  of  the  church. 

In  the  sphere  of  religion,  organization 
of  any  sort  is  valuable  just  in  proportion 
as  it  is  vitalized  by  the  Holy  Spirit.  “The 
letter  killeth,  the  Spirit  giveth  life.”  All 
the  mighty  religious  movements  of  his- 


698 


WORLD  SERVICE 


tory  have  been  the  outcome  of  prevailing 
prayer.  From  Pentecost  to  the  present 
hour  religious  progress  is  a  sure  witness 
to  the  sincerity  and  urgency  of  prayer. 
Rejoicing  in  the  spirit  of  intercessory 
prayer,  which  has  ever  been  a  Methodist 
habit,  we  urge  a  renewal  and  deepening 
of  the  prayer  life  of  our  people,  personal, 
family,  and  public.  Our  God  will  be  in¬ 
quired  of  and  entreated  by  his  children. 
Answer  waits  upon  such  inquiry  and  en¬ 
treaty.  The  world  temper  is  indicative 
of  prayer  need.  By  many  and  devious 
methods  the  world  is  blindly  groping  after 
God.  The  Christian  knows  the  way.  It 
is  by  the  path  of  prayer.  Behind  every 
method,  back  of  all  agencies,  at  the  foun¬ 
dation  of  every  human  effort,  we  postu¬ 
late  the  necessity,  the  primacy,  and  the 
efficacy  of  prayer.  Without  this  we  fail 
miserably;  with  it  victory  is  certain,  for 
ours  is  a  covenant-keeping  God. 

4.  Evangelism 

a.  Our  supreme  work. — Your  committee 
holds  with  the  thoughtful  and  devout 
minds  of  the  whole  church  that  evangel¬ 
ism  is  the  supreme  work  of  the  church 
and  that  in  its  true  and  inclusive  meaning 
it  gathers  up  all  other  phases  of  our  work. 
Methodism  is  only  a  spirit  and  method  of 
evangelism.  With  any  other  dominant 
note  we  would  not  be  Methodists. 

We  believe  that  the  church  should  carry 
on  the  following  four  correlated  activities 
simultaneously : 

1.  Evangelism,  by  which  we  mean  con¬ 
version  and  vital  Christian  experience,  in¬ 
cluding,  of  course,  constant  accessions  to 
membership ; 

2.  Teaching  and  training  the  whole 
membership,  and  as  much  as  possible,,  the 
whole  constituency,  in  intelligent  piety, 
and  in  the  total  stewardship  responsibil¬ 
ity; 

3.  A  broad,  careful,  intelligent  call  to 
life-service  tasks; 

4.  An  adequate,  systematic,  general  fi¬ 
nancial  program  that  will  reach  every 
member. 

It  is  highly  important  that  any  church¬ 
wide  program  should  so  combine  these 


activities  that  no  section  and  no  commit¬ 
tee  or  commission  can  mistake  the  unity 
or  can  break  the  correlation. 

b.  The  objective. — It  is  our  conviction 
that  the  church  needs  to  know  and  feel  a 
more  comprehensive  definition  of  the 
meaning  of  the  term  evangelism  so  that  it 
may  have  its  full  content  and  consequently 
its  proper  place  in  our  thinking  and  work¬ 
ing.  It  should  include  every  method  of  win¬ 
ning  men  to  Christ  and  every  form  of 
training  men  in  the  Christian  religion. 
Evangelism  is  not  complete  when  persons 
are  converted  and  confess  Jesus  Christ  as 
Lord  and  Master.  All  such  should  be  en¬ 
rolled  as  members  of  the  church  and  be 
developed  by  many  processes  of  Chris¬ 
tian  nurture  and  through  considerable 
periods  of  time  into  full-grown  Chris¬ 
tians.  No  convert  is  safe  outside  of  the 
church.  He  in  turn  must  become  not  a 
lone  disciple  but  a  co-operating  soul  win¬ 
ner,  for  he  must  know  that  the  kingdom 
is  not  to  be  advanced  by  mere  addition  but 
by  multiplication. 

c.  The  field. — The  field  is  the  whole 
world.  The  Sunday  school  is  still  the  most 
immediate  as  well  as  the  most  promising 
field.  Each  church  has  also  a  natural  con¬ 
stituency  and  that  should  be  accepted  as 
definitely  as  the  enrolled  membership  of 
the  congregation.  We  have  included  schools 
and  colleges  as  accepted  fields  of  responsi¬ 
bility.  We  should  also  include  as  fields  of 
evangelistic  obligation  the  so-called  “neg¬ 
lected  poor”  and  the  “neglected  rich.” 
Further,  we  should  give  exact  and  patient 
effort  to  reach  with  a  virile  gospel  all 
other  distinct  groups,  among  which  are: 

1.  Business  men’s  organizations  and 
clubs ; 

2.  Women’s  clubs  and  societies; 

3.  Labor  organizations  and  working 
men ; 

4.  Foreign-speaking  communities ; 

5.  Army  and  navy  groups. 

Such  walls  of  separation  are  man-made 
and  artificial  and  the  chief  purpose  of  the 
gospel  is  to  bring  together  in  one  all  of 
His  own.  Wherever  there  is  one  lone, 
lost  man,  we  must  bring  him  to  Jesus. 


COMMITTEE  OF  TWENTY-FIVE 


699 


d.  Methods. — Never  was  diversity  of 
method  more  needed  or  more  justified. 
Congregations  are  following  certain  forms 
of  effort  which  have  become  formal  and  in¬ 
efficient.  This  church  has  no  exclusive 
method,  and  no  method  that  does  the  work 
is  improper  or  irregular.  Therefore  we 
urge  pastors  and  all  official  members  not 
to  allow  themselves  to  rest  satisfied  with 
the  use  of  means  that  are  actually  unsuc¬ 
cessful  but  to  seek  and  to  try  honestly,  dili¬ 
gently,  and  prayerfully  till  they  discover 
some  successful  method  for  this  particular 
congregation  at  any  given  time,  and  heart¬ 
ily  pursue  it.  An  annual  growth  of  ten  per 
cent  must  be  the  minimum  expectation  in 
every  congregation. 

These  methods  are  proved  and  we  com¬ 
mend  them  to  the  churches : 

1.  Systematic,  organized,  prayerful 
personal  interviews; 

2.  Careful  training  and  dedication  of 
all  child  life; 

3.  Congregational  revival  campaigns; 

4.  Community  revival  campaigns; 

5.  Special  campaigns  in  colleges,  shops, 
and  among  workers : 

6.  Street  and  open-air  meetings  and 
missions ; 

7.  Summer  institutes  and  camp  meet¬ 
ings; 

8.  Parlor  meetings  and  other  informal 
home  gatherings. 

Attention  is  again  called  to  the  great 
value  of  the  special  seasons  as  appropriate 
times  to  climax  evangelistic  efforts  for  a 
given  period.  Such  are  Christmas,  Easter, 
and  Children’s  Day.  But  short  and  occa¬ 
sional  efforts  of  any  kind  ought  not  to 
relieve  any  church  of  its  daily  responsi¬ 
bility  or  any  member  of  his  constant 
evangelistic  opportunity. 

Church  training  night  has  become  pop¬ 
ular  in  many  congregations.  It  should 
not  be  diverted  from  its  highest  purposes 
into  mere  social  waste.  We  urge  its  more 
general  use  as  a  means  of  evangelism  of 
the  best  sort,  including  the  development 
of  intelligent  Christian  character. 

The  call  for  a  positive  and  a  prophetic 
preaching  ministry  was  never  more  timely 


than  now.  Sin  is  rampant  and  deadly; 
personal  redemption  in  Christ  Jesus  is 
still  the  only  cure.  It  is  no  time  for 
pleasant  platitudes  or  passionless  plausi¬ 
bilities.  Actual  burning  facts  and  wit¬ 
nessing,  working  Christian  experiences 
and  dedication  to  God  are  imperative. 
With  such  a  need  and  such  a  gospel,  woe 
to  the  watchman  who  does  not  preach  the 
gospel  of  the  redeeming  Christ! 

Nor  are  methods  of  recruiting  the  mem¬ 
bership  alone  sufficient.  The  gospel  of 
conservation  is  just  as  necessary  and  as 
heroic  as  that  of  conversion.  Our  Master 
kept  those  the  Father  gave  him  and  lost 
but  one  of  the  twelve.  The  leakage  and 
wastage  in  our  membership  every  year 
are  appalling  and  losses  are  so  unneces¬ 
sarily  large  as  to  show  bad  methods  of 
church  and  pastoral  care,  if  not  criminal 
neglect.  We  need: 

1.  Greater  and  wiser  care  of  new-born 
Christians ; 

2.  Better  methods  of  caring  for  new¬ 
comers  in  the  congregation ; 

3.  Systematic  follow-up  of  indifferent 
members ; 

4.  Increase  in  local  church  activities 
that  will  give  opportunity  to  new  mem¬ 
bers  to  exercise  and  develop  Christian 
graces  and  character; 

5.  Increased  conscience  in  keeping 
church  records  to  prevent  great  numbers 
being  “pruned”  out  instead  of  being  lov¬ 
ingly  followed  up  and  set  to  work.  There 
is  too  much  eagerness  to  correct  church 
records  in  order  to  affect  financial  appor¬ 
tionments  and  we  have  allowed  ourselves 
to  become  complacent  when  members 
wander  away  and  are  lost.  We  count  it  a 
great  event  when  one  comes  into  the  king¬ 
dom;  we  should  count  it  a  tragedy  when 
one  is  dropped  from  the  rolls  of  the 
church.  Habits  of  indifference  in  this 
matter  on  the  part  of  pastors  or  official 
members  are  inexcusable,  if  not  un-Chris- 
tian. 

e.  Agencies. — This  or  any  other  chal¬ 
lenge  to  faithful  evangelism  will  be  mere 
words  unless  it  brings  forth  a  hearty  and 
willing  response  from  the  pastors  and  lay 


700 


WORLD  SERVICE 


leaders  of  the  churches.  Evangelism  should 
be  initiated  by  the  religious  zeal  and  loy¬ 
alty  of  the  local  leadership,  and  there  must 
be  greatest  freedom  in  methods  and  plans 
to  meet  those  varied  needs.  If  they  fail  the 
evangelism  of  that  community  fails.  Plans, 
suggestions,  and  ideas  may  come  from 
some  general  headquarters;  but  genuine 
and  enduring  Christian  evangelism  comes 
from  the  spirit  of  the  Master  and  is  near 
to  every  congregation  of  true  worshipers. 
It  cannot  be  brought  by  resolutions  and 
indifferent  consent  of  heedless  official 
boards  of  quarterly  conferences.  It  can 
only  come  by  prayer  and  plans  and  sacri¬ 
fice.  There  should  be  no  “off  years”  of 
watchful  waiting  for  it  to  break  out.  in 
some  unexpected  quarter.  Our  loving 
Lord  awaits  a  willing  church. 

Wherefore,  trite  as  it  may  seem  to  some, 
it  is  necessary  to  say  again  that  the  chief 
pastoral  responsibility  of  the  hour  that 
cannot  be  replaced  by  any  other  duty  or 
delegated  to  another  is  the  duty  to  lead 
the  congregation  in  successful  evangelism, 
and  from  this  no  pastor  may  be  excused. 
Boards  and  bishops  and  conferences  may 
suggest  and  plan  and  advise.  Whatever 
results  come  from  the  efforts  of  confer¬ 
ence,  district  or  professional  evangelists, 
pastoral  and  congregational  evangelism 
in  spirit  and  in  fact  is  a  supreme  need  of 
the  hour  and  is  the  permanent  work  of 
the  church.  We  raise  no  objection  to  sup¬ 
plementing  this  with  gospel  teams,  evan¬ 
gelistic  singers,  or  any  other  needed  help¬ 
ers.  But  it  is  never  to  be  avoided  as  a 
pastoral  responsibility. 

The  guidance  of  this  work  belongs  to 
the  regular,  authorized  leadership  of  the 
church.  We  urge  and  expect  bishops,  dis¬ 
trict  superintendents,  and  all  others  to 
give  such  definite,  hearty,  personal  leader¬ 
ship  to  this  work  in  every  area  as  they 
gave  in  the  “I  Will  Maintain”  campaign 
and  other  strategic  victories  of  the 
church.  These  ought  ye  to  have  done  but 
not  leave  the  supreme  task  undone. 

f.  Our  dedication. — For  the  evangelism 
of  the  world,  our  Lord  came  to  earth, 
lived,  taught,  suffered  and  died  on  Calvary, 


saying :  “I,  if  I  be  lifted  up,  will  draw  all 
men  unto  me.” 

For  this  purpose  the  Holy  Spirit  came 
into  the  world  and  developed  a  world¬ 
saving  church  out  of  a  mere  handful  of 
disappointed  men. 

For  this  purpose  Methodism  was  called 
into  being  and  began  to  preach  that  good 
news  among  the  poor. 

To  accomplish  better  this  purpose  we 
have  developed  a  great  organization  of 
connectional  Christianity,  that  now  car¬ 
ries  the  light  of  His  cross  to  the  remotest 
parts  of  the  earth.  Not  a  board,  not  a 
society  or  commission  in  the  whole  church 
in  its  truest  purposes  has  any  other  task 
or  objective,  but  is  part  of  this  high  and 
holy  purpose. 

If  in  this  purpose  we  fail,  the  whole 
structure  of  Methodist  Christianity  stands 
before  the  world  as  a  once  mighty  temple 
now  sacked  and  ruined.  We  are  just  now 
closing  the  celebration  of  the  first  century 
of  that  aggressive  denominational  life 
which  has  been  so  full  of  sacrifices,  of 
achievements  and  of  devotion  to  the  will 
of  God,  all  of  which  was  so  bounti¬ 
fully  blessed  by  the  Holy  Spirit.  The 
need  for  this  evangel  is  today  a  tragic 
need.  It  is  the  last  hope  of  the  world. 
Expedients,  social,  political  and  economic 
have  been  tried  and  have  failed.  As  of 
yore  the  multitudes  are  asking:  “Sirs,  we 
would  see  Jesus,”  and  they  will  not  be 
satisfied  with  another. 

Therefore,  we  make  this  solemn  and 
sincere  dedication  to  the  first  task  of  the 
church : 

That  old  and  young,  leaders  and  those 
led;  in  boards  and  commissions  and  con¬ 
gregations,  preachers  and  people;  by  old 
means  and  new,  and  by  means  yet  unknown 
among  us,  formally  and  informally ;  in 
church  and  school  and  home ;  in  club  and 
factory  and  on  street;  on  special  days, 
during  special  seasons  and  every  day;  in 
all  languages  and  tongues  and  among  all 
races  and  peoples  and  colors;  with  due 
humility  and  yet  with  a  godly  courage;  we 
do  again  lay  ourselves  and  as  far  as  in  us 
lies  our  congregations  and  our  great  Meth¬ 
odism  anew  on  the  altar  of  Jesus  Christ 


COMMITTEE  OF  TWENTY-FIVE 


701 


dedicated  to  keep  first  things  first  and  to 
go  into  the  whole  world  preaching  the  gos¬ 
pel  to  every  person  teaching  them  to  observe 
all  His  teachings.  Fail  if  we  must  in  other 
tasks;  we  dare  not  and  will  not  fail  our  Lord 
in  this. 

5.  Needs  and  Apportionments 

Your  committee  recommends  that  a  defi¬ 
nite  sum  of  $18,500,000.00  be  designated 
and  approved  to  be  apportioned  among  the 
churches  in  the  regular  way. 

The  Committee  of  Twenty-Five  received 
from  the  Committee  on  New  Studies  a 
statement  of  the  legitimate  needs  and  the 
no-growth  figures  of  the  eleven  benevolent 
boards.  These  were  discussed  at  length 
and  referred  to  the  sub-committee,  who, 
in  turn,  resubmitted  them  to  the  boards 
for  any  possible  revisions.  The  sub-com¬ 
mittee,  after  full  conference  with  the 
boards  involved,  again  presented  these 
figures  to  the  Committee  of  Twenty-Five 
and  they  were  finally  adopted  and  made  a 
part  of  this  report. 

It  is  intended  that  this  list  of  needs 
shall  be  presented  to  the  church  in  an 
appeal  for  subscriptions  over  and  above 
the  apportionment  on  the  honor  roll  plan. 

6.  A  Call  to  Advance 

What  is  the  meaning  of  this  figure  that 
your  committee  has  recommended  for  the 
apportionment?  On  the  one  hand  we  have 
the  estimate  of  $28,045,173  as  the  legiti¬ 
mate  annual  need  of  the  church  for  its  dis¬ 
tinctively  missionary  work  and  on  the 
other  we  find  that  the  amount  necessary 
to  maintain  the  work  on  an  absolutely  “no 
growth”  basis  is  $13,885,172.70.  Remem¬ 
bering  that  ours  is  a  growing  church, 
remembering  also  that  “no  growth”  in 
work  of  this  character  is  quite  sure  to 
result  in  deterioration,  recalling  our  com¬ 
mission  as  a  Committee  on  Advance  Pro¬ 
gram  and  bearing  in  mind  that  the  church 
recently  pledged  $21,000,000  and  in  one 
year  actually  paid  $15,908,000.00,  it  has 
seemed  to  your  committee  that  the  amount 
named  is  a  reasonable  expectation  of  what 
the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  ought  to 
lay  on  God’s  altar  in  the  first  year  of  the 


new  quadrennium.  This  plan  will  make  it 
possible  for  those  churches  now  meeting 
their  full  apportionment  to  continue  and 
even  to  advance,  and  will  also  make  pos¬ 
sible  an  apportionment  to  many  churches 
that  will  inspire  them  with  confidence  in 
their  ability  to  meet  the  askings  on  a  one 
hundred  per  cent  basis  and  be  a  declara¬ 
tion  of  purpose  to  bear  our  full  share  in 
the  sacrificial  task  of  winning  the  world 
for  Christ. 

The  program  and  achievement  of  our 
Centenary  celebration  has  lifted  the  total 
thinking  and  giving  of  our  church  im¬ 
measurably.  Horizons  once  pushed  out 
can  never  be  contracted.  Moments  of 
achievement  are  advance  posts  which  the 
church  will  not  easily  surrender.  The 
splendid  advance  of  these  recent  years  is 
due  to  the  fidelity,  the  devotion,  and  the 
generosity  of  laity,  pastors,  district  super¬ 
intendents,  bishops,  and  secretaries.  The 
foot  cannot  say  to  the  hand,  “I  have  no 
need  of  thee.”  The  whole  body  working 
together  has  wrought  successfully  at  the 
task  in  the  interest  of  humanity  and  for 
the  glory  of  God.  The  very  name  of  the 
Committee  of  Twenty-Five,  a  Committee 
on  Advance  Program,  makes  it  clear  that 
the  Council  did  not  expect  the  committee 
to  sound  a  retreat  and  it  is  believed  that 
the  church  does  not  desire  a  retreat. 

In  presenting  to  the  Council,  and 
through  the  Council  to  the  church,  this 
program  of  advance,  the  Committee  of 
Twenty-Five  desires  to  make  crystal  clear 
the  fact  that  for  the  successful  prosecu¬ 
tion  of  the  total  task  of  Methodism,  at 
home  and  abroad,  the  dependence  must 
always  be  upon  the  local  church,  the  pas¬ 
tor,  the  district  superintendent,  and  the 
bishop.  These  are  the  foundation  stones 
upon  which  the  entire  superstructure 
rests  and  must  always  rest.  Your  com¬ 
mittee  strongly  emphasizes  the  primacy  of 
these  agencies.  They  are  not  the  servants 
of  the  boards  but  per  contra  the  boards 
are  the  duly  constituted  agencies  devised, 
planned,  and  ordained  by  the  representa¬ 
tives  of  the  church  in  General  Conference 
assembled,  for  the  carrying  out  of  the 
plans  and  the  programs  of  the  church. 


702 


WORLD  SERVICE 


THE  THREE  BASES— Present  Work,  Approved  Needs,  and  Apportionment 

Present-work  Basis  Approved  Needs  Apportionment 


Board  of  Foreign  Missions  . 

Board  of  Home  Missions  and  Church  Extension 

Board  of  Education  for  Negroes . 

Board  of  Education  . 

Board  of  Sunday  Schools  . 

Board  of  Conference  Claimants  . 

Board  of  the  Epworth  League . 

American  Bible  Society . 

Board  of  Temperance,  Prohibition,  and  Public 

Morals  . 

General  Deaconess  Board . 

Board  of  Hospitals  and  Homes . 

Commission  on  Courses  of  Study . 

Commission  on  Life  Service  . . 

Committee  on  Conservation  and  Advance . 


In  view  of  what  has  already  been 
achieved,  in  view  of  the  world  need  as  out¬ 
lined  in  the  careful  and  scientific  studies 
herewith  submitted,  and  in  view  of  the 
unquestionable  ability  of  our  people,  we 
dare  call  the  church  to  a  simultaneous  ad¬ 
vance  along  the  whole  front: 

1.  In  the  supreme  work  of  the  church, 
to  wit :  The  preaching  and  practice  of  the 
good  news  of  Jesus  Christ,  with  steady 
and  insistent  application  to  the  totality  of 
life; 

2.  In  the  enlistment  of  still  larger  num¬ 
bers  of  the  laity  in  all  the  activities  of  the 
church,  to  the  end  that  that  genuine  Chris¬ 
tian  experience  may  be  the  prized  posses¬ 
sion  and  the  daily  practice  of  the  great 
hosts  of  people  called  Methodists; 

3.  In  the  development  and  ever-widen¬ 
ing  application  of  the  scriptural  and  dis¬ 
ciplinary  doctrine  of  the  trusteeship  of 
life  and  substance; 


$  5,426,129.03 

$12,015,900.00 

$  6,800,000.00 

5,082,723.07 

9,805,040.00 

6,800,000.00 

782,077.14 

950,000.00 

760,000.00 

801,227.40 

2,302,683.00 

1,500,000.00 

346,387.75 

810,000.00 

600,000.00 

55,000.00 

150,000.00 

150,000.00 

118,827.30 

176,800.00 

175,000.00 

142,957.04 

250,000.00 

200,000.00 

149,284.10 

319,750.00 

250,000.00 

50,414.06 

90,000.00 

90,000.00 

39,527.88 

175,000.00 

175,000.00 

45,000.00 

60,000.00 

60,000.00 

54,677.00 

75,000.00 

75,000.00 

792,000.00 

865,000.00 

865,000.00 

$13,886,231.77 

$28,045,173.00 

$18,500,000.00 

4.  In  the  strengthening  and  enlarging 
of  the  work  of  the  local  church  and  in 
cordial  co-operation  with  the  various 
boards  majoring  in  the  home  field; 

5.  In  the  extension  and  completion  of 
the  world  service  of  our  church  in  those 
lands  where  by  order  of  the  church  our 
representatives  are  toiling  in  the  face  of 
difficulties  almost  unbelievable,  and  with 
a  devotion  as  deep,  a  courage  as  heroic 
and  a  faith  as  sublime  as  the  world  has 
ever  known. 

Fervently  do  we  pray — 

“Let  kindle,  as  before,  0  Heavenly  Light! 

New  messengers  of  righteousness,  and 
hope, 

And  courage,  for  our  day!  So  shall  the 
world 

That  ever,  surely,  climbs  to  God’s  desire 

Grow  swifter  toward  his  purpose  and  in¬ 
tent 


ACKNOWLEDGMENT 


“World  Service.” — World  Service  is  a 
new  general  name  for  the  disciplinary  ap¬ 
portioned  benevolences  of  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church,  adopted  by  the  Council 
of  Boards  of  Benevolence.  It  does  not 
include  the  work  of  the  Woman’s  Foreign 
Missionary  Society  and  the  Woman’s 
Home  Missionary  Society.  Their  institu¬ 
tions,  mission  stations,  and  summer  con¬ 
ferences  are  indicated  and  described  in  this 
volume  because  no  account  of  the  world 
service  of  our  church  would  be  complete 
without  them.  Their  budgets,  however, 
are  not  included  in  the  World  Service  ask¬ 
ings  and  apportionments  because  in  the 
local  church  they  are  not  officially  com¬ 
bined  in  the  benevolent  budget  and  raised 
through  the  duplex  envelope. 

A  co-operative  effort. — This  World  Serv¬ 
ice  volume  represents  that  fine  quality  of 
co-operation  possible  in  a  great  connec- 
tional  organization  like  the  Methodist 


Episcopal  Church.  Toward  its  prepara¬ 
tion,  missionaries  at  home  and  abroad, 
corresponding  secretaries  and  department 
superintendents  of  the  benevolent  boards 
and  agencies,  presidents  and  deans  of  our 
educational  institutions,  superintendents 
of  our  philanthropic  agencies,  pastors,  dis¬ 
trict  superintendents,  bishops,  and  editors 
of  our  church  papers  have  all  contributed 
a  share. 

Mr.  Hutchinson  wrote  the  foreign  sec¬ 
tion  of  Part  One.  Mr.  McDermott  pre¬ 
pared  the  American  section  of  Part  One. 
Part  Two  was  prepared  in  co-operation 
with  the  various  boards  and  comprises 
the  statements  presented  by  them  to  the 
Committee  of  Twenty-Five  and  to  the 
Council  of  Boards  of  Benevolence,  with  the 
necessary  revisions. 

Part  Three  was  written  in  co-operation 
with  the  treasurers  of  the  Committee  on 


703 


704 


WORLD  SERVICE 


Conservation  and  Advance  and  of  the  be¬ 
nevolent  boards  and  agencies. 

Grateful  acknowledgment  is  made  to 
Gilbert  Loveland  for  weeks  of  painstaking 
effort  on  the  preparation  of  the  copy  for 
the  printer  and  all  items  of  makeup  and 
proof  reading;  to  James  Grantham  for 
work  done  on  the  maps,  charts,  and  en¬ 
gravings  ;  to  Hiram  G.  Conger  for  assem¬ 
bling  the  illustrations  from  far  and  near ; 
to  Charles  M.  Barton  for  furnishing  the 
statistics;  and  to  Robert  H.  Hughes  and 
the  staff  of  the  Methodist  Book  Concern 
in  Chicago  for  loyal  and  devoted  efforts 
on  the  manufacture  of  the  book. 


Neither  the  editor,  the  writers,  nor  any 
other  person  receives  any  royalties  or 
extra  financial  compensation  in  the  sale  of 
this  volume.  The  material  is  not  copy¬ 
righted  and  may  be  reproduced  freely. 
Our  hope  is  that  it  may  have  the  very 
widest  possible  circulation. 

Our  goal  is  “A  copy  in  every  Methodist 
home” 

Ralph  E.  Diffendorfer, 

Educational  Secretary,  Committee 
on  Conservation  and  Advance. 

Chicago,  Illinois,  May  15,  1923. 


A  WORLD  SERVICE  PRAYER 

thou  eternal  Father  of  mankind, 
H  grant  unto  us,  we  pray  thee,  a 

_ consciousness  of  thy 

Thou^only  art  our  refuge  and 
our  salvation. 


heartening 
presence.  ' 
strength,  our  light  and 

\Ve  have  sinned  and  suffered.  Help  us  to 
repent  before  it  is  too  late  to  avoid  further 
suffering.  Deliver  us,  we  beseech  thee, 
from  those  selfish  passions  and  bitter  tem¬ 
pers  that  have  wasted  the  wealth  of  na¬ 
tions,  turned  fruitful  fields  into  a  barren 
wilderness,  dimmed  the  light  in  women  s 
eyes,  hushed  the  laughter  on  the  lips  of 
children,  slain  the  sons  in  whom  we  had 
centered  our  hopes,  and  left  us  permanently 
poorer.  Open  our  eyes  to  the  folly  of 
greed,  to  the  madness  of  hate,  and  to  the 
unreasonableness  and  wickedness  of  those 
prejudices  that  have  separated  class  from 
class,  nation  from  nation,  and  race  from 
race. 

Help  us  to  make  our  own  the  motive  of 
Him  who  came  into  our  world  not  to  be 
ministered  unto  but  to  minister.  Help  us 
to  love  even  our  enemies  and  to  do  good 


even  to  those  who  have  hurt  us.  Beneath 
every  difference  of  culture  and  color  and 
creed,  may  we  discover  our  common  hu¬ 
manity  and  our  growing  dependence  on 
one  another. 

Grant  unto  us  a  vision  of  our  human  world 
as  it  might  be:  no  festering  slums  in  which 
little  children  are  denied  a  fair  chance  of 
life:  no  selfish  industries  in  which  material 
profit  looms  larger  than  the  welfare  of  men; 
no  hopeless  poverty  nor  preventable  dis¬ 
ease;  no  wasting,  embittering  strife;  but  a 
world  built  securely  upon  justice,  made 
happy  by  love,  and  enriched  by  the  con¬ 
tributions  of  many  peoples. 

Help  us  in  spite  of  every  discouragement 
to  believe  in  this  better  world.  Help  us  to 
become  willing  to  pay  any  price  which 
may  be  necessary  to  secure  it.  May  we 
resolve  to  give  all  we  can  to  the  end  that 
the  night  of  the  world's  sorrow  may  be 
shortened,  and  that  a  glad,  new  morning 
may  dawn  for  mankind. 

In  the  name  of  Him  who  is  the  inspirer  and 
hope  of  our  world  service. 


